Media Division, Ministry of Information and The Arts,

36th Storey, PSA Building, 460 Alexandra Road, Singapore 119963.

Tel: 3757794/5

___________________________________________________________

Today marks a significant milestone in the history of the labour movement, as we realise a dream to propel union membership benefits into the IT age.

NTUCLINK - Increasing the Value of Union membership

The primary objective of NTUCLINK is to enhance the attractiveness of union membership. It unifies the value of the bonus programmes offered by various NTUC co-operatives and Club outlets, and takes advantage of a combined customer base of more than 500,000. No other organisation in Singapore has such a large base.

The use of the smart card on such a wide membership base, and the multiple features that smart card technology offers, have put NTUCLINK right at the forefront of smart card applications in Singapore. The labour movement is very proud of this achievement.

Programmes that provide regular customers with additional benefits are not new. Airlines, for example, have used them successfully for many years. NTUC FairPrice’s own rebate scheme is also a form of regular customer benefit programme, and a highly successful one at that.

NTUCLINK - Great Variety, Great Convenience, Great Value

What makes the NTUCLINK Bonus Points Programme special is that it rewards not just purchases made at any outlet of any of NTUC's large family of Co-operatives and Club outlets, but also purchases with our business partners. The scheme already boasts a large and growing list of collaborating businesses. They cater to all aspects of today's lifestyle, ranging from travel, food, telecommunications, electrical goods appliances, and social and recreational services. NTUCLINK is indeed a multi-service, highly convenient smart card that delivers great value to users.

NTUCLINK - How union members will benefit twice

For the union member, this means that whenever he shops at NTUC FairPrice, he will enjoy not only his year-end rebates, but also earn extra Link Points from that same purchase. When he buys things from any of the NTUCLINK partners, he will get best value for money, and also earn extra Link Points from that same purchase. NTUCLINK will therefore give union membership this big lift upward in value, rewarding union members not once, but twice. I urge all who have still not joined the union to do so quickly and not miss such an opportunity to enjoy this extra and unbeatable value and benefit.
 
 

NTUCLINK - the Instant enjoyment smart card

As NTUCLINK is a smart card, Link Points earned are electronically stored in the chip on the card. This means that these Link Points can immediately be redeemed for designated goods and services in any of the participating merchants. Unlike some other cards, there is no need to wait for some monthly or quarterly advice from the operators telling you how many points you have chalked up.

NTUCLINK - beats competition in returning value to users

What is more, NTUCLINK offers 2-3 times more value in terms of loyalty rebates, more features, and greater convenience compared with other recently introduced loyalty schemes. This is a conscious move by the NTUC to return maximum value to our union members, friends and supporters.

NTUCLINK - the Smart Businessman's Tool

Quality service providers can see the business potential that the NTUCLINK smart card opens up for them. They know that they can immediately tap onto a large and growing base of potential customers, comprising members of unions, NTUC Club, INCOME life policyholders and NTUC FairPrice and Healthcare shareholders, more than 500,000 of them currently. The technology of the smart card makes it possible to mount promotions cheaply, repeatedly and successfully to the whole membership base.

Our service partners will of course be able to make full use of the power of the NTUCLINK database to tailor their products, services and promotions to the needs and preferences of their regular customers. The smart card system helps them to ‘remember’ what each of their customers wants In short, the technology of NTUCLINK will increase the repeat business for our service providers.

The NTUC Group hopes to forge a closer working relationship with our partners to bring about greater mutual benefits. I am grateful for the tremendous support and hard work put in by our partners, namely, NCB, Singapore Computer Systems, Nets, and other service providers, in helping to bring the NTUCLINK Bonus Points Programme to the starting line today.

I wish to thank our affiliated unions for their support and patience in the massive exercise to bring the Link Card to your members. Your efforts will now bear fruit for them.

I thank all concerned in sharing our vision to make NTUCLINK the most useful and attractive card to hold in all of Singapore

On this note, it gives me great pleasure to launch the NTUCLINK Bonus Points Programme.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------