SQ pilots under political pressure (merged)
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"YOUR HUMBLE CITIZEN"
talk about rolling over.
bl*%&y hell.
looks like the low salary will continue.
looks like its going to get worse with performance linking.
lky gets his way as he knew he would with the ever compliant 'humble citizens'.
baaaaaaaaa!
talk about rolling over.
bl*%&y hell.
looks like the low salary will continue.
looks like its going to get worse with performance linking.
lky gets his way as he knew he would with the ever compliant 'humble citizens'.
baaaaaaaaa!
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The link previously posted will disappear in two days time, so here's the full text:
Straits Times 24.02.04
SIA pilots pledge amicable solution
'What we have agreed with the company will be honoured'
By Zuraidah Ibrahim
SINGAPORE Airlines pilots appear to have averted a showdown with the Government after assuring Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew that they want to settle their differences with management amicably.
That commitment is clear in an exchange of letters between them, which Mr Lee made public last night.
Pilots union chief Mok Hin Choon has promised that the union's approach will be one of 'cooperation and not confrontation'.
'We will keep it 'in the family' and avoid, as far as possible, taking the issue public and airing it in the media,' he said in his Jan 16 letter.
Replying on Feb 9, Mr Lee welcomed that positive approach, saying he was encouraged by their commitment to work with management and negotiate 'in the family'.
He is expected to meet the pilots this week.
The letters come after three months of stern warnings by the Government that it would not countenance a defiant pilots' union.
It had viewed with alarm the SIA pilots' ouster of their union leadership last November, a move which suggested that the union was preparing to take a more confrontational line and become more militant in its demands.
Captain Mok became president of the new team that was elected.
Over the months that followed, Mr Lee warned the pilots on at least three occasions to rethink their stance.
In his Jan 16 letter, Capt Mok said he believed Mr Lee's 'timely intervention' would result in a workable framework for SIA.
Making clear that his team would not press for restoration of pre-Sars salaries, a widely expected move, he said: 'What we have agreed with the company will be honoured.'
His council supports a more flexible wage structure as laid out by the National Wages Council and, he promised, will not benchmark pilots' salaries against those of the most highly paid international pilots.
These commitments are significant as the pilots and management are negotiating a new collective agreement as the last one expired in December.
Noting what Capt Mok had pledged would help keep SIA competitive, Mr Lee explained in his reply that he had intervened because he believed something was fundamentally wrong when the union members disavowed an agreement over wage cuts which they had earlier endorsed.
'That they did so betrayed a lack of appreciation of the severe challenges SIA and our aviation industry are up against,' Mr Lee said.
He noted that SIA needed to earn at least $900 million in after-tax operating profit just to cover its cost of capital. As a group, it had to make at least $1.4 billion after tax.
While this was not easy, it could be done if everyone worked together, he said.
He favoured a flexible wage structure that enabled pilots and all other staff to share in the profits of the company. They should also move away from seniority-based wages and peg more of their pay to company and individual performance.
He also set out the aviation landscape that had been permanently changed with the emergence of low-cost carriers, more open skies in Asia, new long haul carriers that could bypass Singapore and SIA-wannabes emulating its services. There may even be low-cost long-haul carriers, he said.
'These changes will erode SIA's position as a price leader out of Singapore. SIA will become a price-taker, and not a price-maker.'
It may no longer be able to charge a large premium and its yields will go down.
Against such a backdrop, for SIA to succeed, there must be a new climate of mutual confidence and partnership between management and the pilots union.
'Both have to break with the past,' he said, adding that now with a new chief executive officer and new union leadership, there was an opportunity for a fresh start.
With his letter, Captain Mok also attached a note detailing six sets of grievances that he said had hit morale.
These included the pay cuts which pilots had to take during Sars and hearing 'insensitive' news that management was removing caps to its share options; the pay cuts they took after the 9-11 terror attacks; the increase in management numbers while pilots were told to be lean; and the retrenchment criteria of pilots that did not put Singaporean pilots above those overseas.
Mr Lee, who said he did not consider either SIA management or the pilots union to be blameless, has passed the list to management for both sides to iron out, failing which, they should opt for adjudication to 'minimise bruising contests of wills and festering suspicions'.
He also urged the union to adopt the principles of tripartite cooperation if it wanted to help strengthen SIA.
It would not succeed if it tried to work against the system as 'the system is too...well established to be broken'.
Mr Lee reiterated the Government's commitment to maintaining Singapore's airport hub status and SIA was expected 'to outlast the competition'. 'It may have to incur losses but Changi and SIA are going to stay the course.'
Straits Times 24.02.04
SIA pilots pledge amicable solution
'What we have agreed with the company will be honoured'
By Zuraidah Ibrahim
SINGAPORE Airlines pilots appear to have averted a showdown with the Government after assuring Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew that they want to settle their differences with management amicably.
That commitment is clear in an exchange of letters between them, which Mr Lee made public last night.
Pilots union chief Mok Hin Choon has promised that the union's approach will be one of 'cooperation and not confrontation'.
'We will keep it 'in the family' and avoid, as far as possible, taking the issue public and airing it in the media,' he said in his Jan 16 letter.
Replying on Feb 9, Mr Lee welcomed that positive approach, saying he was encouraged by their commitment to work with management and negotiate 'in the family'.
He is expected to meet the pilots this week.
The letters come after three months of stern warnings by the Government that it would not countenance a defiant pilots' union.
It had viewed with alarm the SIA pilots' ouster of their union leadership last November, a move which suggested that the union was preparing to take a more confrontational line and become more militant in its demands.
Captain Mok became president of the new team that was elected.
Over the months that followed, Mr Lee warned the pilots on at least three occasions to rethink their stance.
In his Jan 16 letter, Capt Mok said he believed Mr Lee's 'timely intervention' would result in a workable framework for SIA.
Making clear that his team would not press for restoration of pre-Sars salaries, a widely expected move, he said: 'What we have agreed with the company will be honoured.'
His council supports a more flexible wage structure as laid out by the National Wages Council and, he promised, will not benchmark pilots' salaries against those of the most highly paid international pilots.
These commitments are significant as the pilots and management are negotiating a new collective agreement as the last one expired in December.
Noting what Capt Mok had pledged would help keep SIA competitive, Mr Lee explained in his reply that he had intervened because he believed something was fundamentally wrong when the union members disavowed an agreement over wage cuts which they had earlier endorsed.
'That they did so betrayed a lack of appreciation of the severe challenges SIA and our aviation industry are up against,' Mr Lee said.
He noted that SIA needed to earn at least $900 million in after-tax operating profit just to cover its cost of capital. As a group, it had to make at least $1.4 billion after tax.
While this was not easy, it could be done if everyone worked together, he said.
He favoured a flexible wage structure that enabled pilots and all other staff to share in the profits of the company. They should also move away from seniority-based wages and peg more of their pay to company and individual performance.
He also set out the aviation landscape that had been permanently changed with the emergence of low-cost carriers, more open skies in Asia, new long haul carriers that could bypass Singapore and SIA-wannabes emulating its services. There may even be low-cost long-haul carriers, he said.
'These changes will erode SIA's position as a price leader out of Singapore. SIA will become a price-taker, and not a price-maker.'
It may no longer be able to charge a large premium and its yields will go down.
Against such a backdrop, for SIA to succeed, there must be a new climate of mutual confidence and partnership between management and the pilots union.
'Both have to break with the past,' he said, adding that now with a new chief executive officer and new union leadership, there was an opportunity for a fresh start.
With his letter, Captain Mok also attached a note detailing six sets of grievances that he said had hit morale.
These included the pay cuts which pilots had to take during Sars and hearing 'insensitive' news that management was removing caps to its share options; the pay cuts they took after the 9-11 terror attacks; the increase in management numbers while pilots were told to be lean; and the retrenchment criteria of pilots that did not put Singaporean pilots above those overseas.
Mr Lee, who said he did not consider either SIA management or the pilots union to be blameless, has passed the list to management for both sides to iron out, failing which, they should opt for adjudication to 'minimise bruising contests of wills and festering suspicions'.
He also urged the union to adopt the principles of tripartite cooperation if it wanted to help strengthen SIA.
It would not succeed if it tried to work against the system as 'the system is too...well established to be broken'.
Mr Lee reiterated the Government's commitment to maintaining Singapore's airport hub status and SIA was expected 'to outlast the competition'. 'It may have to incur losses but Changi and SIA are going to stay the course.'
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B]Singapore 24.02.04
Pilots to SM: We will cooperate[/B]
The Singapore Airlines pilots' union hit a rough patch after members ousted the leadership last November. Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew warned the pilots against taking such a confrontational route. In an exchange of letters made public yesterday, the pilots listed their past grievances with SIA management... but assured Mr Lee that they now want to resolve outstanding issues amicably with management and keep negotiations 'within the family'. Mr Lee welcomed their decision and set out what each must do to move on. We give here the main points of the letters, reproduced in full in these two pages
Jan 16, 2004
Senior Minister
Mr Lee Kuan Yew
Dear Sir,
I AM most grateful for your kind attention in this matter of low morale among SIA pilots. Enclosed is a brief that I hope you will find useful.
Your timely intervention will, without doubt, result in a workable framework that will help propel SIA to greater heights. I, too, am convinced that old baggage between Alpa-S and the company will not serve any useful purpose. Common objectives and focused efforts are indeed necessary if we are to thrive in the challenges ahead.
On behalf of my fellow members, please accept our heartfelt gratitude and appreciation.
I await your instructions and guidance.
Your humble citizen,
Mok Hin Choon
Attachment to letter to Senior Minister
For the Senior Minister's information, we have compiled below a number of incidents over the past two years or so which we feel led to the deterioration of staff morale.
1. The Sars pay cut
Alpa-S had, right from the beginning, said we were prepared to take painful measures such as pay cuts and no-pay leave, if necessary. All we wanted was a chance to work out, with the company, a formula that was equitable.
The company had initially demanded, of captains, a 23 per cent pay cut plus 12 days of Compulsory No-Pay Leave (CNPL) every two months. This CNPL is the equivalent of a further 20 per cent reduction in our monthly take-home pay. Add on the reduction in flying allowances, and captains were looking at no less than a 50 per cent total reduction in pay. (The cut for first officers was of a similar magnitude). We baulked at first at such a sizeable and sudden reduction in pay. We wanted the company to first look into the possibility of getting the overseas-based pilots to take some form of furlough. (Most of these pilots were retired, and receiving pensions from, their previous airlines.)
The reaction by management to our initial resistance to this was a public castigation at the press conference for the 2002/03 financial results. At the same public event, management threatened that they were prepared to give Alpa-S only two meetings to agree to this, after which they would take us to the IAC to force the issue.
As it turned out, more than half the savings in staff costs in the second quarter of the 2003/04 financial year (excluding provision for profit-sharing bonuses and retrenchment) were borne by flight crew (about 8,000 cabin crew and pilots) in the form of wage cuts, CNPL and reduced hourly flying allowances because of a reduction in the number of flights. The other half was in the form of wage cuts alone from the remaining 21,000 SIA staff.
Unlike cabin and cockpit crew, the latter were not subjected to CNPL. Nor do they have any flying allowance, which is in fact a variable form, and a substantive portion of the monthly wages of flight crew. Thus, a significantly greater burden fell on the cabin and cockpit crew, compared to the rest of SIA's staff.
Insensitively, the company - in the middle of pay cuts and retrenchment - announced its intention to remove the cap on the share options it rewards its senior executives with. This was reported in The Straits Times on June 27, 2003. Prior to the removal of the cap, SIA could give its CEO and senior executives up to 240,000 and 200,000 share options a year respectively.
2 The 9-11 pay cut
Immediately following Sept 11, 2001, SIA staff agreed to five months of voluntary pay cuts. The airline subsequently made a profit after taxes of $631 million for the year ending March 2002. However, it refused to accede to the request by its five unions for at least part of the pay cuts to be refunded. This was the start of a general feeling among staff that management is quick to take from its staff when times are hard, but unwilling to reciprocate when things get better.
3 The Business Class seat issue
Contrary to what was reported in the press, we did not insist on being seated in First Class. We merely wanted to retain what had been agreed on by the company in the CA - namely, both crew rest seats in Business or J class. That is now water under the bridge as we have since agreed to give up one of the two seats that we were entitled to.
But more importantly, management handled this matter in a very high-handed manner. After 13 years of providing J class seats for crew rest, in accordance with the CA, it suddenly informed the association that henceforth, pilots would take their rest in three Y (Economy Class) seats instead of two J seats. It had unilaterally (and disingenuously) reinterpreted the CA and decided that 3Y = 2J, without consulting Alpa-S.
The conversion of the J class seats to SpaceBeds that could be adjusted to provide horizontal rest resulted in the number of seats in Business Class falling from 58 to 50. The company claimed that with this reduction, it had to ensure that paying passengers were given priority for these seats. However, it continues to accord its senior executives (divisional vice-presidents and higher) the right to travel in Business Class on a confirmed booking basis - in other words, they can dislodge paying passengers from J class. (Also, cabin crew have firm instructions to treat SIA board directors and their dependents as commercial passengers - for example, they are not even to be approached for seat changes in the event paying passengers have been allocated seats that have defective entertainment systems, or request to be seated together when travelling in a group.)
4 Retrenchment criteria
When the retrenchments started, the startling thing was the company's policy on whom to let go. No longer are years of service or one's status as a national pilot (versus expatriate and overseas-based ones) a criterion. Instead, management will select pilots for retrenchment solely on the individual pilot's 'competencies'.
But by and large, a pilot is either competent or he should not be employed as one in the first place. A comprehensive set of recurring base checks, line checks, safety/emergency procedure tests and medical examinations, all mandated by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, ensures that there should be no incompetent pilots. The flying public demands this. Experience counts, as do loyalty and nationality. Take an overseas-based (OBS) pilot residing in Britain or Australia with, say, a year's service in SIA Mauritius, retired and receiving a pension from his previous airline. Then consider a national pilot based in Singapore, with some 20 years service in SIA, and who depends on his job for his and his family's livelihood. The company now says that the two should be treated no differently when it comes to retrenchment, and will be judged solely on which pilot is more 'competent'. To us, this was drastically changing the rules of the game.
5 Management of crew numbers
From late 2001 till the end of 2002, the company deliberately over-recruited expatriate and OBS pilots (all captains), to clear a huge backlog in owed annual leave by mid-2003. For reasons known only to itself, it wanted to accelerate this process rather than clear the owed annual leave at a more measured pace.
Pilots were made to clear two to three years' worth of annual leave over a few months in early to mid-2003, regardless of whether they were able to use the leave meaningfully. When Sars came, it was further mandated that all outstanding and current (namely, 2003) leave must be cleared by September that year. Some who urgently needed to use their leave entitlement later in the year had to take it earlier anyway. (They were told that they could apply for advance, or 2004, leave should they really require it later. But with the upturn in business, the advance leave applications could not be approved when the time came.)
The company knew very well that with the extra numbers required for this accelerated programme of clearing leave, there had to be a sudden surplus of some 50 to 60 pilots come mid-2003 (not counting Sars), once all leave was cleared. But despite this, when Sars came, it was happy to jump on the bandwagon and make the pilots pay for the entire surplus (including the self-inflicted surplus in management's crewing plans) in the form of CNPL.
This deliberate surplus not only incurred high wage and training costs unnecessarily, but also put a strain on the existing instructor and simulator resources. One also wonders: What would the company have done with the surplus, had Sars not conveniently come along? Carrying it would be expensive, wasteful and inefficient regardless. Let the pilots go once the backlog is cleared? This, especially if premeditated, would be too callous, with scant consideration of the disruption to the lives and livelihoods of them and their families.
6 Proliferation of management cost
While eager to cut staff wage costs, management has not set a good example because the number of managers and executive staff has ballooned in the last two to three years. A shining example is the flight operations division. In June 2000, with a total of 92 aircraft, there were 30 managers (including management pilots) and 33 administrative officers (AOs) in flight operations. Last month, with 102 aircraft, the numbers have swollen to 44 managers and 49 AOs - a 50 per cent increase. Management must set a good example of cost-consciousness by being prudent in increasing its strength and making a virtue of being lean.
Alpa-S brief for Senior Minister
1 The executive council
Although there has been considerable speculation in the press, it is not true that the new Alpa-S Executive Council was elected to press for restoration of the pre-Sars salary. What we have agreed with the company will be honoured.
2 Our immediate task
We fully appreciate the new challenges facing our airline, and the new competitive environment we are now in. Of urgency is a new employment package as the last CA (collective agreement) has expired. We are supportive of the need for a more flexible wage structure, as identified by the National Wages Council. We will not be benchmarking our proposed salaries with those of the most highly paid international pilots.
3 Working with management
While morale has slipped significantly in the past few years, (please see attachment), and we have a number of outstanding issues and grievances with the company, we are committed to working with management to try and resolve these amicably. Our approach will be one of cooperation and not confrontation. We will keep it 'in the family' and avoid, as far as possible, taking the issues public and airing them out in the media.
4 Our past record
It is true that over the years, there have been several occasions when the Manpower Ministry or lndustrial Arbitration Court (IAC) had to become involved in resolving industrial disputes between Singapore Airlines and Alpa-S. However, without fully examining each case on its merits, it would not be fair to imply that the pilots alone were to blame all the time. Such a one-sided presentation of the picture also ignores the fact that in all the years since SIA was formed, the pilots have played a significant role in the phenomenal growth and prosperity of the company.
There have been countless times when, at the company's request, dispensations to work beyond the flight and duty time limits of the collective agreement were granted by the association, so as to minimise flight delays and disruptions, thereby promoting the good public image of SIA, reducing costs, and optimising operational efficiency.
Whenever the demand for flights has pushed our growth rate such that it outpaced manpower planning estimates, we have never denied the company's requests to defer our annual leave, in order that new schedules and ad hoc charters could be manned, thereby maximising profits for the airline. Our willingness to volunteer and cooperate has enabled SIA to keep its pilot strength lean throughout the years, thereby saving on salary, training and other labour costs. The latest manifestation of this cooperation resulted in some 15,000 outstanding leave days owed to our members at the end of 2002.
5 Restoring industrial harmony
We need to reach agreement with the company on an equitable remuneration package expeditiously. This will pave the way towards an improved industrial relations climate in which we can restore morale and stem the recent spate of resignations by not only expatriate but also, for the first time, national pilots.
We will strive for better communication between ourselves and the company, and a relationship based on mutual trust and respect.
SM Lee's reply
Feb 9, 2004
Dear Mr Mok Hin Choon,
THANK you for your letter on Jan 16 and the attached briefs concerning Alpa-S.
I welcome your positive approach to the problems facing the airline and this in spite of what you describe as the low morale among SIA pilots.
I intervened after the Alpa-S committee that negotiated the cuts in wages and allowances was ousted.
I believed something fundamentally was wrong when 55 per cent of your members disavowed the agreement that they had earlier endorsed.
That they did so betrayed a lack of appreciation of the severe challenges SIA and our aviation industry are up against. It showed that SIA management either had not succeeded in convincing their employees to make the necessary changes for their company to survive and grow, or perhaps had not tried to do so.
I note that you are now not pressing for restoration of pre-Sars salaries, that you support the need for a more flexible wage structure as identified by the National Wages Council (NWC) and that you are not benchmarking your proposed salaries with those of the mostly highly-paid international pilots.
I welcome these positions because they are necessary to keep SIA competitive and make the jobs of its employees safer.
Most of all, I am encouraged by your commitment to work with management to resolve the outstanding issues and to negotiate 'in the family', without taking issues out to the media.
SIA was facing acute pressures when it undertook the last round of cuts in pay and allowances because of Sars. There was no guarantee that Sars would not return after June. There was no assurance, after we declared Singapore free of Sars on May 31 last year, that passenger loads would recover soon. The airline had made an April-June quarterly loss of $312 million. This was SIA's first ever loss.
It made a profit of $306 million for the subsequent quarter only after implementing the pay cuts and other economising measures. And as the profit level improves, employees will be progressively rewarded according to the agreed formula.
SIA has to earn an after-tax operating profit above its cost of capital to justify its existence. SIA's weighted average cost of capital (WACC) is about 8 per cent. SIA's parent company deploys some $11 billion of capital for its premium airline business. It would need to achieve an after-tax operating profit of $900 million just to cover its cost of capital.
As a group, SIA needs to earn at least $1.4 billion after tax. SIA can do so only if everyone in the company, including unions and management, work together towards shared objectives.
It will not be easy, but it can be done. Sustainable and robust frameworks need to be put in place with the support of management, unions and staff, using their good sense.
There needs to be a collective-agreement framework based on the NWC tripartite guidelines for wage flexibility, retrenchment and medical co-payment benefits that most progressive companies have already implemented.
With a flexible wage structure, I favour a formula that enables pilots and all other staff to share in the economic profits of the company. In this way, all staff have a common stake and shared interest in the performance and continued success of the company.
At the same time, we have to move away from seniority-based wage structure, and increase the proportion of variable pay pegged to the performance of both the company and the individual. This provides more flexibility for the company to adjust quickly to the realities of the market in the event of a downturn, while giving employees a bigger stake in the success of the company.
Singapore is special, one island just over 600 sq km after reclamation, with three million citizens and one million non-citizens working here.
To reach First World standards of performance in key areas of our economy, we have built up a unique system. In other countries, unions are adversarial, with strikes, work-to-rule and other industrial methods of pressure. In Singapore, our unions work with employers and the Government makes sure that employers and management, including those from foreign and multinational companies, play fair by the workers and their unions.
Because of the partnership between unions, management and the Government, we have been able to advance the interests of all Singaporeans, so that, within one generation, we have moved from Third World to First World.
This does not mean our workers can act as if we are a First World country. We do not have the wide economic base to take the liberties of being a First World country. It is the maximisation of our assets - human, geographic position, historic and other infrastructures - that has enabled us to reach this level, so much so that SIA is flying and competing against First World airlines.
The costs and other competitive pressures facing SIA are not temporary. Sars and slow economic growth have masked some fundamental changes taking place in the airline industry: consolidation and restructuring of airlines in America and Europe; success of low-cost, short-haul carriers; new long-haul carriers that can bypass Singapore; a unified European Union civil aviation market; and moves in EU civil aviation market and, later, in Asia, towards open skies.
Other carriers are also learning from SIA's success, to innovate and provide consistent quality service. Low-cost, long-haul carriers may emerge. These changes will erode SIA's position as a price leader out of Singapore. SIA will become a price-taker, and not a price-maker.
SIA's ability to charge a large premium for superior service will be severely pressured. With less control over fares and no domestic network to buffer it, SIA yields will erode.
The aviation world has changed permanently. SIA must change and adapt to this new reality. Globalisation and liberalisation will increase, not reduce, competition over time.
To succeed against competition, there needs to be a new climate of mutual confidence and partnership between management and Alpa-S. Both have to break with the past.
Management has to operate on clear and fair principles with a clear eye on the competitive landscape. They have to take union leaders into their confidence and be open about the vulnerabilities and opportunities of the company.
They need to win the trust and confidence of SIA staff and unions. Line managers and supervisors must play an active role in the welfare of its staff, and build a culture of meritocracy, innovation, empowerment and ownership at all levels of the company.
Only in this way can SIA workers become real partners in the company's battle against the best of airlines in the world, many of whom have the advantages of large domestic markets, favourable locations or lower labour or fuel costs.
Alpa-S must recognise that both long-term adjustments and short-term sacrifices may have to be made to secure the long-term career opportunities of its members. It can be a constructive partner to work with the company to adjust nimbly to changing market needs.
The need for members' ratification of what has been negotiated encourages unproductive gamesmanship in negotiations. Alpa-S should also not infringe on the operational prerogatives of the management. These negotiation ploys are not conducive for the development of a culture of mutual support and trust, and must be stopped.
Alpa-S too needs to communicate and earn the trust of its own membership and management.
As for your attached list of grievances, let me assure you that I do not consider SIA management or Alpa-S to be blameless. I have passed the list to management which will address these issues with you.
It is for management and unions to work through such issues and thereafter put them behind and move forward. Failing which, the issues will have to be taken through due adjudication with the Ministry of Manpower and the Industrial Arbitration Court.
This will minimise bruising contests of wills and festering suspicions. Issues should be resolved expeditiously as a long period of uncertainty will cause a drop in staff morale.
An opportunity now presents itself to start afresh, with a new CEO in SIA, Chew Choon Seng. On the union side is your new committee. The union and management have to agree on a common framework for the future.
The Government will do its part to ensure that the future of SIA is not needlessly jeopardised, and that the agreements represent a fair and equitable balance of interests of workers and company.
I am confident that if Alpa-S adopts the principles of tripartite cooperation of NTUC unions to optimise their benefits, it will succeed in helping management to build a stronger company. This is the way forward.
If Alpa-S tries to work against the system, it will not succeed. The system is too long and well-established to be broken.
The Government has made clear to SIA management that it is committed to maintaining Singapore's hub status and expects SIA to outlast the competition.
It may have to incur losses but Changi and SIA are going to stay the course.
To succeed, we need all workers and their union leaders to work with management, and both must move in tandem with the Government. A thriving national airline is a key factor to keep Changi Airport a vibrant hub.
SIA did not become one of the world's most successful airlines by accident. Management and workers did many things right to take full advantage of our position as a first mover in the airline and the air-hub business.
SIA grew on the back of a sound and robust economy, and in turn contributed to Singapore's success as a business and logistics hub.
I am confident that there is a deep well of pride among SIA staff in the airline's international standing because of its high standards in so many areas. This pride and the wealth of experience and learning within the company will ensure that SIA remains competitive and successful.
Yours sincerely,
Lee Kuan Yew
PS: I send you a copy of my speech I made on Jan 30 at the Tanjong Pagar GRC Chinese New Year celebration. If your committee members read it, they will understand the background against which the Government is framing its policies.
Pilots to SM: We will cooperate[/B]
The Singapore Airlines pilots' union hit a rough patch after members ousted the leadership last November. Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew warned the pilots against taking such a confrontational route. In an exchange of letters made public yesterday, the pilots listed their past grievances with SIA management... but assured Mr Lee that they now want to resolve outstanding issues amicably with management and keep negotiations 'within the family'. Mr Lee welcomed their decision and set out what each must do to move on. We give here the main points of the letters, reproduced in full in these two pages
Jan 16, 2004
Senior Minister
Mr Lee Kuan Yew
Dear Sir,
I AM most grateful for your kind attention in this matter of low morale among SIA pilots. Enclosed is a brief that I hope you will find useful.
Your timely intervention will, without doubt, result in a workable framework that will help propel SIA to greater heights. I, too, am convinced that old baggage between Alpa-S and the company will not serve any useful purpose. Common objectives and focused efforts are indeed necessary if we are to thrive in the challenges ahead.
On behalf of my fellow members, please accept our heartfelt gratitude and appreciation.
I await your instructions and guidance.
Your humble citizen,
Mok Hin Choon
Attachment to letter to Senior Minister
For the Senior Minister's information, we have compiled below a number of incidents over the past two years or so which we feel led to the deterioration of staff morale.
1. The Sars pay cut
Alpa-S had, right from the beginning, said we were prepared to take painful measures such as pay cuts and no-pay leave, if necessary. All we wanted was a chance to work out, with the company, a formula that was equitable.
The company had initially demanded, of captains, a 23 per cent pay cut plus 12 days of Compulsory No-Pay Leave (CNPL) every two months. This CNPL is the equivalent of a further 20 per cent reduction in our monthly take-home pay. Add on the reduction in flying allowances, and captains were looking at no less than a 50 per cent total reduction in pay. (The cut for first officers was of a similar magnitude). We baulked at first at such a sizeable and sudden reduction in pay. We wanted the company to first look into the possibility of getting the overseas-based pilots to take some form of furlough. (Most of these pilots were retired, and receiving pensions from, their previous airlines.)
The reaction by management to our initial resistance to this was a public castigation at the press conference for the 2002/03 financial results. At the same public event, management threatened that they were prepared to give Alpa-S only two meetings to agree to this, after which they would take us to the IAC to force the issue.
As it turned out, more than half the savings in staff costs in the second quarter of the 2003/04 financial year (excluding provision for profit-sharing bonuses and retrenchment) were borne by flight crew (about 8,000 cabin crew and pilots) in the form of wage cuts, CNPL and reduced hourly flying allowances because of a reduction in the number of flights. The other half was in the form of wage cuts alone from the remaining 21,000 SIA staff.
Unlike cabin and cockpit crew, the latter were not subjected to CNPL. Nor do they have any flying allowance, which is in fact a variable form, and a substantive portion of the monthly wages of flight crew. Thus, a significantly greater burden fell on the cabin and cockpit crew, compared to the rest of SIA's staff.
Insensitively, the company - in the middle of pay cuts and retrenchment - announced its intention to remove the cap on the share options it rewards its senior executives with. This was reported in The Straits Times on June 27, 2003. Prior to the removal of the cap, SIA could give its CEO and senior executives up to 240,000 and 200,000 share options a year respectively.
2 The 9-11 pay cut
Immediately following Sept 11, 2001, SIA staff agreed to five months of voluntary pay cuts. The airline subsequently made a profit after taxes of $631 million for the year ending March 2002. However, it refused to accede to the request by its five unions for at least part of the pay cuts to be refunded. This was the start of a general feeling among staff that management is quick to take from its staff when times are hard, but unwilling to reciprocate when things get better.
3 The Business Class seat issue
Contrary to what was reported in the press, we did not insist on being seated in First Class. We merely wanted to retain what had been agreed on by the company in the CA - namely, both crew rest seats in Business or J class. That is now water under the bridge as we have since agreed to give up one of the two seats that we were entitled to.
But more importantly, management handled this matter in a very high-handed manner. After 13 years of providing J class seats for crew rest, in accordance with the CA, it suddenly informed the association that henceforth, pilots would take their rest in three Y (Economy Class) seats instead of two J seats. It had unilaterally (and disingenuously) reinterpreted the CA and decided that 3Y = 2J, without consulting Alpa-S.
The conversion of the J class seats to SpaceBeds that could be adjusted to provide horizontal rest resulted in the number of seats in Business Class falling from 58 to 50. The company claimed that with this reduction, it had to ensure that paying passengers were given priority for these seats. However, it continues to accord its senior executives (divisional vice-presidents and higher) the right to travel in Business Class on a confirmed booking basis - in other words, they can dislodge paying passengers from J class. (Also, cabin crew have firm instructions to treat SIA board directors and their dependents as commercial passengers - for example, they are not even to be approached for seat changes in the event paying passengers have been allocated seats that have defective entertainment systems, or request to be seated together when travelling in a group.)
4 Retrenchment criteria
When the retrenchments started, the startling thing was the company's policy on whom to let go. No longer are years of service or one's status as a national pilot (versus expatriate and overseas-based ones) a criterion. Instead, management will select pilots for retrenchment solely on the individual pilot's 'competencies'.
But by and large, a pilot is either competent or he should not be employed as one in the first place. A comprehensive set of recurring base checks, line checks, safety/emergency procedure tests and medical examinations, all mandated by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, ensures that there should be no incompetent pilots. The flying public demands this. Experience counts, as do loyalty and nationality. Take an overseas-based (OBS) pilot residing in Britain or Australia with, say, a year's service in SIA Mauritius, retired and receiving a pension from his previous airline. Then consider a national pilot based in Singapore, with some 20 years service in SIA, and who depends on his job for his and his family's livelihood. The company now says that the two should be treated no differently when it comes to retrenchment, and will be judged solely on which pilot is more 'competent'. To us, this was drastically changing the rules of the game.
5 Management of crew numbers
From late 2001 till the end of 2002, the company deliberately over-recruited expatriate and OBS pilots (all captains), to clear a huge backlog in owed annual leave by mid-2003. For reasons known only to itself, it wanted to accelerate this process rather than clear the owed annual leave at a more measured pace.
Pilots were made to clear two to three years' worth of annual leave over a few months in early to mid-2003, regardless of whether they were able to use the leave meaningfully. When Sars came, it was further mandated that all outstanding and current (namely, 2003) leave must be cleared by September that year. Some who urgently needed to use their leave entitlement later in the year had to take it earlier anyway. (They were told that they could apply for advance, or 2004, leave should they really require it later. But with the upturn in business, the advance leave applications could not be approved when the time came.)
The company knew very well that with the extra numbers required for this accelerated programme of clearing leave, there had to be a sudden surplus of some 50 to 60 pilots come mid-2003 (not counting Sars), once all leave was cleared. But despite this, when Sars came, it was happy to jump on the bandwagon and make the pilots pay for the entire surplus (including the self-inflicted surplus in management's crewing plans) in the form of CNPL.
This deliberate surplus not only incurred high wage and training costs unnecessarily, but also put a strain on the existing instructor and simulator resources. One also wonders: What would the company have done with the surplus, had Sars not conveniently come along? Carrying it would be expensive, wasteful and inefficient regardless. Let the pilots go once the backlog is cleared? This, especially if premeditated, would be too callous, with scant consideration of the disruption to the lives and livelihoods of them and their families.
6 Proliferation of management cost
While eager to cut staff wage costs, management has not set a good example because the number of managers and executive staff has ballooned in the last two to three years. A shining example is the flight operations division. In June 2000, with a total of 92 aircraft, there were 30 managers (including management pilots) and 33 administrative officers (AOs) in flight operations. Last month, with 102 aircraft, the numbers have swollen to 44 managers and 49 AOs - a 50 per cent increase. Management must set a good example of cost-consciousness by being prudent in increasing its strength and making a virtue of being lean.
Alpa-S brief for Senior Minister
1 The executive council
Although there has been considerable speculation in the press, it is not true that the new Alpa-S Executive Council was elected to press for restoration of the pre-Sars salary. What we have agreed with the company will be honoured.
2 Our immediate task
We fully appreciate the new challenges facing our airline, and the new competitive environment we are now in. Of urgency is a new employment package as the last CA (collective agreement) has expired. We are supportive of the need for a more flexible wage structure, as identified by the National Wages Council. We will not be benchmarking our proposed salaries with those of the most highly paid international pilots.
3 Working with management
While morale has slipped significantly in the past few years, (please see attachment), and we have a number of outstanding issues and grievances with the company, we are committed to working with management to try and resolve these amicably. Our approach will be one of cooperation and not confrontation. We will keep it 'in the family' and avoid, as far as possible, taking the issues public and airing them out in the media.
4 Our past record
It is true that over the years, there have been several occasions when the Manpower Ministry or lndustrial Arbitration Court (IAC) had to become involved in resolving industrial disputes between Singapore Airlines and Alpa-S. However, without fully examining each case on its merits, it would not be fair to imply that the pilots alone were to blame all the time. Such a one-sided presentation of the picture also ignores the fact that in all the years since SIA was formed, the pilots have played a significant role in the phenomenal growth and prosperity of the company.
There have been countless times when, at the company's request, dispensations to work beyond the flight and duty time limits of the collective agreement were granted by the association, so as to minimise flight delays and disruptions, thereby promoting the good public image of SIA, reducing costs, and optimising operational efficiency.
Whenever the demand for flights has pushed our growth rate such that it outpaced manpower planning estimates, we have never denied the company's requests to defer our annual leave, in order that new schedules and ad hoc charters could be manned, thereby maximising profits for the airline. Our willingness to volunteer and cooperate has enabled SIA to keep its pilot strength lean throughout the years, thereby saving on salary, training and other labour costs. The latest manifestation of this cooperation resulted in some 15,000 outstanding leave days owed to our members at the end of 2002.
5 Restoring industrial harmony
We need to reach agreement with the company on an equitable remuneration package expeditiously. This will pave the way towards an improved industrial relations climate in which we can restore morale and stem the recent spate of resignations by not only expatriate but also, for the first time, national pilots.
We will strive for better communication between ourselves and the company, and a relationship based on mutual trust and respect.
SM Lee's reply
Feb 9, 2004
Dear Mr Mok Hin Choon,
THANK you for your letter on Jan 16 and the attached briefs concerning Alpa-S.
I welcome your positive approach to the problems facing the airline and this in spite of what you describe as the low morale among SIA pilots.
I intervened after the Alpa-S committee that negotiated the cuts in wages and allowances was ousted.
I believed something fundamentally was wrong when 55 per cent of your members disavowed the agreement that they had earlier endorsed.
That they did so betrayed a lack of appreciation of the severe challenges SIA and our aviation industry are up against. It showed that SIA management either had not succeeded in convincing their employees to make the necessary changes for their company to survive and grow, or perhaps had not tried to do so.
I note that you are now not pressing for restoration of pre-Sars salaries, that you support the need for a more flexible wage structure as identified by the National Wages Council (NWC) and that you are not benchmarking your proposed salaries with those of the mostly highly-paid international pilots.
I welcome these positions because they are necessary to keep SIA competitive and make the jobs of its employees safer.
Most of all, I am encouraged by your commitment to work with management to resolve the outstanding issues and to negotiate 'in the family', without taking issues out to the media.
SIA was facing acute pressures when it undertook the last round of cuts in pay and allowances because of Sars. There was no guarantee that Sars would not return after June. There was no assurance, after we declared Singapore free of Sars on May 31 last year, that passenger loads would recover soon. The airline had made an April-June quarterly loss of $312 million. This was SIA's first ever loss.
It made a profit of $306 million for the subsequent quarter only after implementing the pay cuts and other economising measures. And as the profit level improves, employees will be progressively rewarded according to the agreed formula.
SIA has to earn an after-tax operating profit above its cost of capital to justify its existence. SIA's weighted average cost of capital (WACC) is about 8 per cent. SIA's parent company deploys some $11 billion of capital for its premium airline business. It would need to achieve an after-tax operating profit of $900 million just to cover its cost of capital.
As a group, SIA needs to earn at least $1.4 billion after tax. SIA can do so only if everyone in the company, including unions and management, work together towards shared objectives.
It will not be easy, but it can be done. Sustainable and robust frameworks need to be put in place with the support of management, unions and staff, using their good sense.
There needs to be a collective-agreement framework based on the NWC tripartite guidelines for wage flexibility, retrenchment and medical co-payment benefits that most progressive companies have already implemented.
With a flexible wage structure, I favour a formula that enables pilots and all other staff to share in the economic profits of the company. In this way, all staff have a common stake and shared interest in the performance and continued success of the company.
At the same time, we have to move away from seniority-based wage structure, and increase the proportion of variable pay pegged to the performance of both the company and the individual. This provides more flexibility for the company to adjust quickly to the realities of the market in the event of a downturn, while giving employees a bigger stake in the success of the company.
Singapore is special, one island just over 600 sq km after reclamation, with three million citizens and one million non-citizens working here.
To reach First World standards of performance in key areas of our economy, we have built up a unique system. In other countries, unions are adversarial, with strikes, work-to-rule and other industrial methods of pressure. In Singapore, our unions work with employers and the Government makes sure that employers and management, including those from foreign and multinational companies, play fair by the workers and their unions.
Because of the partnership between unions, management and the Government, we have been able to advance the interests of all Singaporeans, so that, within one generation, we have moved from Third World to First World.
This does not mean our workers can act as if we are a First World country. We do not have the wide economic base to take the liberties of being a First World country. It is the maximisation of our assets - human, geographic position, historic and other infrastructures - that has enabled us to reach this level, so much so that SIA is flying and competing against First World airlines.
The costs and other competitive pressures facing SIA are not temporary. Sars and slow economic growth have masked some fundamental changes taking place in the airline industry: consolidation and restructuring of airlines in America and Europe; success of low-cost, short-haul carriers; new long-haul carriers that can bypass Singapore; a unified European Union civil aviation market; and moves in EU civil aviation market and, later, in Asia, towards open skies.
Other carriers are also learning from SIA's success, to innovate and provide consistent quality service. Low-cost, long-haul carriers may emerge. These changes will erode SIA's position as a price leader out of Singapore. SIA will become a price-taker, and not a price-maker.
SIA's ability to charge a large premium for superior service will be severely pressured. With less control over fares and no domestic network to buffer it, SIA yields will erode.
The aviation world has changed permanently. SIA must change and adapt to this new reality. Globalisation and liberalisation will increase, not reduce, competition over time.
To succeed against competition, there needs to be a new climate of mutual confidence and partnership between management and Alpa-S. Both have to break with the past.
Management has to operate on clear and fair principles with a clear eye on the competitive landscape. They have to take union leaders into their confidence and be open about the vulnerabilities and opportunities of the company.
They need to win the trust and confidence of SIA staff and unions. Line managers and supervisors must play an active role in the welfare of its staff, and build a culture of meritocracy, innovation, empowerment and ownership at all levels of the company.
Only in this way can SIA workers become real partners in the company's battle against the best of airlines in the world, many of whom have the advantages of large domestic markets, favourable locations or lower labour or fuel costs.
Alpa-S must recognise that both long-term adjustments and short-term sacrifices may have to be made to secure the long-term career opportunities of its members. It can be a constructive partner to work with the company to adjust nimbly to changing market needs.
The need for members' ratification of what has been negotiated encourages unproductive gamesmanship in negotiations. Alpa-S should also not infringe on the operational prerogatives of the management. These negotiation ploys are not conducive for the development of a culture of mutual support and trust, and must be stopped.
Alpa-S too needs to communicate and earn the trust of its own membership and management.
As for your attached list of grievances, let me assure you that I do not consider SIA management or Alpa-S to be blameless. I have passed the list to management which will address these issues with you.
It is for management and unions to work through such issues and thereafter put them behind and move forward. Failing which, the issues will have to be taken through due adjudication with the Ministry of Manpower and the Industrial Arbitration Court.
This will minimise bruising contests of wills and festering suspicions. Issues should be resolved expeditiously as a long period of uncertainty will cause a drop in staff morale.
An opportunity now presents itself to start afresh, with a new CEO in SIA, Chew Choon Seng. On the union side is your new committee. The union and management have to agree on a common framework for the future.
The Government will do its part to ensure that the future of SIA is not needlessly jeopardised, and that the agreements represent a fair and equitable balance of interests of workers and company.
I am confident that if Alpa-S adopts the principles of tripartite cooperation of NTUC unions to optimise their benefits, it will succeed in helping management to build a stronger company. This is the way forward.
If Alpa-S tries to work against the system, it will not succeed. The system is too long and well-established to be broken.
The Government has made clear to SIA management that it is committed to maintaining Singapore's hub status and expects SIA to outlast the competition.
It may have to incur losses but Changi and SIA are going to stay the course.
To succeed, we need all workers and their union leaders to work with management, and both must move in tandem with the Government. A thriving national airline is a key factor to keep Changi Airport a vibrant hub.
SIA did not become one of the world's most successful airlines by accident. Management and workers did many things right to take full advantage of our position as a first mover in the airline and the air-hub business.
SIA grew on the back of a sound and robust economy, and in turn contributed to Singapore's success as a business and logistics hub.
I am confident that there is a deep well of pride among SIA staff in the airline's international standing because of its high standards in so many areas. This pride and the wealth of experience and learning within the company will ensure that SIA remains competitive and successful.
Yours sincerely,
Lee Kuan Yew
PS: I send you a copy of my speech I made on Jan 30 at the Tanjong Pagar GRC Chinese New Year celebration. If your committee members read it, they will understand the background against which the Government is framing its policies.
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You get what you ask for. The picture in the Straight Times , a 4 striper with his cap under his arm says it all, together with the end of the letter written by the union to the Senior Minister LKY, "Your humble citizen".
Shame on the union , shame on the pilots being a bunch of wining gutless drivers. (including myself!) We will get shafted and we asked for it !!! Get the KY Gel out so it doesn't hurt so much!!!!!
Shame on the union , shame on the pilots being a bunch of wining gutless drivers. (including myself!) We will get shafted and we asked for it !!! Get the KY Gel out so it doesn't hurt so much!!!!!
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Well, well, well - What a MOKery of the whole thing. IF the above opening paragraph was in fact an accurate transcript, of the letter, then the author(s) certainly learnt well from Prof. Marv Karlins - must have got an 'A' in SAKKA !! AND I am stunned, the PRESIDENT of an established, professional, 'battle sore' and hard fought for Association has to address himself as a HUMBLE CITIZEN ( which, by the way, has nothing to do with many of the NON-CITIZEN membership !!) Are Civil SERVANTS not employed by the CITIZENS ? The HUMBLE citizens helped put THEIR country on the map ! JUST BECAUSE THE OLD MAN SAID YOU WEREN'T SPECIAL ............ DOESN'T MEAN YOU HAVE TO PROVE IT TO HIM ! I'm truly embarrassed.............. but proud of my profession and beliefs - others are obviously NOT.
PS . I am also - NOT for CONFRONTATION, but I am for SINCERITY AND FAIRNESS.
Maybe ALPA-S should stand for :
Always Licks Politicians A#ses - Submissively.
There.................... another great Singapore acronym.
PPS. And John Barnes............... there is no need for the KY anymore, it's been stretched beyond belief. NUMB thats all I can say.
PS . I am also - NOT for CONFRONTATION, but I am for SINCERITY AND FAIRNESS.
Maybe ALPA-S should stand for :
Always Licks Politicians A#ses - Submissively.
There.................... another great Singapore acronym.
PPS. And John Barnes............... there is no need for the KY anymore, it's been stretched beyond belief. NUMB thats all I can say.
Last edited by Highlander744; 24th Feb 2004 at 22:57.
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Straits Times, 25.02.04
SIA needs to fix worker morale issues
Labour chief highlights need to bring workers on board, build consensus, as NTUC-affiliated unions list grievances
By Rebecca Lee
SINGAPORE Airlines' troubled labour-management relations received another public airing yesterday when the Government released feedback reflecting poor staff morale - and a roadmap on moving ahead.
The feedback showed that SIA's pilots, who have been in the news over their unhappiness with management, are not the only ones with grievances.
When the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) collected views from three of its four affiliated SIA unions last month, they complained of low morale and a changed atmosphere in recent years.
Where a family spirit once prevailed, the key word now was 'accountability' and a 'culture of fear' had spread, they said.
Workers feared making mistakes and were being threatened with the sack often, the key leaders of the SIA Staff Union, Singapore Airport Terminal Services Workers' Union and SIA Engineering Company Engineers and Executives Union told NTUC.
Yesterday, the Senior Minister's Office made public this feedback along with a note from NTUC chief Lim Boon Heng on how he saw SIA's labour issues and how NTUC unions conduct their industrial relations.
Mr Lee Kuan Yew had stepped in to take personal charge of SIA's troubles with the Air Line Pilots Association-Singapore (Alpa-S), after pilots ousted their union's leadership last November.
Seeing this as a growing confrontational stance from Alpa-S, Mr Lee had warned that he would not let the pilots hold the airline hostage.
On Monday, his office made public an exchange of letters between him and new Alpa-S president Mok Hin Choon in which the pilots pledged to cooperate and settle issues amicably.
Capt Mok had also detailed the pilots' grievances, and Mr Lee replied that he was not saying management was blameless either.
Alpa-S is not an NTUC- affiliated union. The other three NTUC-affiliated unions' feedback released yesterday suggests two things.
First, SIA has changed internally as it grapples with an industry which has been battered. Second, it needs to improve its industrial relations, a point Mr Lee has also made.
In laying out the NTUC's approach to good industrial relations, Mr Lim noted that the key was fair play and mutual trust.
'When union leaders can deliver what they promise, then they will gain the trust of their members. Employers have to bear this in mind when they negotiate this with union leaders. When employers keep their word, then trust will develop,' he said.
On the role unions play, he said 'the best help that the union can give a worker is to get him a job'.
Thus unions must aim to help members boost their company's competitiveness. How? By making sure they improve their skills, accept flexible wages pegged to business conditions, and increase productivity.
But such logic was not enough, he said. Workers bore the impact of changes and needed to understand what was happening and what needed to be done. Thus, the NTUC believed in regular dialogue with members and building consensus.
'NTUC does not seek gains for workers by confrontation.'
He also made the point that a company ultimately must exist to benefit the community, not its shareholders.
In their feedback, union leaders accused SIA management of bullying unions, using 'divide-and-rule' tactics to gain the upper hand in negotiations, and paying union leaders scant respect.
'Their gestures and tone are humiliating,' they said.
They also complained of many factions in management, a lack of information sharing or appreciation for sacrifices staff had made.
They also attacked double standards by management, favouring their own, such as agreeing to give profit-sharing bonuses for newly-employed management officers and refusing to budge with new non-management workers.
Mr Lim said he did not want to go into 'micro issues' but he did comment on SIA's medical benefits, which did not adopt the Government's co-payment guidelines. He warned that giving full medical benefits was 'unsustainable'.
SIA management said yesterday that it would make its position clear in due course.
Yesterday, SM Lee's office indicated another way forward - a vision statement from another company, Shell, on its industrial relations.
In it, both union and management pledge to do right - by the company and by workers.
SIA needs to fix worker morale issues
Labour chief highlights need to bring workers on board, build consensus, as NTUC-affiliated unions list grievances
By Rebecca Lee
SINGAPORE Airlines' troubled labour-management relations received another public airing yesterday when the Government released feedback reflecting poor staff morale - and a roadmap on moving ahead.
The feedback showed that SIA's pilots, who have been in the news over their unhappiness with management, are not the only ones with grievances.
When the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) collected views from three of its four affiliated SIA unions last month, they complained of low morale and a changed atmosphere in recent years.
Where a family spirit once prevailed, the key word now was 'accountability' and a 'culture of fear' had spread, they said.
Workers feared making mistakes and were being threatened with the sack often, the key leaders of the SIA Staff Union, Singapore Airport Terminal Services Workers' Union and SIA Engineering Company Engineers and Executives Union told NTUC.
Yesterday, the Senior Minister's Office made public this feedback along with a note from NTUC chief Lim Boon Heng on how he saw SIA's labour issues and how NTUC unions conduct their industrial relations.
Mr Lee Kuan Yew had stepped in to take personal charge of SIA's troubles with the Air Line Pilots Association-Singapore (Alpa-S), after pilots ousted their union's leadership last November.
Seeing this as a growing confrontational stance from Alpa-S, Mr Lee had warned that he would not let the pilots hold the airline hostage.
On Monday, his office made public an exchange of letters between him and new Alpa-S president Mok Hin Choon in which the pilots pledged to cooperate and settle issues amicably.
Capt Mok had also detailed the pilots' grievances, and Mr Lee replied that he was not saying management was blameless either.
Alpa-S is not an NTUC- affiliated union. The other three NTUC-affiliated unions' feedback released yesterday suggests two things.
First, SIA has changed internally as it grapples with an industry which has been battered. Second, it needs to improve its industrial relations, a point Mr Lee has also made.
In laying out the NTUC's approach to good industrial relations, Mr Lim noted that the key was fair play and mutual trust.
'When union leaders can deliver what they promise, then they will gain the trust of their members. Employers have to bear this in mind when they negotiate this with union leaders. When employers keep their word, then trust will develop,' he said.
On the role unions play, he said 'the best help that the union can give a worker is to get him a job'.
Thus unions must aim to help members boost their company's competitiveness. How? By making sure they improve their skills, accept flexible wages pegged to business conditions, and increase productivity.
But such logic was not enough, he said. Workers bore the impact of changes and needed to understand what was happening and what needed to be done. Thus, the NTUC believed in regular dialogue with members and building consensus.
'NTUC does not seek gains for workers by confrontation.'
He also made the point that a company ultimately must exist to benefit the community, not its shareholders.
In their feedback, union leaders accused SIA management of bullying unions, using 'divide-and-rule' tactics to gain the upper hand in negotiations, and paying union leaders scant respect.
'Their gestures and tone are humiliating,' they said.
They also complained of many factions in management, a lack of information sharing or appreciation for sacrifices staff had made.
They also attacked double standards by management, favouring their own, such as agreeing to give profit-sharing bonuses for newly-employed management officers and refusing to budge with new non-management workers.
Mr Lim said he did not want to go into 'micro issues' but he did comment on SIA's medical benefits, which did not adopt the Government's co-payment guidelines. He warned that giving full medical benefits was 'unsustainable'.
SIA management said yesterday that it would make its position clear in due course.
Yesterday, SM Lee's office indicated another way forward - a vision statement from another company, Shell, on its industrial relations.
In it, both union and management pledge to do right - by the company and by workers.
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Todayonline, Singapore, 26.02.04
http://www.todayonline.com/articles/15028.asp
The SIA row and the case for trust and tripartism
Clement Mesenas
[email protected]
Not so long ago, virtually every holidaymaker would say that Singapore Airlines was their carrier of choice. And those who had yet to experience being pampered by an ever-affable Singapore Girl would say they hoped to travel Singapore Airlines, the next time they booked a flight. Such was the reputation of Singapore Airlines, whose acronym SIA was synonymous with Success in the Air.
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But in the last few years, the famous smile of the Singapore Girl began to look frayed at the edges, or so it appeared to regular passengers. Like the Mona Lisa, did she have a secret that we did not know of? Could it be that the Singapore Girl was not much different from the rest of us lesser mortals – overworked, underpaid souls running full tilt just to keep up with the rest. The only difference, perhaps, was she had to keep smiling, we did not.
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Still, the row that erupted between the airline and its pilots was something that surprised many. Yet, it was not something that happened out of the blue but had been simmering for years. Industry insiders confirm what many of us are beginning to suspect — that SIA was a company that was very good at burnishing its public image.
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The airline made lots of money, like so many other companies in Singapore, "growing on the back of a sound and robust economy" as Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew put it. But sadly, like some big companies, behind the gloss, the airline did not quite come up to the mark when managing relations with its workers.
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The twin blows of the Sept 11 attacks and Sars took their toll of many companies. SIA was no exception. It faced the decline in business by cutting costs along with other measures but little did it expect the groundswell of anger and resistance from its pilots.
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The relationship between Alpa-S, the pilots association, and the airline had never been smooth, with disputes going back all of 25 years. Pilots believe, quite rightly, that they took the airline to the pinnacle of success and are hence worth every cent that they are paid.
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Perhaps, that could be the reason why Alpa-S did not see the need for affiliation with the National Trades Union Congress as did the airline's other four unions. Alpa-S perhaps believed it did not need the powerful bargaining power of the NTUC.
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It erred. The principle of tripartite cooperation — long established in Singapore and responsible for the smooth working relationship between workers, management and the Government — has been the cornerstone on which the economic miracle of Singapore was established.
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With tripartism, the days of militant confrontation between union and company have long become a thing of the turbulent past. SM Lee, himself a union adviser in pre-NTUC days, was alarmed at the way Alpa-S was prepared to go down that road of militant confrontation with perhaps tragic, counterproductive consequences.
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He was not prepared to allow Alpa-S to play the game of brinkmanship that characterised union-management relations of the past. Not when it might bring down SIA and diminish Changi International Airport's money-spinning hub status.
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His intervention will hopefully cauterise the festering boil of dismal relations between SIA and Alpa-S. That hope is underscored with new management officials at the helm of SIA and newly elected, more amenable Alpa-S leaders.
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The entry of NTUC labour chief Lim Boon Heng into the fracas could prove to be the turning point. He has revealed that three of the four NTUC-affiliated SIA unions had also complained of low staff morale, a problem that had worsened in recent years.
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According to the unions, SIA was no longer the company where a family spirit prevailed. The atmosphere today was one ruled by "accountability" and a culture of fear. At any time, one feared one could lose one's job and who wants that to happen these days, when there are mounting bills to be paid every month and when tens of thousands are out on the streets looking for work.
.
But many staff have decided to quit, say union chiefs. They will do so after collecting the bonus payment.
.
In their feedback, union leaders accused SIA management of, among other things, using bullying, divide-and-rule tactics in its dealings with them and practising double standards.
.
SM Lee has said he does not consider either the management or the pilots blameless but they would have to break with the past and move forward.
.
So, how will the long-drawn drama play itself out?
.
Mr Lim has spelt out the NTUC's approach to good industrial relations: Fair play and mutual trust.
.
While pointing out that the NTUC does not seek gains for workers by confrontation, Mr Lim stressed that a company ultimately must exist to benefit the community, not its shareholders.
.
Most workers will rejoice in this rather egalitarian outlook but whether company bosses will take kindly to this philosophy is left to be seen.
.
The trick is to reach a consensus and in this the NTUC has over the years shown that it can negotiate with the toughest and most recalcitrant of bosses.
.
SIA has said it would make its position clear in due course. With all the dirty linen being hung out to dry on SIA's less than exemplary dealings with its unions, if what has been said is really true, one would expect that red-faced company officials of Singapore's premier company will not be wasting any more time to set things right.
.
Better relations should translate into all employees making a concerted effort to take on the challenges faced by the industry.
.
Enough said. What's crucial now is for both sides to move on and find a way to talk to each other as equal partners. Only then can trust develop.
http://www.todayonline.com/articles/15028.asp
The SIA row and the case for trust and tripartism
Clement Mesenas
[email protected]
Not so long ago, virtually every holidaymaker would say that Singapore Airlines was their carrier of choice. And those who had yet to experience being pampered by an ever-affable Singapore Girl would say they hoped to travel Singapore Airlines, the next time they booked a flight. Such was the reputation of Singapore Airlines, whose acronym SIA was synonymous with Success in the Air.
.
But in the last few years, the famous smile of the Singapore Girl began to look frayed at the edges, or so it appeared to regular passengers. Like the Mona Lisa, did she have a secret that we did not know of? Could it be that the Singapore Girl was not much different from the rest of us lesser mortals – overworked, underpaid souls running full tilt just to keep up with the rest. The only difference, perhaps, was she had to keep smiling, we did not.
.
Still, the row that erupted between the airline and its pilots was something that surprised many. Yet, it was not something that happened out of the blue but had been simmering for years. Industry insiders confirm what many of us are beginning to suspect — that SIA was a company that was very good at burnishing its public image.
.
The airline made lots of money, like so many other companies in Singapore, "growing on the back of a sound and robust economy" as Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew put it. But sadly, like some big companies, behind the gloss, the airline did not quite come up to the mark when managing relations with its workers.
.
The twin blows of the Sept 11 attacks and Sars took their toll of many companies. SIA was no exception. It faced the decline in business by cutting costs along with other measures but little did it expect the groundswell of anger and resistance from its pilots.
.
The relationship between Alpa-S, the pilots association, and the airline had never been smooth, with disputes going back all of 25 years. Pilots believe, quite rightly, that they took the airline to the pinnacle of success and are hence worth every cent that they are paid.
.
Perhaps, that could be the reason why Alpa-S did not see the need for affiliation with the National Trades Union Congress as did the airline's other four unions. Alpa-S perhaps believed it did not need the powerful bargaining power of the NTUC.
.
It erred. The principle of tripartite cooperation — long established in Singapore and responsible for the smooth working relationship between workers, management and the Government — has been the cornerstone on which the economic miracle of Singapore was established.
.
With tripartism, the days of militant confrontation between union and company have long become a thing of the turbulent past. SM Lee, himself a union adviser in pre-NTUC days, was alarmed at the way Alpa-S was prepared to go down that road of militant confrontation with perhaps tragic, counterproductive consequences.
.
He was not prepared to allow Alpa-S to play the game of brinkmanship that characterised union-management relations of the past. Not when it might bring down SIA and diminish Changi International Airport's money-spinning hub status.
.
His intervention will hopefully cauterise the festering boil of dismal relations between SIA and Alpa-S. That hope is underscored with new management officials at the helm of SIA and newly elected, more amenable Alpa-S leaders.
.
The entry of NTUC labour chief Lim Boon Heng into the fracas could prove to be the turning point. He has revealed that three of the four NTUC-affiliated SIA unions had also complained of low staff morale, a problem that had worsened in recent years.
.
According to the unions, SIA was no longer the company where a family spirit prevailed. The atmosphere today was one ruled by "accountability" and a culture of fear. At any time, one feared one could lose one's job and who wants that to happen these days, when there are mounting bills to be paid every month and when tens of thousands are out on the streets looking for work.
.
But many staff have decided to quit, say union chiefs. They will do so after collecting the bonus payment.
.
In their feedback, union leaders accused SIA management of, among other things, using bullying, divide-and-rule tactics in its dealings with them and practising double standards.
.
SM Lee has said he does not consider either the management or the pilots blameless but they would have to break with the past and move forward.
.
So, how will the long-drawn drama play itself out?
.
Mr Lim has spelt out the NTUC's approach to good industrial relations: Fair play and mutual trust.
.
While pointing out that the NTUC does not seek gains for workers by confrontation, Mr Lim stressed that a company ultimately must exist to benefit the community, not its shareholders.
.
Most workers will rejoice in this rather egalitarian outlook but whether company bosses will take kindly to this philosophy is left to be seen.
.
The trick is to reach a consensus and in this the NTUC has over the years shown that it can negotiate with the toughest and most recalcitrant of bosses.
.
SIA has said it would make its position clear in due course. With all the dirty linen being hung out to dry on SIA's less than exemplary dealings with its unions, if what has been said is really true, one would expect that red-faced company officials of Singapore's premier company will not be wasting any more time to set things right.
.
Better relations should translate into all employees making a concerted effort to take on the challenges faced by the industry.
.
Enough said. What's crucial now is for both sides to move on and find a way to talk to each other as equal partners. Only then can trust develop.
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Chrome Dome, the Govt is watching you closely... (the message is also - the rest of you greedy troublesome types - let this be a warning...)
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/sin...37196,00.html?
FEB 27, 2004
Capt Goh was 'The instigator'
Captain Ryan Goh was singled out by Senior Minister Lee as the 'instigator' of last November's move to oust the Alpa-S leadership. Did other pilots know that the Malaysian citizen had also made plans to move to Perth? Capt Goh later defended his actions.
The statement Mr Lee released to the media:
Capt Ryan Goh Yew Hock was a member of the previous Executive Council of the Air Line Pilots Association Singapore (Alpa-S) under the leadership of Capt Dilip Padbidri.
Between June and November last year, Capt Goh secretly agitated against his own Executive Council and president Dilip Padbidri, with a view to ousting him from office.
Capt Goh crafted a petition but did not sign it himself.
He worked behind the scenes through several proxies to gather signatures for his petition while he hid his hand.
He was aware that what he was doing was unethical since he was then a member of the Alpa-S Executive Council that had negotiated and agreed to the Singapore Airlines (SIA) management's package of wage cuts and economy measures.
Before he initiated these developments, Capt Ryan Goh had applied and secured permanent residence from Australia in November 2002. He re-located his wife and children to settle down in Australia last year.
He sold his Housing Board four-room flat in Toa Payoh Block 179 for $320,000 in October last year and at the same time, bought a house in Ballajura, Perth.
When arranging to ship his Mercedes-Benz to Perth, he told an official in IE Singapore in December 2002 that he would move because 'the grass had stopped growing' in Singapore.
Capt Goh and his family have enjoyed the benefits of Singapore permanent residency since 1981.
He used his Singapore permanent residency status to obtain the benefits of job, HDB housing and union Exco membership. In Alpa-S, he assumed the post of Industrial Secretary from 1998 to 2000, vice-president (Industrial) from 2000 to 2001, and Exco member from June last year.
That did not restrain him from surreptitiously initiating actions that would undermine industrial peace in SIA and also put Singapore's economic interests at risk.
Capt Goh must know that his actions could weaken the position of SIA and Singapore.
When he initiated these actions, he had already become an Australian PR in 2002 and bought a home in Perth last year. He had moved his two sons from schools in Singapore to schools in Perth.
He kept secret these preparations for himself and his family, while holding himself out as a brave Alpa-S unionist who is protecting the interests of his fellow pilots.
Capt Goh did not dispute the statement, saying it was factual, but he denied being the instigator:
'I don't think I've been as bad as I've been made out to be...It says here that I had a hand in the ousting of the council. That is true. But I'm not the instigator.
In my opinion at the time, the council was losing, the leaders were losing the support of the body. And as a company we would be in serious trouble if the leadership of the association could not be trusted by the body.
In future, the management will come to the union and say: 'You need to do this for us.' How is the leadership going to sell it to the general membership when members do not trust the leadership?
Now that is the perception. I'm not here to cast a slur on individuals but that is the only way we do it. And in order not to make it personal... the whole idea was to make it faceless. And I'm sure the individuals concerned were well aware the petition was being called for them to step down.
As for the other part about the selling of the properties and moving to Australia, well, I had purchased a place in Toa Payoh so that my daughter could get into CHIJ as it was within the 1km radius.
Now that reason no longer remains, so I sold it. But I still have another house in Katong. So that does not prove that I was moving away to Australia.
(Capt Goh had said earlier that he had sent his son to Perth because his son could not cope with Chinese lessons at school here).
And as for selling the car, it's just simple arithmetic, because the certificate of entitlement (COE) for my car was quite high and I could get a good price for the car. And after I scrapped it, I shipped it to Australia and it would still carry about $8,000. If I were to purchase the same car in Australia, it would cost me about $30,000. So it's just pure arithmetic.
Singapore is welcoming foreign talent and I may be a foreigner but I call this place home.'
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/sin...37196,00.html?
FEB 27, 2004
Capt Goh was 'The instigator'
Captain Ryan Goh was singled out by Senior Minister Lee as the 'instigator' of last November's move to oust the Alpa-S leadership. Did other pilots know that the Malaysian citizen had also made plans to move to Perth? Capt Goh later defended his actions.
The statement Mr Lee released to the media:
Capt Ryan Goh Yew Hock was a member of the previous Executive Council of the Air Line Pilots Association Singapore (Alpa-S) under the leadership of Capt Dilip Padbidri.
Between June and November last year, Capt Goh secretly agitated against his own Executive Council and president Dilip Padbidri, with a view to ousting him from office.
Capt Goh crafted a petition but did not sign it himself.
He worked behind the scenes through several proxies to gather signatures for his petition while he hid his hand.
He was aware that what he was doing was unethical since he was then a member of the Alpa-S Executive Council that had negotiated and agreed to the Singapore Airlines (SIA) management's package of wage cuts and economy measures.
Before he initiated these developments, Capt Ryan Goh had applied and secured permanent residence from Australia in November 2002. He re-located his wife and children to settle down in Australia last year.
He sold his Housing Board four-room flat in Toa Payoh Block 179 for $320,000 in October last year and at the same time, bought a house in Ballajura, Perth.
When arranging to ship his Mercedes-Benz to Perth, he told an official in IE Singapore in December 2002 that he would move because 'the grass had stopped growing' in Singapore.
Capt Goh and his family have enjoyed the benefits of Singapore permanent residency since 1981.
He used his Singapore permanent residency status to obtain the benefits of job, HDB housing and union Exco membership. In Alpa-S, he assumed the post of Industrial Secretary from 1998 to 2000, vice-president (Industrial) from 2000 to 2001, and Exco member from June last year.
That did not restrain him from surreptitiously initiating actions that would undermine industrial peace in SIA and also put Singapore's economic interests at risk.
Capt Goh must know that his actions could weaken the position of SIA and Singapore.
When he initiated these actions, he had already become an Australian PR in 2002 and bought a home in Perth last year. He had moved his two sons from schools in Singapore to schools in Perth.
He kept secret these preparations for himself and his family, while holding himself out as a brave Alpa-S unionist who is protecting the interests of his fellow pilots.
Capt Goh did not dispute the statement, saying it was factual, but he denied being the instigator:
'I don't think I've been as bad as I've been made out to be...It says here that I had a hand in the ousting of the council. That is true. But I'm not the instigator.
In my opinion at the time, the council was losing, the leaders were losing the support of the body. And as a company we would be in serious trouble if the leadership of the association could not be trusted by the body.
In future, the management will come to the union and say: 'You need to do this for us.' How is the leadership going to sell it to the general membership when members do not trust the leadership?
Now that is the perception. I'm not here to cast a slur on individuals but that is the only way we do it. And in order not to make it personal... the whole idea was to make it faceless. And I'm sure the individuals concerned were well aware the petition was being called for them to step down.
As for the other part about the selling of the properties and moving to Australia, well, I had purchased a place in Toa Payoh so that my daughter could get into CHIJ as it was within the 1km radius.
Now that reason no longer remains, so I sold it. But I still have another house in Katong. So that does not prove that I was moving away to Australia.
(Capt Goh had said earlier that he had sent his son to Perth because his son could not cope with Chinese lessons at school here).
And as for selling the car, it's just simple arithmetic, because the certificate of entitlement (COE) for my car was quite high and I could get a good price for the car. And after I scrapped it, I shipped it to Australia and it would still carry about $8,000. If I were to purchase the same car in Australia, it would cost me about $30,000. So it's just pure arithmetic.
Singapore is welcoming foreign talent and I may be a foreigner but I call this place home.'
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Straits Times, 27.02.04
SM LEE MEETS SIA PILOTS
Govt will ensure SIA acts 'in good faith'
No sacred cows on past agreements; both company and union must work towards NWC recommendations
By Rebecca Lee
AS THE major shareholder of Singapore Airlines (SIA), the Government will make sure the airline does a revamp of its human resource practices and also make a fresh start with the pilots.
Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew added that he was confident that with a new 'gentler' chief executive officer in place, industrial relations at the national carrier will change for the better.
Fourteen SIA pilots who met SM Lee at the Istana yesterday pledged to start things on a clean slate and work at rebuilding trust with the airline's management.
However, they also asked for assurances that SIA management too will work towards change, because 'it takes two hands to clap', as Air Line Pilots Association Singapore (Alpa-S) president Mok Hin Choon put it.
Giving his backing yesterday, SM Lee said: 'I can assure you that the Government will make sure that SIA acts in good faith.
'We are the majority owners, we will ensure that they act in the interest of the company,' he said, adding this will require cooperation, trust and confidence in the leaders of the company.
He added that particularly with a new CEO, Mr Chew Choon Seng, in place, the airline can make a fresh start.
'I believe there is a chance with Chew Choon Seng, because he is a gentle sort of person, I have dealt with him. He's not hard... he's open, he's also starting on a new slate,' SM Lee said.
Highlighting one of the areas of HR management which needs to be relooked, he said each head of department at the company also needed to manage HR, instead of simply relying on the company's HR department.
SM Lee also commented on the 'mistake' SIA made in the way it let go of 26 pilots last year. It had retrenched them and paid out benefits when in effect they should have been dismissed for not performing up to mark.
'I'd tell them, 'You're not up to mark, you go',' he said.
Blaming the mishandling of the matter on the weakness of the management, Mr Lee also made the point that it was not the job of unions to protect 'laggards'.
'The job of union leaders is not to protect the malingerers,' he said.
He also stressed that going forward, there would be 'no sacred cows' in terms of past agreements and positions taken by either side.
'The first premise is that there are no sacred cows. All cows can be slaughtered.'
As the airline industry wrestles with the wrenching changes of the past few years - the advent of new long-haul aircraft and low-cost carriers, and consolidation in the business - SIA must be nimble and flexible to stay on top.
It will thus have to follow the recommendations made by the National Wages Council (NWC), such as in changing its medical benefits scheme and in the capping of retrenchment benefits.
'Therefore, whether it's a cap on retrenchment or the maximum-minimum wage, you have to follow NWC recommendations because there are reasons for it and valid reasons,' said Mr Lee.
For example, the move away from the seniority-based wage system by reducing the maximum-minimum salary range was to prevent a situation where senior workers were the ones who were retrenched simply because they were more costly. The aim was to keep people employable longer.
Capt Mok said the pilots were in favour of a more flexible wage system as their salary structure was already very variable.
However, a more thorny issue may prove to be the move to change the company's medical benefits to a co-payment scheme.
Noting that he did not want to see a situation where pilots came to work in ill health, Capt Mok said that medical benefits were 'something that is quite essential for pilots'.
However, acknowledging that SIA has been 'very generous' in terms of these benefits, he said: 'I hear the need for a change and we will have to look at the details.'
Another change that may be in the works: Limiting the backdating period of a collective agreement (CA) to three months.
Currently, the established industrial relations practice allows CAs to be backdated to the date they expire. This sometimes leads to drawn-out negotiations as both sides stall for time.
Summing up the need for SIA to follow the NWC guidelines - drawn up by the Government, employers and unions - SM Lee said: 'Everything we do is to balance the interest of our citizens and advance the lot as much as we can, that's the purpose.'
SM LEE MEETS SIA PILOTS
Govt will ensure SIA acts 'in good faith'
No sacred cows on past agreements; both company and union must work towards NWC recommendations
By Rebecca Lee
AS THE major shareholder of Singapore Airlines (SIA), the Government will make sure the airline does a revamp of its human resource practices and also make a fresh start with the pilots.
Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew added that he was confident that with a new 'gentler' chief executive officer in place, industrial relations at the national carrier will change for the better.
Fourteen SIA pilots who met SM Lee at the Istana yesterday pledged to start things on a clean slate and work at rebuilding trust with the airline's management.
However, they also asked for assurances that SIA management too will work towards change, because 'it takes two hands to clap', as Air Line Pilots Association Singapore (Alpa-S) president Mok Hin Choon put it.
Giving his backing yesterday, SM Lee said: 'I can assure you that the Government will make sure that SIA acts in good faith.
'We are the majority owners, we will ensure that they act in the interest of the company,' he said, adding this will require cooperation, trust and confidence in the leaders of the company.
He added that particularly with a new CEO, Mr Chew Choon Seng, in place, the airline can make a fresh start.
'I believe there is a chance with Chew Choon Seng, because he is a gentle sort of person, I have dealt with him. He's not hard... he's open, he's also starting on a new slate,' SM Lee said.
Highlighting one of the areas of HR management which needs to be relooked, he said each head of department at the company also needed to manage HR, instead of simply relying on the company's HR department.
SM Lee also commented on the 'mistake' SIA made in the way it let go of 26 pilots last year. It had retrenched them and paid out benefits when in effect they should have been dismissed for not performing up to mark.
'I'd tell them, 'You're not up to mark, you go',' he said.
Blaming the mishandling of the matter on the weakness of the management, Mr Lee also made the point that it was not the job of unions to protect 'laggards'.
'The job of union leaders is not to protect the malingerers,' he said.
He also stressed that going forward, there would be 'no sacred cows' in terms of past agreements and positions taken by either side.
'The first premise is that there are no sacred cows. All cows can be slaughtered.'
As the airline industry wrestles with the wrenching changes of the past few years - the advent of new long-haul aircraft and low-cost carriers, and consolidation in the business - SIA must be nimble and flexible to stay on top.
It will thus have to follow the recommendations made by the National Wages Council (NWC), such as in changing its medical benefits scheme and in the capping of retrenchment benefits.
'Therefore, whether it's a cap on retrenchment or the maximum-minimum wage, you have to follow NWC recommendations because there are reasons for it and valid reasons,' said Mr Lee.
For example, the move away from the seniority-based wage system by reducing the maximum-minimum salary range was to prevent a situation where senior workers were the ones who were retrenched simply because they were more costly. The aim was to keep people employable longer.
Capt Mok said the pilots were in favour of a more flexible wage system as their salary structure was already very variable.
However, a more thorny issue may prove to be the move to change the company's medical benefits to a co-payment scheme.
Noting that he did not want to see a situation where pilots came to work in ill health, Capt Mok said that medical benefits were 'something that is quite essential for pilots'.
However, acknowledging that SIA has been 'very generous' in terms of these benefits, he said: 'I hear the need for a change and we will have to look at the details.'
Another change that may be in the works: Limiting the backdating period of a collective agreement (CA) to three months.
Currently, the established industrial relations practice allows CAs to be backdated to the date they expire. This sometimes leads to drawn-out negotiations as both sides stall for time.
Summing up the need for SIA to follow the NWC guidelines - drawn up by the Government, employers and unions - SM Lee said: 'Everything we do is to balance the interest of our citizens and advance the lot as much as we can, that's the purpose.'
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SM Lee K.Y. said:
"SM Lee also commented on the 'mistake' SIA made in the way it let go of 26 pilots last year. It had retrenched them and paid out benefits when in effect they should have been dismissed for not performing up to mark.
'I'd tell them, 'You're not up to mark, you go',' he said"
and thereby demonstrated that he still hasn't got a bloody clue about airlines generally and SIA in particular.
"SM Lee also commented on the 'mistake' SIA made in the way it let go of 26 pilots last year. It had retrenched them and paid out benefits when in effect they should have been dismissed for not performing up to mark.
'I'd tell them, 'You're not up to mark, you go',' he said"
and thereby demonstrated that he still hasn't got a bloody clue about airlines generally and SIA in particular.
Also interesting that none of the Captains that where fired where locals. No laggards in the local workforce lah.
Very nice to see that both sides in the dispute have agreed to do it the SM's way.
Very nice to see that both sides in the dispute have agreed to do it the SM's way.
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Straits Times, 28.02.04
SM MEETS PILOTS: THE MEETING
Overseas-based pilots are 'a thorn in our flesh'
On Thursday, after a meeting with Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore Airlines pilots told the media they wanted to cooperate with management and move on. REBECCA LEE gives more details on the various issues raised at the two-hour meeting attended by 14 pilots.
SINGAPORE Airlines' overseas-based pilots are a 'thorn in the flesh' to union members, bemoaned the pilots' association during its meeting with Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew on Thursday.
Singapore-based pilots were unhappy with them not because of their bigger pay packets, but because they were costing the company too much money, which could be easily saved by finding other ways of hiring pilots.
Members of the Air Line Pilots Association-Singapore (Alpa-S) who met SM Lee at the Istana on Thursday also lamented the unfair way routes were distributed.
The overseas-based pilots could 'cherry-pick' the routes they flew and took the lucrative long-haul routes, leaving their Singapore-based counterparts with 'scraps'.
Pilots get bigger allowances on longer routes, which are also considered more prestigious.
The unhappiness over overseas-based pilots was raised when SM Lee asked the 14 pilots of Alpa-S to tell him their grievances.
Alpa-S president Mok Hin Choon said they could not see the logic in SIA continuing to employ overseas-based pilots, who now cost the airline 15 to 20 per cent more than locally-based ones.
This was due to currency conversion and the various allowances they get, he said, based on the calculations the union had made.
SIA started a wholly-owned subsidiary in Mauritius in 1997 when it expanded rapidly and needed to fill its cockpits faster than it could train its pilots.
It recruited about 120 pilots overseas through this company and based them in London, Los Angeles, Brisbane, Sydney and Perth, instead of here.
These pilots are not represented by Alpa-S, which counts 1,600 of SIA's 1,800 pilots - who hail from 40 countries - as its members.
Captain Mok said the strengthening of certain foreign currencies, such as the pound, over the past few years meant that the overseas-based pilots cost the airline more now.
The pilots produced a chart to show that hiring a foreign pilot and basing him in Singapore is cheaper than relying on the scheme.
Capt Mok also highlighted the practical difficulties of having such overseas-based pilots.
For example, sometimes a Singapore-based pilot has to take a flight up to London to 'position' himself there so that he can pilot an aircraft back to Singapore, as the overseas-based pilot will have returned home to London where he is based.
'At one point in time, it really frustrated us more because they were cherry-picking the flights,' Capt Mok added.
For instance, these pilots would pick the flights from Singapore to London or Singapore to Frankfurt, which were popular routes.
'And they would leave us with all the scraps,' he said.
While SM Lee listened to their complaints, he also expressed surprise that the management could have acted in a way that did not benefit the company in terms of cost-savings.
'Surely they can't be that daft,' he said.
The discussion also turned to the rostering of pilots which appeared to cause much grief among those present.
Who was in charge, SM Lee demanded to know, his voicing rising a little.
Flight operations division, came the reply.
'If all this is true, then the flight operations must be blind or stupid!' said SM Lee.
Asked if the airline could easily sack these pilots, the Alpa-S members said there could be issues with European Union regulations.
SM Lee then asked the pilots for a list of their cost comparisons so he could study them.
He pointed out to them that if the overseas-based pilots now cost more than when the scheme started because of currency fluctuations, the company might not have foreseen the foreign exchange risks.
This was something every business had to deal with, he said.
The pilots went on to tell him that the overseas-based pilots made up just one instance in which they had tried to talk with the management and offer better ideas on how to save money.
But often management would not be interested in listening to them, complained one.
Unhappiness regarding the overseas-based pilots first surfaced publicly last May when the airline announced wage cuts and unpaid leave to stem the financial bleeding from the Sars outbreak.
SIA defended the scheme. It said the overseas-based pilots saved the company about $100,000 a year per pilot, as it did not have to pay housing and other allowances to base them here.
Disagreeing with its decision to apply the wage cuts across the board then, the Singapore-based pilots wanted the overseas-based pilots to be laid off first, given the excess supply of pilots at that time.
They had said that the overseas-based pilots were not employees of SIA, but merely seconded to the company.
However, SIA maintained at that time that it had to be even-handed or it would not be able to recruit foreign pilots when times were good again.
SM MEETS PILOTS: THE MEETING
Overseas-based pilots are 'a thorn in our flesh'
On Thursday, after a meeting with Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore Airlines pilots told the media they wanted to cooperate with management and move on. REBECCA LEE gives more details on the various issues raised at the two-hour meeting attended by 14 pilots.
SINGAPORE Airlines' overseas-based pilots are a 'thorn in the flesh' to union members, bemoaned the pilots' association during its meeting with Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew on Thursday.
Singapore-based pilots were unhappy with them not because of their bigger pay packets, but because they were costing the company too much money, which could be easily saved by finding other ways of hiring pilots.
Members of the Air Line Pilots Association-Singapore (Alpa-S) who met SM Lee at the Istana on Thursday also lamented the unfair way routes were distributed.
The overseas-based pilots could 'cherry-pick' the routes they flew and took the lucrative long-haul routes, leaving their Singapore-based counterparts with 'scraps'.
Pilots get bigger allowances on longer routes, which are also considered more prestigious.
The unhappiness over overseas-based pilots was raised when SM Lee asked the 14 pilots of Alpa-S to tell him their grievances.
Alpa-S president Mok Hin Choon said they could not see the logic in SIA continuing to employ overseas-based pilots, who now cost the airline 15 to 20 per cent more than locally-based ones.
This was due to currency conversion and the various allowances they get, he said, based on the calculations the union had made.
SIA started a wholly-owned subsidiary in Mauritius in 1997 when it expanded rapidly and needed to fill its cockpits faster than it could train its pilots.
It recruited about 120 pilots overseas through this company and based them in London, Los Angeles, Brisbane, Sydney and Perth, instead of here.
These pilots are not represented by Alpa-S, which counts 1,600 of SIA's 1,800 pilots - who hail from 40 countries - as its members.
Captain Mok said the strengthening of certain foreign currencies, such as the pound, over the past few years meant that the overseas-based pilots cost the airline more now.
The pilots produced a chart to show that hiring a foreign pilot and basing him in Singapore is cheaper than relying on the scheme.
Capt Mok also highlighted the practical difficulties of having such overseas-based pilots.
For example, sometimes a Singapore-based pilot has to take a flight up to London to 'position' himself there so that he can pilot an aircraft back to Singapore, as the overseas-based pilot will have returned home to London where he is based.
'At one point in time, it really frustrated us more because they were cherry-picking the flights,' Capt Mok added.
For instance, these pilots would pick the flights from Singapore to London or Singapore to Frankfurt, which were popular routes.
'And they would leave us with all the scraps,' he said.
While SM Lee listened to their complaints, he also expressed surprise that the management could have acted in a way that did not benefit the company in terms of cost-savings.
'Surely they can't be that daft,' he said.
The discussion also turned to the rostering of pilots which appeared to cause much grief among those present.
Who was in charge, SM Lee demanded to know, his voicing rising a little.
Flight operations division, came the reply.
'If all this is true, then the flight operations must be blind or stupid!' said SM Lee.
Asked if the airline could easily sack these pilots, the Alpa-S members said there could be issues with European Union regulations.
SM Lee then asked the pilots for a list of their cost comparisons so he could study them.
He pointed out to them that if the overseas-based pilots now cost more than when the scheme started because of currency fluctuations, the company might not have foreseen the foreign exchange risks.
This was something every business had to deal with, he said.
The pilots went on to tell him that the overseas-based pilots made up just one instance in which they had tried to talk with the management and offer better ideas on how to save money.
But often management would not be interested in listening to them, complained one.
Unhappiness regarding the overseas-based pilots first surfaced publicly last May when the airline announced wage cuts and unpaid leave to stem the financial bleeding from the Sars outbreak.
SIA defended the scheme. It said the overseas-based pilots saved the company about $100,000 a year per pilot, as it did not have to pay housing and other allowances to base them here.
Disagreeing with its decision to apply the wage cuts across the board then, the Singapore-based pilots wanted the overseas-based pilots to be laid off first, given the excess supply of pilots at that time.
They had said that the overseas-based pilots were not employees of SIA, but merely seconded to the company.
However, SIA maintained at that time that it had to be even-handed or it would not be able to recruit foreign pilots when times were good again.
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Quote:>>>SM Lee K.Y. said:
"SM Lee also commented on the 'mistake' SIA made in the way it let go of 26 pilots last year. It had retrenched them and paid out benefits when in effect they should have been dismissed for not performing up to mark.
'I'd tell them, 'You're not up to mark, you go',' he said"<<<
That shows the SM is way way past his time. He thinks he's the emperor! He's never heard of pilot power!
SM Lee, I think, you are not up to mark, so you better go first....
"SM Lee also commented on the 'mistake' SIA made in the way it let go of 26 pilots last year. It had retrenched them and paid out benefits when in effect they should have been dismissed for not performing up to mark.
'I'd tell them, 'You're not up to mark, you go',' he said"<<<
That shows the SM is way way past his time. He thinks he's the emperor! He's never heard of pilot power!
SM Lee, I think, you are not up to mark, so you better go first....
Moderate, Modest & Mild.
Weren't these guys "let go" because they were either (a) close to retirement age, and/or (b) at end of contract? That was my understanding.
Nothing to do with "performance", which is delegated through Crew Scheduling in any case.
The Senile Minister seems to now - almost daily - confirm his inability to function as normal, fully aware citizen.
He was good in his day, and (with the help of the Brits) raised a tiny island state to some degree of importance in the S.E. Asia region.
The world has moved forward, and so have the citizens of Singapore, who no longer need an iron fist to suppress them.
The children have grown up to mature adulthood, SM.
Stop treating them like children.
You are only making yourself look like a foolish old goat.
As for the expat pilots based overseas - it's SQ's trainset. Let the owners decide what they think is best!
Nothing to do with "performance", which is delegated through Crew Scheduling in any case.
The Senile Minister seems to now - almost daily - confirm his inability to function as normal, fully aware citizen.
He was good in his day, and (with the help of the Brits) raised a tiny island state to some degree of importance in the S.E. Asia region.
The world has moved forward, and so have the citizens of Singapore, who no longer need an iron fist to suppress them.
The children have grown up to mature adulthood, SM.
Stop treating them like children.
You are only making yourself look like a foolish old goat.
As for the expat pilots based overseas - it's SQ's trainset. Let the owners decide what they think is best!
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Kaptain M: They were neither at the end of their contracts nor near to retirment. Your understanding is bad, really bad, please stay away from the forums if you don't know the facts.
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What is the bottom line to all of the non-Singapore based pilots and their future? If there are 120 based outsideSingagpore, the management apparently wants them. If the management forced them to come to SIN rather than the outstations, does SQ management think they would quit or that their attitudes would go bad?
I see the union point of view. Why can't or anre't the out of SIN pilots inside the Union? It would seem like the Union would want to have them as friends and not enemies.
Are the number and volume of non-SIN pilots stable and reducing or what?
It is just not clear to me why this issue is not just resolved. I presume that the non-SIN guys get less allowances by being based outside of Singapore. Is that the asnwer?
I see the union point of view. Why can't or anre't the out of SIN pilots inside the Union? It would seem like the Union would want to have them as friends and not enemies.
Are the number and volume of non-SIN pilots stable and reducing or what?
It is just not clear to me why this issue is not just resolved. I presume that the non-SIN guys get less allowances by being based outside of Singapore. Is that the asnwer?
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Sunday Times, Singapore, 29.02.04
SM's meeting with pilots: What happened at the Istana
By Zuraidah Ibrahim
'You play straight with me, I play straight with you. You play ducks and drakes with me, I play ducks and drakes with you.' -- SM Lee Kuan Yew
Repeat of all that has been reported by Rebecca Lee in the Straits Times during the past week………………………..
Finishing with ……. They told him 38 pilots had left in recent months. Where were they going, he wanted to know.
There will be changes, he said.
'I am assuring you that the Government will make sure that SIA acts in good faith,' he said.
Mr Lee went on to answer one of the main questions on the minds of Singaporeans: Why did the Government need to intervene in an internal company matter? 'We are the majority owners and we will ensure that they act in the interest of the country, and the interest of the country requires cooperation, trust and confidence from the unions.'
Why did it have to be the Senior Minister?
As he explained it, he had dealt with the airline from the beginning, it was fair he saw to it that the restive relationship between the pilots in the early years still continuing today, end.
But he was also realistic enough to concede this much: The residual feelings of suspicion would still be there.
Capt Mok too made this plain enough when he told the media later Alpa-S was not ready to embrace NTUC.
But yes, he and the others pledged to work on a clean slate, work in partnership with management and give things a go. They would use the negotiations for the new collective agreement as a time for trust-building.
By the end of it, it felt as if the fog of suspicion that had settled between Government and Alpa-S these past months had a good chance of lifting.
As the press walked in at the tail end of the meeting and posed questions, Captain Mok insisted on looking forward, vowing to make a clean start.
Details of difficulties with management? No, he wasn't keen on hitting the headlines with that.
Details of demands? No, not keen either.
Management should thank him for closing the books thus.
The meeting ended with handshakes all around, even with the solemn-looking Capt Goh.
If there was any sense of deja vu in the room, Captain Freddie Koh must have felt it most.
He was among a posse of union pilots Mr Lee summoned to the Istana in 1980 for daring to fan a go-slow action to vent their disgruntlement over pay and work conditions.
He told them then in unvarnished language: 'I do not want to do you in but I will not let anyone do Singapore in.'
When trouble with Alpa-S began, Mr Lee said he wanted to clean up on the restiveness that was resurfacing. 'This is a job that has to be finished and I'll finish it.'
Thursday afternoon moved towards that conclusion.
Looking back, throughout it all, the Senior Minister in effect employed the familiar strategy of good cop, bad cop. Except that he played both roles.
Now that he and the Government have said their piece and the pilots have made peace, SIA needs to break its deafening silence. Soon.
SM's meeting with pilots: What happened at the Istana
By Zuraidah Ibrahim
'You play straight with me, I play straight with you. You play ducks and drakes with me, I play ducks and drakes with you.' -- SM Lee Kuan Yew
Repeat of all that has been reported by Rebecca Lee in the Straits Times during the past week………………………..
Finishing with ……. They told him 38 pilots had left in recent months. Where were they going, he wanted to know.
There will be changes, he said.
'I am assuring you that the Government will make sure that SIA acts in good faith,' he said.
Mr Lee went on to answer one of the main questions on the minds of Singaporeans: Why did the Government need to intervene in an internal company matter? 'We are the majority owners and we will ensure that they act in the interest of the country, and the interest of the country requires cooperation, trust and confidence from the unions.'
Why did it have to be the Senior Minister?
As he explained it, he had dealt with the airline from the beginning, it was fair he saw to it that the restive relationship between the pilots in the early years still continuing today, end.
But he was also realistic enough to concede this much: The residual feelings of suspicion would still be there.
Capt Mok too made this plain enough when he told the media later Alpa-S was not ready to embrace NTUC.
But yes, he and the others pledged to work on a clean slate, work in partnership with management and give things a go. They would use the negotiations for the new collective agreement as a time for trust-building.
By the end of it, it felt as if the fog of suspicion that had settled between Government and Alpa-S these past months had a good chance of lifting.
As the press walked in at the tail end of the meeting and posed questions, Captain Mok insisted on looking forward, vowing to make a clean start.
Details of difficulties with management? No, he wasn't keen on hitting the headlines with that.
Details of demands? No, not keen either.
Management should thank him for closing the books thus.
The meeting ended with handshakes all around, even with the solemn-looking Capt Goh.
If there was any sense of deja vu in the room, Captain Freddie Koh must have felt it most.
He was among a posse of union pilots Mr Lee summoned to the Istana in 1980 for daring to fan a go-slow action to vent their disgruntlement over pay and work conditions.
He told them then in unvarnished language: 'I do not want to do you in but I will not let anyone do Singapore in.'
When trouble with Alpa-S began, Mr Lee said he wanted to clean up on the restiveness that was resurfacing. 'This is a job that has to be finished and I'll finish it.'
Thursday afternoon moved towards that conclusion.
Looking back, throughout it all, the Senior Minister in effect employed the familiar strategy of good cop, bad cop. Except that he played both roles.
Now that he and the Government have said their piece and the pilots have made peace, SIA needs to break its deafening silence. Soon.
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One of the prevailing impressions generated by the latest flurry of activity in the ongoing saga of the “Senior Minister and the Pilots” (prop. R. Lee – no relation) has been that of the Senior Minister’s infallibility when forecasting the future and the corollary absolute correctness of any policy formulated, following his deliberations. Now, whilst most of us, on the odd occasion, enjoy the conviction of our own correctness and would like to proceed along the appropriate (to us) lines, we are usually confronted by the checks and balances that life throws in the path of mortals and we find that subsequent events enforce reflection and usually fortuitous modification to our perceptions, proposals and actions.
Not so, however, for the Senior Minister, who solely runs the show in Singapore (despite the sometimes tiresome ritual of having a Prime Minister and a Cabinet) and who, incidentally, was a little disingenuous in his explanation, as reported by R. Lee, that he had interceded in the Pilots’ dispute with SIA as the Government was the major shareholder of the airline (which it is) – his real motive, of course, was to personally head off any form of industrial action by Alpa-S (and he couldn’t trust anyone else to do the job properly) which would have set a precedent and an encouragement for other Singapore “unions” and hence would have struck at the very heart of the monolithic regime he has created and is intent on passing intact to his son in the next couple of months.
The Senior Minister’s view of the future and in particular that of the global air transport industry, must, hence, in the absence of any effective check or balance provided by anyone in Singapore, be viewed on these pages in the context of earlier far reaching and expensive mistakes made by the Senior Minister, not as criticism of, or slight to him, but as a reminder that he is also of mortal flesh and so subject to the errors of perception and judgment that plague the rest of us. For in so doing, we realize that despite his many triumphs and the extraordinary “Singapore Miracle” of which he is the architect, he has been wrong and fallible in a number of key decisions he has made in the past – one of which as a notable example was his supposedly far seeing, eugenically motivated “Stop at Two” policy for population control, now summarily dumped and replaced by a strident and desperate contemporary drive to get Singaporeans breeding to fill the (government created) demographic black hole that looms in the foreseeable future.
The foregoing is meant to suggest that the Senior Minister’s prognosis for the air transport industry, as reported by an ever-obliging R. Lee and published by a slavish Straits Times is not necessarily the future of that industry and that SIA will not necessarily drown in a sea of low cost airlines, either regionally or globally – if so why not just cancel the A380 and other orders and put the capital into the likes of “Tiger” airlines? Again there is a sense of disingenuity apparent when he fails to mention the vast (presumably private) capital required for these LCA undertakings and the corollary enabling political frameworks in the form of open sky agreements (which, he airily informs us, will be sweeping the globe “shortly”) that are required to bring these concepts to fruition, stability and long term survival in a highly competitive commercial environment. Meanwhile, to meet this perceived gargantuan threat, costs at SIA must be slashed and salaries made more “variable” – that is risk traditionally shouldered by shareholders must be removed and placed firmly with the employees! – who said Singaporeans were not innovative?.
As pilots will have recently noticed, The Senior Minister has not been accurately advised in detail, of the facts of the Alpa-S matter in hand. How can we therefore assume that he has been correctly and accurately advised on other, wider, strategic matters and on which he is making decisions and implementing policy, perhaps in error?
Similarly, in respect of cost cutting, can the Senior Minister have been advised that his former CEO of SIA has been responsible for the largest (multi billion dollar) hemorrhage in the airline’s history, with the ill fated and abortive forays into Air New Zealand and Ansett Airlines (which all the Oz pilots could have told him to avoid like the plague) but that his reward for such precipitate and arrogant action was the cap removal (by himself and cronies) of annual directors’ bonus payments and then retirement to a well paid board sinecure in DBS Bank. Needless to say these gigantic (covered up) losses make any perception of “fat” in the employee payroll pail into nigh on invisibility.
To the future, however, and the Senior Minister’s decision on how SIA employees will be treated and paid (for it is he and he alone, who will make any decision). I feel certain that readers will have sniffed the international air, just as most assuredly the Senior Minister has and the scent that I’m getting indicates just the hint of a turn away from the corporatist arrogance and excess of the past decade and a consideration of the merits of NTUC chief, Lim Boon Heng’s words that, “a company ultimately must exist to benefit the community, not its shareholders”. Whilst I wouldn’t suggest that the Senior Minister subscribes to this sentiment, I most certainly would subscribe to the idea that he is very closely watching the lead-up to the November 2004 US Presidential election and will have noted that Democratic candidate Kerry has scored the first of what could be many below water-line hits on the Republican Party, on the very issue of corporate treatment of employees. This item could even surpass the economy and the handling of Iraq as a voting issue and ultimately see a President Kerry in the White House. Subsequent speedy delivery of pre-election promises to redress the balance of power between capital and labor (a concept currently finding surprising bi-partisan support throughout political USA) would be vital to Administration credibility in the “first 100 days”.
Would Singapore feel it wise to be out of step with a both a new Democratic Administration and a trend which if not currently global is similarly entering the collective consciousness of the Economic Union?
Time will show if the Senior Minister judges correctly on this one.
Not so, however, for the Senior Minister, who solely runs the show in Singapore (despite the sometimes tiresome ritual of having a Prime Minister and a Cabinet) and who, incidentally, was a little disingenuous in his explanation, as reported by R. Lee, that he had interceded in the Pilots’ dispute with SIA as the Government was the major shareholder of the airline (which it is) – his real motive, of course, was to personally head off any form of industrial action by Alpa-S (and he couldn’t trust anyone else to do the job properly) which would have set a precedent and an encouragement for other Singapore “unions” and hence would have struck at the very heart of the monolithic regime he has created and is intent on passing intact to his son in the next couple of months.
The Senior Minister’s view of the future and in particular that of the global air transport industry, must, hence, in the absence of any effective check or balance provided by anyone in Singapore, be viewed on these pages in the context of earlier far reaching and expensive mistakes made by the Senior Minister, not as criticism of, or slight to him, but as a reminder that he is also of mortal flesh and so subject to the errors of perception and judgment that plague the rest of us. For in so doing, we realize that despite his many triumphs and the extraordinary “Singapore Miracle” of which he is the architect, he has been wrong and fallible in a number of key decisions he has made in the past – one of which as a notable example was his supposedly far seeing, eugenically motivated “Stop at Two” policy for population control, now summarily dumped and replaced by a strident and desperate contemporary drive to get Singaporeans breeding to fill the (government created) demographic black hole that looms in the foreseeable future.
The foregoing is meant to suggest that the Senior Minister’s prognosis for the air transport industry, as reported by an ever-obliging R. Lee and published by a slavish Straits Times is not necessarily the future of that industry and that SIA will not necessarily drown in a sea of low cost airlines, either regionally or globally – if so why not just cancel the A380 and other orders and put the capital into the likes of “Tiger” airlines? Again there is a sense of disingenuity apparent when he fails to mention the vast (presumably private) capital required for these LCA undertakings and the corollary enabling political frameworks in the form of open sky agreements (which, he airily informs us, will be sweeping the globe “shortly”) that are required to bring these concepts to fruition, stability and long term survival in a highly competitive commercial environment. Meanwhile, to meet this perceived gargantuan threat, costs at SIA must be slashed and salaries made more “variable” – that is risk traditionally shouldered by shareholders must be removed and placed firmly with the employees! – who said Singaporeans were not innovative?.
As pilots will have recently noticed, The Senior Minister has not been accurately advised in detail, of the facts of the Alpa-S matter in hand. How can we therefore assume that he has been correctly and accurately advised on other, wider, strategic matters and on which he is making decisions and implementing policy, perhaps in error?
Similarly, in respect of cost cutting, can the Senior Minister have been advised that his former CEO of SIA has been responsible for the largest (multi billion dollar) hemorrhage in the airline’s history, with the ill fated and abortive forays into Air New Zealand and Ansett Airlines (which all the Oz pilots could have told him to avoid like the plague) but that his reward for such precipitate and arrogant action was the cap removal (by himself and cronies) of annual directors’ bonus payments and then retirement to a well paid board sinecure in DBS Bank. Needless to say these gigantic (covered up) losses make any perception of “fat” in the employee payroll pail into nigh on invisibility.
To the future, however, and the Senior Minister’s decision on how SIA employees will be treated and paid (for it is he and he alone, who will make any decision). I feel certain that readers will have sniffed the international air, just as most assuredly the Senior Minister has and the scent that I’m getting indicates just the hint of a turn away from the corporatist arrogance and excess of the past decade and a consideration of the merits of NTUC chief, Lim Boon Heng’s words that, “a company ultimately must exist to benefit the community, not its shareholders”. Whilst I wouldn’t suggest that the Senior Minister subscribes to this sentiment, I most certainly would subscribe to the idea that he is very closely watching the lead-up to the November 2004 US Presidential election and will have noted that Democratic candidate Kerry has scored the first of what could be many below water-line hits on the Republican Party, on the very issue of corporate treatment of employees. This item could even surpass the economy and the handling of Iraq as a voting issue and ultimately see a President Kerry in the White House. Subsequent speedy delivery of pre-election promises to redress the balance of power between capital and labor (a concept currently finding surprising bi-partisan support throughout political USA) would be vital to Administration credibility in the “first 100 days”.
Would Singapore feel it wise to be out of step with a both a new Democratic Administration and a trend which if not currently global is similarly entering the collective consciousness of the Economic Union?
Time will show if the Senior Minister judges correctly on this one.