For Mr Ong, a good mediator must know the issues well and understand the concerns of unions and employers. “A settlement has to be both reasonable and acceptable to all stakeholders,” he says. “Only then will it be amicable and create a win-win-win outcome for workers, employers and the economy.”
When talks get heated, a sense of humour helps. “Once, during an ex parte conciliation session with bank union leaders, I told them, ‘You might as well ask for the key to the bank’s strong-room, since you’re asking for so many things,’” Mr Ong recalls with a chuckle.
Retiring as Divisional Director of the Labour Relations and Workplaces Division, Mr Ong was re-employed in the same role until early 2012. For his contributions to labour relations and tripartism in Singapore, he received the Public Administration Medal (Gold) and the NTUC Distinguished Service Star Award.
Mr Ong is now Singapore’s Lead Negotiator for the Labour Chapter in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Free Trade Agreement. What kept him going in labour relations for 40 years?
Apart from the satisfaction of helping workers and businesses achieve win-win outcomes through the amicable settlement of disputes and by promoting industrial harmony, it was a sense of gratitude. Having come from a family of modest means, Mr Ong was able to study in Singapore with the help of an ASEAN Scholarship. “I’ve always felt strongly for our low income workers,” he says, “and that’s why I preferred to remain in the Ministry of Labour and now Manpower, rather than take on portfolios in other ministries.”
According to Mr Ong, unlike big countries which can shoulder serious industrial confrontations and still survive, a major strike in Singapore could ruin the economy. “As a small city-state without natural resources, Singapore depends on investments for economic growth and job creation,” he explains. “Our threshold for serious industrial disputes is low, and we must continue to preserve industrial harmony through collaboration, not confrontation.”