FDAWU’s Mid-Autumn Celebration Gets Educational

Close to 900 Food, Drinks and Allied Workers Union (FDAWU) members and their families turned up for union’s annual “LA LUNA” mid-autumn celebration on 22 September 2018.

Held at Singapore Flyer, the event featured a joint showcase by FDAWU, NTUC Hospitality and Consumer Business cluster and SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) to highlight how the concept of Worker 4.0 can be applied on the cluster's sectors – food manufacturing, food services, hotel and grocery retail.

“As the saying goes, ‘Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.’ Supporting members to upskill through training is an important and urgent mission for the union.

“Through the showcase’s activities, visuals and resources, we are confident of bringing about greater awareness of national-level initiatives such as Industry Transformation Maps and Skills Frameworks among members and workers. Hopefully, this will inspire more to embrace continual learning as a strategy to keep themselves relevant and employable in the face of business transformation,” said FDAWU General Secretary and NTUC Hospitality and Consumer Business cluster Chairperson Tan Hock Soon.

Tailored Outreach

According to FDAWU, about half of its members are 50 years and above. Bearing that in mind, they adapted their outreach efforts to make them more relevant and easy to understand.

For example, the union worked with NTUC LearningHub to customise and develop an “Evergreen Edition” of the SkillsFuture for Digital Workplace programme. The course, which was promoted at LA LUNA, is expected to have its first run sometime in October 2018.

The video screening at the event also included details of workplace literacy courses that help workers who need varying levels of English proficiency at work – beginner, intermediate and advanced.

Event Highlights in Photos

Visual developed in collaboration with SSG to help FDAWU members cope with workplace disruptions.

Three game stations – named Technology Jenga (as seen above), Technical Stackable Cups, and Adaptive Snakes and Ladders – are each designed to reinforce the understanding about a skillset.

Families take part in do-it-yourself lantern-making in anticipation of the mass lantern walk at night.

Mdm Selimah Wahab (middle), who has been a retail assistant at NTUC FairPrice for six years, is a loyal fan of FDAWU’s yearly LA LUNA celebration. This year, she is here with her sister (left), son, daughter-in-law (right) and her grandson, enjoying free carnival treats, mooncakes and a river cruise.