She listened and shared her views with SMOU, as a friend, motivator, leader, fellow unionist. In her visit to SMOU on 27 July 2010, Mrs Josephine Teo, Member of Parliament, Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC and Assistant Secretary-General, National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) connected well with SMOU executive committee leaders on issues close to their heart.

During the dialogue session, SMOU Exco members higlighted that the global shortage of seafaring officers is estimated to climb to some 27,000 by 2015. Issues that were raised included the shortage problem of seafarers in Singapore and the declining number of young Singaporeans passionate enough to face the challenges in the maritime industry. Mrs Teo commended SMOU for spearheading initiatives such as the Tripartite Nautical Training Award (TNTA) programme.

The $2.4 million funded programme was launched in October 2009, as a joint collaboration by SMOU, NTUC e2i (Employment and Employability Institute), Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) and supported by the Singapore Shipping Association (SSA), to encourage Singaporeans to join the maritime sector and pursue promising careers sailing onboard international vessels as seafaring officers. This forward thinking by SMOU caught the attention of Mrs Teo, who saw how the Union was able to pull all the resources and bring together the industry players to make the programme happen.

She affirmed that the move taken by SMOU was a step in the right direction in dealing with the shortage of local seafaring officers. The dialogue concluded with the agreement that there should be more support rendered to the employment of Singaporeans as well as encouraging the young to choose

seafaring as a career.