The best of workers this year enjoy an SLF trip to China.

The furthest Mr Ho Boon Chee had been on a holiday was to Guangzhou, China, to visit a cousin many years ago. As the sole breadwinner, the CityCab driver is always careful about how he spends his money and allowed himself only short holidays to Malaysia or Thailand.

Imagine his surprise when he found out that he was among 101 workers who had won this year's SLF Educational Tours Award for Model Workers and would get to go to China.

The 54-year-old cab driver has been driving a taxi for 21 years. In all the years, he had maintained a complaints-and-accidents-free record, a feat that earned him his nomination for the award from CityCab.

"When they told me I was selected for the award and would be going to Beijing, I could not believe my ears. I was so happy and grateful," said Mr Ho. He went along with 99 others in two batches to China. There, he said he enjoyed his trip to the Great Wall of China, Tiananmen Square and also learnt about this new emerging Asian power.

He wished his wife and son, 21, could have been there with him to take in the sights of China. Despite that, he still found the trip thoroughly enjoyable as he made new friends.

Husband-and-wife winners
Fellow award winner, phlebotomist Mdm Komala Devi, 52, was nominated by the Parkway Laborotaries, her employer for the past 30 years. The double joy for her was the fact that her husband, vector control foreman Mr Ganesan Perumal, 58, was also independently nominated by his employer the National Environment Agency. They were both selected on the basis of their long service (Mr Ganesan has 40 years with the Environment Agency), active participation in union as well as community work.

Mdm Komala's employer had noted that she takes "great pride in her work and goes the extra mile". In his nomination, Mr Ganesan was commended for being a  "responsible worker ever willing to put in extra".

But being jointly selected for the award was a cause for concern for the couple. Their youngest daughter was scheduled to take her N-level examinations during that week in October when the trip was on.

"I thought only one of us should go to China because of our youngest daughter's examinations. But all our three children said they would be fine and encouraged us to go together," said Mdm Komala. She said she learnt much about China and will never forget the trip. She also enjoyed the shopping trips.

The awards
The SLF Educational Tours Award is an annual award that was launched in 1983 to reward outstanding workers. The scheme also aims to foster good labour management relationship as the nominations require support from both Union and Management. Selection is done by a Committee comprising representatives from the Singapore National Employer Federation, Ministry of Manpower, SPRING Singapore, NTUC and the SLF. This year's trip was led by delegation leaders Mr Teo Yock Ngee and Mr Eddie Chew, NTUC Central Committee members.

Model workers are graded based on their respective organisations' assessment of their job performance, initiative, team spirit and willingness to take on additional responsibilities among other things.