Workplace Grievances Surfaced to NTUC-affiliated Teachers' Unions and Associations

Mr Abdul Samad asked the Minister for Education (a) how many workplace grievances has the Ministry received from NTUC-affiliated teachers' unions and associations on an annual basis in the past five years; and (b) how many of these have been resolved.

The Ministry of Education (MOE) engages the four NTUC-affiliated Teachers' Unions – The Singapore Teachers' Union (STU), The Singapore Chinese Teachers' Union (SCTU), The Singapore Malay Teachers' Union (SMTU) and The Singapore Tamil Teachers' Union (STTU) –regularly to allow for mutual sharing of staff-related issues and for the unions to provide ground sensing and feedback on staff policies to MOE.

MOE receives about 60 cases a year referred by the unions to represent members on various issues. Some are related to workplace grievances such as perceived unfairness in appraisal or workplace relations, whereas others may involve requests such as those related to posting or leave matters. Besides these individual cases, unions also surface enquiries from members, to seek clarification on general HR policies.

MOE follows up on all cases referred from the unions and then closes the loop with the individual member as well as the union.