2009 Annual Survey of violations of trade union rights - Singapore

Population: 4,840,000
Capital: Singapore
ILO Core Conventions Ratified: 29 – 98 – 100 – 138 – 182 – (105 – denounced)

A number of restrictions continue to exist in the labour law, but in many cases, discretion is provided for the Minister of Manpower to make exemptions. Foreign workers, who comprise a significant proportion of the workforce, continue to be legally barred from serving as officers, trustees, or staff of trade unions. Union members do not have the power to accept or reject collective agreements negotiated between their representatives and the employer. The vast majority of unionised workers are members of a union affiliated to the National Trade Union Congress (NTUC). There were no strikes during the year.

Trade union rights in law

Private sector – limitations exist on the right to organise: The Constitution gives workers the right to join trade unions in the private sector, with any group of seven or more prospective members able to form a union. However, Parliament may impose restrictions on the formation of a union on the grounds of security, public order or morality.

Formation is also subject to the approval of the Registrar of Trade Unions, who has wide-ranging powers to refuse or cancel registration, particularly where a union already exists for workers in a particular occupation or industry. Trade unions must also submit new rules, or alterations to their existing rules, to the Registrar for approval within seven days of the rule change. The Registrar has the right to refuse the rule change if in the Registrar's discretion the rule change is either unlawful or "oppressive or unreasonable".

Public sector – restrictions still on the books: The Trade Unions Act still prohibits government employees from joining trade unions, although the law gives the power to the President of Singapore to make exceptions from this provision. The Amalgamated Union of Public Employees (AUPE) was granted such an exemption, and its scope of representation has expanded over the years to cover all public sector employees except the most senior civil servants. In addition to AUPE, 15 other public sector unions, including public employees paid on a daily rate, are exempted. Uniformed personnel involved in maintaining security and public order are the main group of government employees who are not allowed to join unions.

Government interference in internal trade union affairs: Despite the fact that Singapore has an increasingly multinational work force, the Trade Unions Act bars any person "who is not a citizen of Singapore" from serving as a national or branch officer of a trade union unless prior written approval is received from the Minister. The Act also stipulates that a foreign national cannot be hired as an employee of a trade union without prior written agreement from the Minister. Similarly, a foreign national is forbidden to serve as a trustee of a trade union without the Minister's written permission.

Trade union members who are under 21 years of age also need prior written approval from the Minister to serve as a trustee or executive of a trade union.

Persons with prior criminal convictions may not hold office or become employees of a union without prior approval of the Minister.

The Act limits what unions can spend their funds on and prohibits payments to political parties or the use of funds for political purposes.

Collective bargaining rights restricted: Under an amendment to the Trade Unions Act adopted in 2004, union members no longer have the power to accept or reject collective agreements negotiated between their union representatives and the employer. The change in the law was in direct response to a dispute involving the Airline Pilots Association – Singapore (ALPA-S), described in detail in the 2005 Survey.

Restrictions on the right to strike: To call a strike, 50% plus one of all the trade union's members must vote in favour. Workers in "essential services" are required to give 14 days notice to an employer before taking strike action, although strikes are prohibited in some essential services such as water, gas and electricity.

There is no specific legislation that prohibits retaliation against strikers.

Collective bargaining – courts can reject agreements: Collective agreements between labour and management are renewed every two to three years, although wage increases are generally negotiated annually. Guidelines for negotiations are recommended by the National Wages Council, which includes labour, industry and state representatives.

Collective agreements must be certified by the tripartite Industrial Arbitration Court (IAC) before they come into effect. The IAC can refuse certification on the grounds of public interest, although in practice it has never refused to certify a collective agreement for this reason. A certified agreement is legally binding to both the employers and the union. Transfers and layoffs are excluded from the scope of collective bargaining, although unions have the right to ask for the reasons behind the retrenchment and to negotiate compensation for workers in such cases.

Disputes can be settled by means negotiations through the Ministry of Manpower using the procedures laid down by the Industrial Relations Act. If conciliation fails, the parties may submit their case to the IAC. In limited situations, the law provides for a system of recourse to compulsory arbitration, which can put an end to collective bargaining at the request of only one of the parties. The last time it was invoked was in 2004 when the Minister compulsorily referred a dispute between the Singapore Industrial and Service Employees Union (SISEU) and a textile company to the IAC over the management's delay in concluding a collective agreement.

Trade union rights in practice and violations in 2008

With the exception of six unions, the rest of the country's 62 unions are affiliated with the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), which is closely linked to the ruling People's Action Party (PAP). The NTUC Secretary General currently serves on the PAP Central Executive Committee. The NTUC secretary general also holds a seat in the Cabinet as a minister in the Prime Minister's Office.

The NTUC-PAP relationship, which dates back to founding of the NTUC in 1961, is described as "symbiotic" and was formally endorsed in 1980 at the NTUC Ordinary Delegates Conference. It was publicly reaffirmed in December 2004. Currently, there are 15 PAP MPs with direct or former ties to the NTUC while another 4 PAP MPs serve as appointed NTUC advisors.

Restrictions not applied: Practice suggests that many of the laws are outdated, as in reality many of the potential restrictions on trade union rights are not applied. The unions have called for these outdated restrictions to be removed from the country's legislation.

Strikes: The government's tight rein on industrial action, and the tradition of non-confrontational industrial relations, has meant that there have been only two officially recorded days of strike action since 1978. However, strike actions have occasionally occurred. There were no strikes in 2008.

Migrant Workers: Restrictions on migrant workers' rights to serve as an officer, trustee or staff member of a union (without prior written approval by the Minister) affect a significant percentage of the country's workforce. According to the government's Ministry of Manpower, at the end of 2007 the total work force in Singapore was 2,730,000 with 900,800 (33%) noted as foreign workers.

Foreign domestic workers have little opportunity to organise to defend their rights or demand improvements in their conditions of work. Labour laws exclude approximately 180,000 migrant domestic workers from key protections guaranteed to other workers, such as a weekly day off, limits on working hours, annual leave, paid holidays, and caps on salary deductions.