Announcements and upcoming events:
Now that the circuit breaker and dorm lock-downs have been extended for another month, workers may need another round of phone top-ups. If you can help, please make a donation via the giving.sg portal to our top-up campaign at https://www.giving.sg/twc2/topup
Thank you to all who responded when we put up a call for masks. We’ve had donations for all we need within 24 hours of putting up that call. Don’t need anymore. If you have extra masks, please direct them to other charities. Meanwhile, what we need is your help with phone-top-ups, at https://www.giving.sg/twc2/topup. Thanks very much.
As advised by the Singapore government, we will be working from home starting from 7 April to 1 June 2020 unless extended. Our Administration phone number (6247 7001) and email address (info@twc2.org.sg) remain open during usual weekday hours for any enquiries. Our office will thus be temporarily closed.
Workers needing help and advice can reach us through our WhatsApp help numbers. See the posters on this page http://twc2.org.sg/info-for-clients/ for more information in various languages.
“Heartbeat”, our next orientation session for potential volunteers was originally scheduled for Tuesday, 14 April 2020, at 7:30 pm, but although Heartbeat is a video meeting, we’ve decided to suspend it for the month of April. This is because even if we signed you up as a volunteer after the web meeting, you can’t volunteer anyway in view of the latest Covid-19 restrictions. We don’t know if the restrictions will be extended after 4 May 2020, but we will keep you informed. If you have any questions, or if you want to stay on the waiting list for the next Heartbeat session, please email the Administration Officer at info@twc2.org.sg and we will do our best to keep you abreast of the ever-changing situation.
For more information about volunteering roles, please click here.
Featured Articles
Covid-19: Tales from the ground, part 3
Workers' experiences during the lock-down: about anxiety, life in a temporary hospital, vanishing salaries, financial disaster. Also about the things going on at TWC2: donations pouring in and volunteers running around.
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Better dormitories, part 2
Actions and demands by the government strongly impact the economics of dormitories. Improving minimum standards from 4.5 to 7.5 sq metres per head does not have to mean substantial cost increases.
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Better dormitories, part 1
The current minimum of 4.5 sq metres per person is too low a standard. It should be 7.5 sq metres. There shouldn't be barracks-style dorms anymore, but apartment-type accommodation with a max of 8 persons
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Nearly 300 men at risk of eviction and homelessness get rent money from TWC2
We laid out $85,000 to help some migrant workers keep a roof over their heads. These workers, having lost their jobs, are in more difficult situations than those in dorms. Includes video story from TRT
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Covid-19: Tales from the ground, part 2
Workers tell us of their experiences during the lock-down. Here is a miscellaneous collection of their direct experiences -- about insufficient toilets, insufficient food and all sorts of inconveniences due to the lockdown.
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The dorms are not the problem
An essay based on a talk given by Alex Au at a Labour Day webinar organised by Maruah in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic that badly affected migrant workers in Singapore.
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Lockdowns and merry-go-rounds
Medical needs for non-Covid situations risk being neglected. Two stories from two workers stuck in dorms. The hospitals are fine, but seeing a doctor in the dorm or filling a prescription... facepalm!
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A self-cultivated Achilles heel
As Covid-19 infections among migrant workers hit new highs, John Gee takes stock of the bigger picture: What is it about Singapore's migrant labour policy that makes this crisis a self-inflicted one, and where do
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Covid-19: Tales from the ground, part 1
Workers tell us of their experiences during the lock-down. Here is a miscellaneous collection of their direct experiences -- about getting fever, the long wait for test results and not getting wifi.
Read more