Employers owe hospitals money; workers’ treatment at risk
By Liang Lei, based on an interview in May 2017 Undoubtedly, Singapore can boast of a world-leading healthcare system that offers high quality medical treatment for a wide range of injuries, diseases and emergencies. Unfortunately, timely and trouble-free access to such services is frequently lacking for our foreign labor, when injuries occur at work. I speak to...
Blackmail attempt at airport
Here’s an account of an incident at Changi airport as a TWC2 volunteer accompanied Nagelli Mahendar Reddy to see him off. By Silvester Goh Last night, 29 June 2017, I accompanied injured worker Nagelli Mahender Reddy to Terminal 2 to catch his flight home to India. Flight TZ502 to Chennai was scheduled to depart at 10:45pm. Check-in...
Employer demands worker return to work. Worker says he’s not well enough. Who’s right?
By Wahid Al Mamun, based on an interview in May 2017 Dipangka (not his real name) is of slight frame and voice. He shifts around gingerly on the plastic seat at TWC2’s free meals programme. As I endeavour to coax the story of his injury out of him, I come to learn of a mutual misunderstanding...
TWC2 helps 21 workers ‘escape’ Singapore island
By Jacinta Leow “When they saw the bungalow,” recalled Irene Ong, the co-leader of TWC2’s Discover Singapore team, “they were delighted, saying ‘Wow, it’s just like home.'” ‘Home’ was Discover Singapore’s overnight field trip to St John’s Island. It was logistically a lot of work, Irene added, “but seeing how happy they were made it all...
Sukranjan’s case drags beyond 12 months. How is he to survive?
By Troy Lee, based on an interview in May 2017 On the Ministry of Manpower’s website, it is stated that most work injury claims take “3 to 6 months for most cases. Some injuries may need more time to stabilise before a doctor can assess for permanent incapacity.” However, many of the cases that come to...
Two men thinking of home
By Sun Hanchen Every day, tens of thousands of foreign workers begin their day in the wee hours of the morning. They are employed to do blue-collar work shunned by Singaporeans – construction, maintenance and transport amongst others – and are often treated as faceless economic factors. But they have families, and it is in...
Job prematurely ended, Mollah Sharif facing debt collectors in three days
By Bill Poorman All he needs is some more time. Not forever. “One week, two week, three week,” Mollah Sharif Hossain says. Instead, he got only three days. Three days to save his life. It’s a Monday evening at TWC2’s free meals programme. Just yesterday, Mollah Sharif and his co-worker, Rafique (who goes by one name),...
Kamroul waiting months for MRI, not allowed to work, no income
By Sun Hanchen Hasan Kamroul was a marine trades worker, working at Benoi Shipyard. 7 December 2016 was supposed to be just another normal work night for him, but all changed several hours into his shift. Having been tasked to move some 26-inch pipes with two of his fellow workers, Kamroul set about doing his...
Straits Times reports on ‘gaps in Labour Court system’ and the plight of 5 Zach Engineering employees
Following the launch of TWC2’s research report yesterday (see Labour protection for the vulnerable: challenges and recommendations), the Straits Times carried two stories Friday (30 June 2017) almost filling up all of page B4. The newspaper noted that our research study found “significant obstacles and uneven enforcement” that prevent migrant workers from getting justice,...
Labour protection for the vulnerable: challenges and recommendations
A new study released by Transient Workers Count Too on 29 June 2017 reveals challenges faced by low-wage migrant workers with unpaid salaries and workplace injuries in obtaining compensation and recourse. The study, conducted by researchers at the Singapore Management University (“SMU”) and Transient Workers Count Too (“TWC2”), reveals that significant numbers of workers face...