A leadership reshuffle is under way in the labour movement, with the creation of a new tier in the upper echelons of the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC).
It will be made up of a newly-created position called assistant director-general, which is partly “an expansion of the career path for NTUC senior staff”, its spokesman told The Straits Times yesterday when confirming the upcoming changes.
It did not say who would make up the new tier but sources say there will probably be four people.
Two are veteran MPs and the other two are up-and-coming full-time staff.
They are former labour MP Yeo Guat Kwang, 55, and labour MP Ang Hin Kee, 51, and Mr Gilbert Tan Chye Hee, 46, chief executive of the Devan Nair Institute of Employment and Employability (e2i), and Mr Vivek Kumar, 39, director of NTUC’s membership department.
The new structure is partly prompted by a labour force that has become more diverse.
The spokesman said: “Our work at NTUC has expanded and diversified… (and) to serve the evolving needs of a range of working people, we see need to enhance our talent development and succession framework.”
The leadership path at NTUC is made up of two tracks.
One is the elected union leaders’ track and the other is the management track within NTUC.
In the first track, unionists are elected once every four years to the NTUC Central Committee, the highest decision-making body in the labour movement.
The committee is headed by NTUC president Mary Liew and its decisions are implemented by secretary-general Chan Chun Sing.
Mr Chan, who is also Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, is assisted by a deputy secretary-general and five assistant secretary-generals.
For the day-to-day running of union business, Mr Chan wears the second hat as the director-general of the NTUC.
He has 26 divisional directors and directors under him. They are full-time staff and include five PAP MPs.
Both Mr Yeo and Mr Ang are expected to relinquish their assistant secretary-general appointments before taking up their new posts.
tohyc@sph.com.sg
This article was first published on Dec 23, 2016.
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