SINGAPORE — An association representing the security services industry on Thursday (May 2) took issue with a viral video commissioned by a union representing security workers. It argued that the video portrayed security officers as "buffoons who do not even know how to carry out basic functions".

The video, which was published on the Instagram account of digital content producer SGAG and commissioned by the Union of Security Employees (USE) as part of a paid partnership, has irked some members of the Security Association Singapore (SAS), the association said. 

Responding to this, USE, a union affiliated with the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), issued a firm rebuttal in its media release that SAS' complaints about the video was a "red herring", stating that the video's main message was about non-compliance in the security industry related to the progressive wage model.

USE said on Thursday evening: "We believe the key issue lies in the messages we were trying to get out to our security officers — to report non-compliance of the progressive wage model. We believe that struck a nerve among some within the SAS' exco (executive committee)."

In general, the wage model sets out minimum pay requirements for workers at different skill levels and mandates wage increases in tandem with the workers’ training and skills.

WHAT THE VIDEO SHOWS

The video, which was first posted on April 25, shows a skit involving two security guards, who are on their first day of work, receiving a briefing from someone who appears to be a building owner or a managing agent.

Filmed in a satirical style, the two officers are depicted questioning the manager about their jobs, and also being lectured by the manager about how they are "lucky" to be getting higher pay while working less hours now due to the progressive wage model.  

As part of the skit, both officers ask inane questions about their job scope such as whether to get a gun to catch terrorists while on the job. They are also shown being confused about how to go for toilet breaks while on the job.

WHAT THE ASSOCIATION SAYS ABOUT VIDEO

In a Facebook post, SAS said that it objected to security officers being portrayed as "buffoons" and noted that the manager shown "shouting at and abusing the security officers" risked trivialising or normalising the problem of abuse in the security industry. 

"SAS and the tripartite partners have worked hard to improve the image of security officers. This video does not help," it added.

In a statement attributed to its executive director Jourdan Sabapathy, SAS said that it took offence to certain phrases in the video that include “employers tekan (Singlish for 'putting pressure on') officers” and security officers "must (do overtime of) over 100 hours”.

Such statements insinuate that employers in the security industry force security officers to work such long hours or treat them unfairly.

These generalised phrases promote an adversarial approach against employers and are not in line with "the spirit of tripartism", the association said, referring to the collaborative tripartite efforts among employers, unions and the Government.

"SAS reminds (everyone) that security officers were able to work such overtime hours only because the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) had, at that time, issued overtime exemptions to security agencies. These exemptions allowed agencies to employ officers for overtime that could exceed 100 hours," it added.

Employers were therefore not “tekan-ing” officers, they were merely hiring in accordance with the parameters provided by MOM.

The association also took issue with the use of the phrase “permanent unpaid leave” in the video, stating that security officers should be allowed, like all employees in Singapore, to negotiate for flexible working arrangements.

Its view was that a vast majority of security agencies abide by the law and prosecution of security agencies for such practices remains low.

However, it understands that the purpose of the video is to draw attention to poor employment practices and that it supports USE's condemnation of such practices and the union's past interventions to support security officers.

"There are correct ways to do this and SAS has shared USE’s efforts on our Facebook page (in the past) to raise awareness.

"It is, however, SAS’ view that the SGAG video is not the correct way to raise or address such serious issues. In fact, whatever message was intended to be conveyed appears lost amid the tomfoolery of the characters," it added.

SAS asked that the video be removed. As of 11.30pm on Thursday, the video was still available online.

WHAT THE UNION SAYS

In response on Thursday evening, USE rejected SAS' statement in a rejoinder undersigned by its president Ardi Amir, general secretary Raymond Chin and executive secretary Steve Tan.

They collectively argued that SAS' complaints about the video were a "red herring", meaning it took people's attention away from its key point.

"We have always applied a light touch with content creators as we believe they know their audiences well and thus know how best to help get our messages across," the union said, adding that this is its second collaboration with SGAG, with the same actor portraying a security officer.

"We thus find the complaint about this second video odd, given that the SAS or its exco did not find fault with the first."

The union then said that it was the video's messaging that struck a nerve with SAS' exco, and asked members of the press to approach some of SAS' member companies regarding compliance to the progressive wage model.

It added that it was aware of security agencies that contract their officers to work the maximum permissible hours under the wage model, and for officers who want to work less, to apply for unpaid leave.

This meant that those unpaid leave hours are then deducted from these officers’ wages, which meant that the officers receive less than the rates under the wage model.

USE also took issue with SAS' characterisation of overtime exemptions, which were meant to be an option for companies to deal with exigencies or urgent situations by allowing their personnel to work beyond the overtime hours stated in the Employment Act.

Such exemptions were previously used as the default for all security agencies due to the manpower shortages in the industry, and working 95 hours of overtime and beyond was common — something that SAS had also acknowledged. 

"To claim that because MOM approved the overtime exemptions and hence, that agencies were 'merely hiring in accordance to the parameters provided by MOM' is disingenuous," the union said, stressing that such exemptions were removed from January 2021, because of how prevalent the problem was at the time.

"USE is glad that the partnership with SGAG has achieved the exact outcomes that we sought for — to raise awareness of the intent of the progressive wage model, and for officers or agencies to report to us any instances of non-compliances," the union added.

TODAY has reached out to SGAG's parent company Hepmil Media Group for comment.

In response to USE's statement, SAS said that the union did not deal with the "substance of what we have raised and instead attempts to distract by going into other matters that are wholly unrelated to the SGAG video".

The association also said that the security industry's tripartite partners, which includes security agencies as well as the union, have enjoyed an exemplary working relationship for many years.

SAS told TODAY: "We could be described as a model of tripartism. It is unfortunate that this matter could not be resolved privately, but we will continue to be in contact with USE and will continue to seek to settle this matter amicably."

GOVERNMENT STEPS IN

A week later on May 9, Senior Minister of State for Manpower Zaqy Mohamad gave an update on Facebook that MOM had facilitated an exchange between the union and association to share their concerns, alongside a picture showing USE's executive secretary Steve Tan and SAS' president Raj Joshua Thomas shaking hands.

Both the association and union agreed to work collaboratively to improve the wage and working conditions for security officers with the progressive wage model and continue to discuss issues faced by the sector, said Mr Zaqy, who is also Senior Minister of State for Defence.

"We are heartened that USE and SAS are aligned to ensure win-win outcomes for both the worker and the employers. This bears testimonial to Singapore's strong tripartism, which enables industry associations, unions and the Government to work together to reconcile differences and jointly overcome challenges," he said.

USE and SAS also issued a joint statement to the media to put the incident behind them and reaffirm that both sides are committed to tripartism.

"We have participated together on tripartite committees to bring about industry transformation initiatives like the progressive wage model and the industry transformation map over the past decade. In and out of formal tripartite meetings, many of our committee members share close friendships," said the statement.

The statement added that the online exchange about the SGAG video was a part of the tripartite process as tripartism "is not about glossing over differences".

Said USE and SAS: "Tripartism is about robustly putting out positions that advance the causes of our respective constituents. On occasion, disagreements may be made public. But they do not detract from each party’s commitment to tripartism and to ultimately come to a mutually beneficial settlement."