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By Ian Tan Hanhonn
The Food, Drinks and Allied Workers Union (FDAWU) and recently unionised SME Hong Seafood have formed the latest company training committee (CTC).
The company and union came together on 23 November 2020 to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to officiate their agreement.
The CTC will see the two parties collaborate to address the training needs and progression of the seafood supplier’s employees.
FDAWU General Secretary Tan Hock Soon said he was glad to see companies, especially SMEs like Hong Seafood, stay true to the cause of upskilling workers despite their lean workforce.
“We are committed to support Hong Seafood in their training efforts as they chart the way forward for other SMEs and reap the benefits of a more productive workforce,” he said.
When the circuit breaker measures came into effect due to COVID-19, the company’s business was affected and it needed to evolve away from solely relying on its business-to-business model, explained Hong Seafood Marketing Manager Loh Guo Pei.
The company decided to focus part of their efforts on e-commerce platforms such as Red Mart and Amazon to tap onto the online consumer market.
The refocus required changes such as a new enterprise resource planning system to a new warehouse management system, added Mr Loh.
“Since we are now a unionised company, we thought it would be good to tap on the contacts and network that NTUC has to train and upskill our staff,” he added.
Given the company’s focus on e-commerce, the union will be recommending relevant digital courses for workers to build up their core digital capabilities, said Mr Tan
“With Hong Seafood venturing into new markets, the union will be working with the company on OTR (Operation and Technology Roadmap) to understand the shifts in the operating environment and redefine the evolving jobs and skills-sets to tide through COVID-19.
“The union will also continue to partner the company to address the business and workforce challenges in its journey towards transformation,” he added.