Union intolerant of opposition politics

The United Workers of Electronics and Electrical Industries (UWEEI) sacked its chairman Muhammad Ali Aman in December 2002 because he refused to give up his position as Secretary-General of the Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA), a coalition of four political parties opposed to Singapore’s government that has been in the hands of the People’s Action Party (PAP) since Singaporean independence in 1965.

Virtually all unions in the city-state are affiliated to the National Trade Union Congress (NTUC) – the only national labour centre in Singapore – that shares what is referred to as a ‘symbiotic relationship’ with the PAP.
Melvin Tan, a member of the Worker’s Party, has resigned following Aman’s dismissal, upset that an affiliate of the NTUC would sack a member for political affiliation; his undeclared membership of the SDA had left him feeling isolated and aware as never before of the power and significance of the ‘symbiotic relationship’ between the PAP and the NTUC.

Tan stressed his resignation was not a protest. Although he feels that a union officer’s duty is to promote union policy, providing there was no conflict of interest by political affiliation, as Tan believes to be the case for Aman.
Aman is appealing the decision at the next UWEEI convention while Tan will concentrate on his career.