S Thiagarajan

Director, Ong Teng Cheong Institute of Labour Studies

S Thiagarajan has been Director of the Ong Teng Cheong Institute of Labour Studies (OTC Institute for short) since 2002. The Institute organises trade union education and leadership courses from certificate up to diploma level for trade unionists. It provides a limited amount of IR and HR courses for companies. In 2005, OTC Institute together with the National University of Singapore Extension started a graduate Professional Diploma in Employment Relations for IR practitioners from unions and industry. 

S Thiagarajan joined NTUC in 1996 as a Consultant in the NTUC Industrial Relations Department.  Over the years, he held a number of positions within the NTUC.   These include being the Deputy Director of the NTUC Membership Department and Deputy Director at the Industrial Relations Department.  He was Assistant Executive Secretary of the Food and Beverage Industrial Workers’ Union and oversaw the merger of the union with the Food, Drinks and Allied Workers Union in 2000.  Prior to joining the OTC Institute in May 2001 as Deputy Director, Thiagarajan was the Assistant Executive Secretary of the Food, Drinks and Allied Workers’ Union.  His responsibilities at the FDAWU included overseeing industrial relations and union administration.   

Before joining the labour movement S Thiagarajan was at the Ministry of Education, first as a school teacher and subsequently doing policy work at the Ministry HQ. He was seconded to a local self-help group for 4 years to develop and run educational programs for school children from the minority Indian community.
  
Born on 5 June 1963, Thiagarajan graduated with a BA (Hons) from Monash University, Australia in 1986 and received his Diploma in Education (Merit) from the National Institute of Education, Singapore in 1989. Thiagarajan was a recipient of the Colombo Plan Scholarship (1983-86), the Commonwealth Foundation Fellowship (2001) and was a participant in the United States International Visitor Programme (1995).

S Thiagarajan is married to Shantini, an in-house legal counsel with Dell Asia Pacific. Outside work, both Thiagarajan and Shantini have a keen interest and are involved in human values education for children and young people.