Domestic workers: from lives of simplicity to complexity
The New Paper published a laudable background feature on domestic maids from the Philippines and Indonesia on Monday, March 26, 2012. In the three-page spread by lead writer Amanda Phua, the story described their pre-Singapore lives back in their villages where electricity is a luxury and modern household appliances unknown. It shows how hard the...
Thai fishing trade under fire for human trafficking
Desperate Cambodians, recruited into the Thai fishing fleet, have been jumping off their boats to escape life-threatening work conditions. They are often not paid either, reported Nirmal Ghosh , Straits Times’ correspondent in Thailand. The feature story (Straits Times, 24 March 2012, Thai fishing trade under fire for human trafficking) detailed that about 30 Cambodians...
New Paper describes Bangladeshi workers as toyboys
A day after salaciously reporting the violent deaths of a domestic worker and her Bangladeshi lover in a short-time hotel room, the New Paper carried a feature about Bangladeshi men as toy boys sought out by Singaporean women. In a story dated March 7, 2012 (Toyboy targets, by Shaffiq Alkhatib, Amanda Phua and Amanda Yong),...
Britain's Guardian newspaper carries TWC2 remarks about new weekly day-off rule
The Guardian newspaper carried news of the Singapore government’s decision to make a weekly day off for domestic workers mandatory (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/06/singapore-maids-one-day-off-a-week). Describing the existing situation, reporter Kate Hodal wrote: Seven-day weeks and 14-hour days are common, a report last year found, with only 12% of domestic helpers currently getting a day off each week. Runaways,...
Building firms look farther afield for workers
As economic growth in India and China roars ahead, lifting wages, companies in Singapore addicted to cheap labour are scouring other countries as potential sources. A story in the Straits Times, January 20, 2012, reported that where they used to turn to China, India and Bangladesh, they are now recruiting from ‘non-traditional’ sources such as...
TWC2 featured in NTUC Lifestyle magazine
NTUC Lifestyle magazine had a four-page feature on Transient Workers Count Too in their recent monthly issue. With a circulation of 294,000 this should give TWC2′s message a considerable boost. You can read the story in pdf format by clicking the icon at right. The magazine’s reporter interviewed TWC2 treasurer Alex Au at Suthas restaurant...
Badluck Rafiq
Seldom does a single worker get featured in the news twice. Rafiq Miah has that dubious distinction. He was first mentioned in the New Paper in August 2011 after suffering a foot injury in April, and then got hurt in a fire that broke out at a restaurant. He was staying in the room above...
No country for fishermen
The death on the high seas of Eril Morales Andrade was featured in The Online Citizen’s story, dated January 9, 2012. The case of this Filipino, recruited by a Singapore company, Step Up Marine, to work aboard a Taiwanese fishing vessel, has been monitored closely by TWC2 executive committee member Shelley Thio for several months....
Botched hand surgeries
Every year, three public hospitals see more than 15 cases of foreign workers whose hand injuries have not been treated properly, reported the Sunday Times, January 1, 2012, in a full-page spread. The hospitals were Singapore General Hospital, National University Hospital and Tan Tock Seng Hospital — these are the three with dedicated hand surgery...
Minister of State Tan Chuan-jin calls on bosses to treat migrant workers fairly
Singaporeans should show our appreciation to migrant workers as they are an integral part of society and play an important role at that, said Minister of State for Manpower Tan Chuan-jin in a blogpost marking International Migrants Day. “They are the workers that build the infrastructure that we enjoy every day and the very homes...
