Productivity and the Path to House Unionism: Structural Change in the Singapore Labour Movement
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8543.1987.tb00726.x |
| Published date | 01 November 1987 |
| Date | 01 November 1987 |
| Author | Somsong Pataranapich,Albert A. Blum |
Productivity and the Path to House
Unionism: Structural Change in the
Singapore Labour Movement
Albert A.
Blum
*
and Somsong Pataranapich
t
Singapore is a young country- just slightly more than twenty-five years old.
During all of that period of time, it has been led by one man and one party-
its prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew and the party he heads
-
the People’s
Action Party (PAP). At the start of his career the prime minister was a
lawyer for the labour movement and always recognised the importance of
organised labour in the development of his city-state. He has, however,
wanted unions not to be a source
of
strife on the industrial relations scene
but instead to be integrated as part of a tripartite system in which unions
would have a voice along with management and government in striving
together for a rising standard of living through increased production. And
what Lee Kuan Yew wanted has taken place as reflected by the fact that
during this period of ‘nation building’, until Singapore’s economic decline
started
in
1985,
labour productivity grew steadily
-
for example at
5.2
per
cent per annum during
198O-83.’
The government’s integrative strategy, made possible by the authoritaria-
nism implicit in the paternalistic style of PAP leadership, demands that trade
unions (along with the non-unionised work force) not only follow a
cooperative path with management but also make an ‘immutable’ commit-
ment
to
the country’s sacrosanct economic growth objectives. The goals of
an improving Singapore economy in a market-orientated society and
attracting foreign capital investment have led to what Professor Frederick
Deyo has described as a paternalistic welfare state supported by a union-
management-PAP symbiotic relationship
-
thus creating an image abroad
of a stable society. In addition, PAP and its leader, Lee Kuan Yew, have
been able to exercise their authoritarian control through the use of
legitimacy elections
-
or
parliamentary elections with no opposition voted
into office except in the last vote when two opposition candidates were
elected.*
This system has worked if economic growth is the main criterion for
assessment. Singapore’s unemployed, its hovels, and its poor, although not
*Professor, Department
of
Management, New Mexico State University and formerly Visiting
Professor, School
of
Postgraduate Management Studies, National University
of
Singapore.
?Lecturer, School of Management, Western Australia Institute
of
Technology.
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