Many of us are probably still suffering from election fatigue after General Election 2015.

Not the folks from the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) who will be electing their leaders

in the National Delegates' Conference (NDC), which is conducted every four years.

It will take place next week.

Below are three questions on why this NTUC election is more important than most people realise:

1. Why is this NDC especially important?

Leadership renewal is of the utmost concern for our national leaders. For instance, the recent cabinet reshuffle was conducted to groom the fourth generation of political leaders.

NTUC faces an equally acute challenge to refresh its leadership ranks. Over the past four years, it witnessed the departures of NTUC leaders Lim Swee Say (Manpower Minister), Halimah Yacob (as Speaker of Parliament), Ong Ye Kung (private sector, now Acting Education Minister), and Josephine Teo (Senior Minister of State).

In January, the current NTUC Central Committee (2011-2015) recommended that Minister Chan Chun Sing will take over Lim as the new NTUC Sec-Gen.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong supported their choice and released Chan to serve in the Labour Movement.

Although it is early days, this NDC will provide a snapshot of Chan’s first six months as Labour Chief, such as whether he could propose and implement a four-year vision for NTUC that will inspire both the PMEs and the rank-and-file.

2. What is at stake? What are the possible changes?

The CC is almost like the NTUC's "Cabinet". According to its Constitution, the CC "is the planning, policy and executive organ".

When asked whether any changes are expected, NTUC Assistant Secretary-General and MP Zainal Sapari told Mothership.sg:

"We expect to see a number of changes this year as several of our CC members have flowed on or will be flowing on. This is in line with our 3-Flow (Flow In, Flow Up and Flow On) framework which was adopted in 2011 whereby NTUC Central Committee (CC) members will step down from the CC upon reaching the age of 62. We consciously strive to achieve an inclusive balance in the Central Committee, not just in terms of age, race and gender, but also with leaders representing different industries."

In other words, many CC members have "flowed on". (Editor's note - Minister Lim has previously explained this concept in a Mothership.sg interview a year ago).

The last we checked, there are sixteen members on the NTUC CC.

Since union delegates will elect (by secret ballot) 21 members to the NTUC CC from among the candidates nominated, there will be at least five new members.

Among the 21 members, the CC will proceed to elect among themselves the Secretary-General, the President, the Secretary for Financial Affairs (Treasurer) and Vice Presidents.

3. Will there be roles for the new labour MPs?

There are currently two new labour MP-elects after the GE – Tampines GRC MP-elect Desmond Choo and Tanjong Pagar GRC MP-elect Melvin Yong. Will they be appointed as Assistant Sec-Gens?

Labour Chief Chan would have to conduct his own “reshuffle”.

According to NTUC’s Constitution, the Sec-Gen can appoint “Deputy Sec-Gens not exceeding three”, and “Assistant Sec-Gens not exceeding five”.

Currently, there are one Deputy Sec-Gen – Senior Minister of State Heng Chee How – and five Assistant Sec-Gens – MPs Patrick Tay, Ang Hin Kee, Zainal Sapari, former MP Yeo Guat Kwang and former NMP Cham Hui Fong.

In other words, a few Asst Sec-Gens will have to be promoted or “flow on” to make room for the new MP-elects.

However, the change may not be immediate. Afterall, MPs Tay, Ang, Zainal were only appointed Assistant Sec-Gens last year, three years after they were first elected as MPs.

Top photo from Lim Swee Say Facebook page