FDAWU and APB Singapore Brew Up a CTC to Help Workers be Future-Ready

More than 100 local brewery employees will be better equipped to take on new or reconstructed jobs by 2020. This is the aim of a new Company Training Committee (CTC) formed by the Food, Drinks and Allied Workers Union (FDAWU) and Asia Pacific Breweries (Singapore) Pte Ltd (APB Singapore) on 17 May 2019.

Foremost on the CTC’s agenda is to operationalise the Employee Training Programme and the Jobs & Skills Steering Committee. Working together to make this happen, management representatives and union leaders agree that digital transformation will shape the company’s directions and plans.

Andy Hewson, Managing Director, APB Singapore said: “Our passion and trust to drive talent and workforce development stem from our core values that people are at the heart of our business.

“A strong core of workers helps to drive our brewery forward and this is the reason why we continuously work with the union to jointly identify target training needs so as to upskill our workforce.”

Mr Tan Hock Soon, General Secretary of FDAWU shared that good labour management relations between APB Singapore and the union has been instrumental in the collaboration on employee-related matters such as training.

“We are happy to formalise this Company Training Committee with APB Singapore and to work together towards enhancing wages, work prospects and welfare of APB Singapore employees," he said.

Gearing Up For The Future

The Employee Training Programme will enhance the capabilities, knowledge and skillsets of the workforce to meet the future needs of APB Singapore. This will complement the company’s existing training programmes which have been in place since 2017.

For the Employee Training Programme, the Jobs & Skills Steering Committee will look at current training plans, identify skills and training gaps, develop training initiatives, and plan for reskilling, training, and career progression for the employees.

Old Timers Taking On New Challenges

Christopher George, a brewing officer at APB Singapore for almost 4 decades, is one who has benefitted from the company’s workforce competency development programmes.

At 61, Christopher has proven to be an adept worker who continuously upskills and upgrades himself through training courses. His efforts enabled him to be promoted from a brewing technician to brewing officer in January 2019.

“Through the company’s Brewing Competency Training Programme, I have learnt so much more about the trade despite being in the industry for more than 35 years. It was also a great opportunity for me to showcase to my colleagues that learning never stops even at the age of 61 and a promotion is still possible. With the right mindset and strong support from the company, you can go as far as you want in your career here,” he said.

Partners To Promote Lifelong Learning

The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between APB Singapore and FDAWU for the formation of the CTC at the APB Singapore headquarters. The event was hosted by Heineken’s President in APAC, Dolf van den Brink and APB Singapore’s Managing Director, Andy Hewson and witnessed by NTUC Secretary-General Ng Chee Meng, senior management from APB Singapore and union leaders from FDAWU.

The commitment by APB Singapore and FDAWU to form the CTC reflects the efforts of the Labour Movement in encouraging every worker across all industries to accept and adopt the use of technology at work to transit into the future economy.

Speaking with APB Singapore’s employees, NTUC Secretary-General Ng Chee Meng said: “I am very glad that APB Singapore and FDAWU have already been collaborating on the training and reskilling of APB Singapore’s employees and the results show. The formation of the CTC today further solidifies their efforts.”