S.R. Nathan
Singapore: Straits Times Press, 2011
ISBN: 9789814266871
"I had the good fortune to be thrown unexpectedly into something called the Labour Research Unit - a little known organisation set up to assist the fledgling labour movement. It was not a company, nor a statutory board, nor a government department - in fact it did not exist at all as a legal entity. Thus in slightly unorthodox circumstances I became part of that struggle."
-S.R. Nathan
Winning Against the Odds covers the critical years 1961-1965, when battle raged between NTUC and the pro-communist unionists for the hearts and minds of Singapore workers. This period was a turning point in the broader struggle against militant forces out to destroy Singapore's way of life.
NTUC's foundations were laid then, a fact not well known to many people, not even to members of today's labour movement.
In Winning Against the Odds, S.R. Nathan relives that period, telling in his typically direct fashion, what he remembers about the events that took place then, to give a sense of the harsh realities that he and his colleagues were confronting. In simple language he also relates the conflicts he had with union leaders, civil servants and the man he deeply admires, C.V. Devan Nair.
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