Reinforcing harmonious labour-management relations has been an integral part of Keppel Land’s continuing success in staff union relations. Through the years, the Company has worked closely with Keppel Services Staff Union (KSSU). On 18 April 2001, Keppel Land signed a new collective agreement with KSSU. The new agreement, covering three years from 1 January 2001 through 31 December 2003, has been fine-tuned to avoid ambiguities and reflect the improvements in staff benefits.

Non-executive staff who are members of KSSU enjoy financial support in the form of study awards presented to their children. The study assistance scheme is available to all union members employed

at Keppel Land, Keppel Telecommunications and Transportation and Bugis City Holdings. Applications for the study award are open to staff’s children who are presently pursuing studies from primary to university levels. Selection is based on needs and merit, with awards given out on an annual basis. In 2001, a total of 40 awards exceeding $14,000 in value were presented.

COMMUNITY RELATIONS

Striving to be a Good Corporate Citizen

Apart from investors and stakeholders, corporations must also be socially responsible to the wider community in which they operate. In striving to be a committed and responsible corporate citizen, Keppel Land is amongst the new generation of corporations that are making a difference to society.

Keppel Land has always played an active role in support of the community, the arts and the education. Every year, the Company and staff contribute significantly in the areas of financial assistance, volunteer work and management support.

Despite the difficult economic environment, efforts to fulfil social responsibilities were kept up. Keppel Land continued to participate actively in the Keppel Volunteers movement, providing staff volunteer support and financial aid to the programme’s four adopted educational institutions under the Association for Persons with Special Needs (APSN). Plans are being made to extend the programme to two other schools.

Chairman Lim Chee Onn and then-Minister Abdullah Tarmugi presented awards to Outstanding Volunteers, of which Keppel Land was well

Staff are strongly encouraged to involve themselves in voluntary community work with management support in the form of time-off. To date, more than 40 Keppel Land staff volunteer their services: helping out at major events at excursions and outdoor trips, spending time with children at their extra-curricular activities on a weekly basis and providing after-school tutoring. Besides contributing to the social and education aspects, Keppel Land was also involved in various fund-raising exercises such as the sale of Christmas cards to raise funds for the refurbishment of the new APSN Centre for Adults.

Keeping Up Community Efforts

Efforts to contribute to the community were not limited to Singapore. Through Sedona Hotels International, Keppel Land is actively involved in several local community service projects in the region. In Makassar, Indonesia, Hotel Sedona’s ‘Sedona Care’ programme raised a total of Rp.18,000,000 in 2001 for various orphanages. Children from orphanages were invited to a Christmas party organised by the hotel’s staff union.

In Yangon, Sedona Hotel made visits and organised special meals for children from orphanages and homes for handicapped children. In Hanoi, residents at Sedona Suites put up a “Charity Art Show” in December 2001, and donated the proceeds from the show to Peace Village, a home which houses handicapped children. In addition, the residents also brought much joy and warmth to the children with Christmas gifts.

In Singapore, Keppel Land places Wishing Trees at the lobbies of its office buildings every Christmas to spread the spirit of sharing and caring. Staff and tenants then fulfil the wishes from the APSN schools, the Canossaville Children’s Home, the Henderson Aged Reach-Out Centre and the Henderson Senior Citizens’ Home that were hung on the Wishing Trees.

Through Parco Bugis Junction, the Company also jointly organised a charity ornamental fish exhibition to help raise funds for Chong Pang Community Centre Building Fund, Down Syndrome Association of Singapore, Kidney Dialysis Foundation and Sunshine Welfare Action Mission (SWAMI) Home.

Office tenants contribute generously each year to ensure Keppel Land’s Wishing Trees programme meets its objectives.