Alan Tan Hwa Soon: The pioneer union leader who shaped the modern workplace

Pioneer NTUC union leader Alan Tan Hwa Soon played a key role in shaping Singapore’s modern workplace. He championed the five-day work week in the 1970s, giving workers greater work-life balance and time for personal pursuits. He also advocated for extended maternity leave in the 1980s, enabling women to remain in the workforce and contribute to Singapore’s strong economic growth. As one of the early union leaders to strengthen union–management collaboration, Alan helped lay the foundation for Singapore’s tripartite model that continues to benefit workers today.

Alan Tan Hwa Soon belongs to the pioneer generation of NTUC labour leaders that fought for workers’ lives as if his own depended on it.

Along with other pioneers, his efforts to bring unions and management closer through collaborative conversations became the bedrock for the strong Singapore tripartism that supports workers’ livelihoods to this day.

Alan also played a key role in advocating a five-day work week in the 1970s to improve work-life balance. The public sector implemented this arrangement in 2004, helping to normalise it across Singapore.

Many employers in Singapore today adopt a five‑day, Monday to Friday schedule in practice, especially in sectors hiring professionals, managers and executives.

The progressive leader was also responsible for urging longer maternity leave in the 1980s to keep women in the workforce to support a growing nation.

This move paved the way for the 16 weeks of maternity leave working mothers enjoy today, up from the two months previously. Beyond maternity leave, working mums today can also take an additional 10 weeks of shared parental leave to spend more time with their newborn.

An iron-fisted leader is born

Alan was a young accounts clerk at British department store Whiteway, Laidlaw & Co in 1957.

Drawn into union work through a colleague’s introduction, he was elected as branch chairman of the Singapore Textiles General Merchant Employees’ Union (STGMEU), a left-wing union.

Little did he know that he was about to enter a world where fighting for workers’ rights could be twisted into a tool for political ambition.

Singapore in the late 1950s and early 1960s was volatile, anti-colonial and politically unstable.

The People’s Action Party (PAP) had just come to power in 1959, strongly advocating Singapore’s merger with Malaysia. But it faced fierce competition in 1961 with the emergence of the Barisan Sosialis, formed by pro-communist PAP members opposed to the merger.

1961 also marked the year pro-PAP union leaders founded the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) as a strong, united voice for workers. Rival Barisan Sosialis hit back by forming the Singapore Association of Trade Unions (SATU) that same year.

In this politically charged climate, political parties sought to draw unions to their side, hoping to expand their working-class base and strengthen their influence in a desperate struggle for power over the country’s uncertain future.

Trapped between two powerful forces, Alan had two choices: Would he focus on improving workers’ lives, or succumb to a political agenda?

The struggle against anti-government influences

Alan did not realise that STGMEU was a left-wing union controlled by SATU at first.

Unwilling to be an anti-government pawn, he took the bold step of switching his branch to the NTUC-affiliated The Singapore Manual and Mercantile Workers’ Union (SMMWU).

“The STGMEU brought our branch to Happy World to brainwash us, telling us things like, ‘NTUC is no good.’ Once you are brainwashed, you are finished!” Alan exclaimed in his signature straightforward manner, a trait common among pioneer generation union leaders.

He added: “Our branch didn’t want to be anti-government. We decided to switch union to The SMMWU because we want to become affiliated with NTUC instead of SATU, the left-wing union.

“I convinced the members [to make the move] and got The SMMWU to waive the entrance fees.”

Alan wasn’t the only union leader to switch allegiances from SATU to NTUC.

With many unions recognising the value of aligning themselves with NTUC and the PAP government, NTUC had 55 affiliates, representing 65 per cent of the Singapore workforce by 1965.

The symbiotic relationship between NTUC and the PAP continued to flourish. Supported by strong backing from the unions, NTUC-PAP ties helped underpin Singapore’s tripartite model, which continues to benefit workers to this day.

The move to the insurance industry

A career switch to the Overseas Union Insurance in 1962 led to Alan shifting from The SMMWU to the NTUC-affiliated Singapore Insurance Companies Employees’ Union (SICEU).

“It’s only fair that being a worker; we want to protect the interests of our fellow workers. Getting involved in union activities is not a hobby, you know?” Alan said pointedly.

Starting as an Executive Committee member, he rose through the ranks to become President of the union, a role he held from 1969 to 1982.

The Labour Movement’s newspaper, Labour News (pictured above), described Alan as the President who grew the union’s assets and investments into over $250,000 from a measly $1,000.

The union changed its name in 1978 to the Singapore Insurance Employees’ Union (SIEU) as it grew its membership base to have a bigger voice.

 Alan Tan (first row, second from right) at a SIEU event in the early days.

A force to be reckoned with

A fire-in-the-belly unionist, Alan epitomises the grit of a generation of pioneer union leaders who cut their teeth in an era of confrontations, table-thumping and strikes.

Known to brazenly stand up against injustice in an unapologetically straightforward manner, he vividly recounted one of his most memorable clashes with a management staff: “I had a member who was a supporter of Singapore football.

“By right, he should have applied for his leave first before going to buy a ticket [to watch the match]. However, he bought the ticket first, and the management rejected [his leave].

“I said [to the management], ‘Luckily, you are negotiating with me in the office. If you are outside the office, I will break your neck!’

“The management staff became scared and walked off.  I said to him, ‘You can get out of this bloody office!’”

In the aftermath of the incident, the company lodged a complaint against him with then NTUC Secretary-General CV Devan Nair, but the charges were later withdrawn.

In a surprising twist, Alan’s hard-hitting approach proved fruitful.

“After scolding the management staff, we became very good friends. We would meet and have lunch,” he chuckled.

His special relationship with CV Devan Nair

Founding NTUC leader. Singapore President. A brother-in-arms. CV Devan Nair was many things to many people.

To Alan (pictured above with Devan Nair), however, Devan Nair was simply his “Godfather” — or at least that was how people in NTUC circles jokingly described their relationship.

He recalled: “You know, in NTUC, a lot of people made fun of me and said he was my ‘Godfather’.

“He likes me very much because I’m very straightforward. He treats people fairly.

“When he was [Singapore] President, I was invited to the Istana [to have] lunch with him three to four times.”

Breaking new ground

For pioneer unionists like Alan, whose fiery confrontations with management were legendary, inviting employers to join a union seminar would have been unthinkable.

Yet the unthinkable happened in 1981, when New Nation reported that SIEU was opening its doors to employers for its “New Industrial Relations Order in the Insurance Industry” seminar.

Alan told New Nation at the time that the union wanted to find ways to build a good rapport between labour and management.

SIEU’s move to involve employers in dialogue would have been one of many paving the way for more constructive unionism, one that favoured collaboration over confrontation.

Constructive union-management dialogue remains a key cornerstone of Singapore tripartism today, ensuring win-win outcomes for workers.

Work-life balance was another area where the union broke new ground under Alan’s leadership.

Singapore workers in the 1970s generally kept five-and-a-half-day to six-day work weeks, but Alan and the union had other plans.

The Straits Times in 1979 reported SIEU’s radical proposal to introduce a five-day work week for workers in 27 insurance companies, replacing the prevailing six-day schedule. The aim was to give workers Saturdays off while maintaining their weekly working hours, enhancing work-life balance and quality of life.

Such fervent calls for a five-day work week set the tone for Singapore’s move to the work arrangement in 2004, with the public sector taking the lead.

SIEU and Alan made history in the 1980s to support working mothers — after all, women formed two-thirds of its members at the time.

A 1984 Straits Times article cited SIEU as one of the unions seeking better post-maternity benefits to prevent women from leaving their jobs.

By that time, NTUC had appointed Alan (pictured above) as its first Cadre Member, a provision which allowed him to continue serving as union leader although he had been promoted to management ranks.

With Alan’s support as NTUC Cadre Member, SIEU called on 26 insurance companies to allow their female employees to take up to 30 days of paid sick leave if they are unfit to return to work after completing the normal two months’ maternity leave.

The move’s positive effects were two prong: Women were more productive upon returning to office, and Singapore kept women the workforce at a time where workers were needed to drive Singapore’s growth in high-tech industries.

The Singapore Insurance Employees' Union is committed to helping its members deal with their work-related problems. Find out more about their services today.