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SINGAPORE, Tuesday (AFP)

The Singapore government announced plans on Monday to clip the wings of the Singapore Airlines (SIA) pilots' union after denouncing the group as "confrontational" and a risk to the nation's economy.

Foreigners will be banned from the board of the Air Line Pilots' Association of Singapore (ALPA-S) and its members will no longer be allowed to instruct their leaders in disputes with management, Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong's office said in a statement.

The crackdown was announced after Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, the son of Singapore's founding father Lee Kuan Yew, warned the union on the weekend not to "take on" the government.

Lee's comments came after ALPA-S members voted this month to sack its entire leadership over controversial wage cuts imposed by SIA to counter a slump caused by the SARS health crisis.

The ALPA-S has long been regarded as the union most willing to challenge the government, which has kept a tight rein on industrial action through restrictive laws with just two days of strikes in the city-state since 1978.

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