Swithun Lowe

Swithun Lowe (1945 or 1946 – 22 October 2007) was a Singaporean educator and union leader who served on the Central Committee of the National Trades Union Congress and as the secretary-general of the Singapore Teachers' Union.

Early life and education Lowe was born in the mid-1940s. He received his secondary education at the St. Gabriel's Secondary School in the 1960s. He then studied at the Teachers' Training College. He also studied law.

Career Lowe began his career as a primary school teacher after graduating from the Teachers' Training College in the mid-1960s. He began volunteering part-time for the Singapore Teachers' Union (STU). He was elected to the committee of the Catholic Teachers' Movement in 1972. After nine years as a teacher, he resigned in 1973 to work for the STU full-time, The year after, he was elected the union's deputy general-secretary and was acting as the general-secretary in November. In April 1975, Lowe was elected to the committee of the National Book Development Council of Singapore. From 1982 to 1984, he served on the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) Youth Committee. He was again the deputy general-secretary by June 1992.

In April 2000, Lowe was elected to the Central Committee of NTUC. The STU was then one of the larger labour unions in the country, with over 13,000 members. In that same year, he became a member of the NTUC Membership Council, the NTUC Industrial Relations Committee (Public Sector) and the PSC Workers' Advocate Panel for Disciplinary Inquiries. He was additionally appointed the chair of the NTUC Membership Committee (Public Sector). In 2002, he was appointed the chair of the NTUC Club Paradigm Advisory Committee.

Lowe became an Alternate Member of the NTUC Industrial Relations Committee (Public Sector) instead of a regular member in 2003. In 2004, he was appointed the head of the NTUC Education Cluster. Lowe resigned as STU general-secretary and from several of his posts in the NTUC in July 2007. He continued with the STU as a senior consultant. He spent 34 years with the union in total. As the STU general-secretary, Lowe expressed his fears at the 1992 National Education Association meeting in the United States that teachers would be "left behind in the new global economy." He noted that there was a concern that a potential recession in the US or Europe could "[put] the squeeze" on Singapore's education budget. He pushed for the formation of the STU's Educare Co-operative, Leaders of the often sought his advice.