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Home > What We Do > Research
TWC2 believes that research is critical to effective and credible advocacy. Gaining a measure of the problems and insight into how migrant workers see their situation helps us to ensure a fact-based approach and better informed public discussion. In the short time that we have been in action, TWC2 has produced or participated in several research projects. Their findings have often taken public discussion forward by highlighting relatively unknown realities and proposing fair and realistic ways of tackling issues.
Among these reports were:
- Debt, Delays, Deductions: Wage Issues Faced by Foreign Domestic Workers in Singapore (2006)
The ’3 Ds’ report looked at the level of debt carried by domestic workers newly arrived in Singapore as a result of rising placement costs borne by them. It also reports on delays in payments, salary deductions and proposes a cap on charges to domestic workers. - Indonesian Domestic Workers in Singapore: Experiences of Recruitment, Training and Return (2009)
Based on interviews with 100 Indonesian domestic workers, the report concentrated on workers experiences before leaving and on returning to Indonesia, but one of its most striking findings was that the cost of placement to workers had risen from around three months of their pay in 1997 to eight or nine months in 2008. - Justice Delayed, Justice Denied: The Experiences of Migrant Workers in Singapore (2010)
A joint report with HOME based on records of 2,500 workers’ cases handled by the two organisations, it outlined the kinds of problems faced by low-wage migrant workers and considered the obstacles they faced in seeking redress when injured or mistreated. - Singapore’s Employment Agencies Act and Rules – Proposals for Amendment (2010)
A TWC2 legal group produced these detailed proposals for changes to the legislation governing employment agencies in Singapore. Its proposals centre on ensuring a strong standard of service to both sets of agency clients – employers and workers. - Discrimination against women migrant workers and human trafficking in Singapore (2011)
Joint report to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women by the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women and TWC2.
Over the years, TWC2 has collected some figures relating to the issue of a weekly day off for domestic workers. — Sunday Times, 28/7/2002: ‘Most foreign maids happy working here’ Dawn Wong and Lee Hui Chieh “More than half Filipinas interviewed had every Sunday off, and a handful, public holidays as well. Again, this was...
Posted on July 19, 2011 in Articles, Facts and research
Foreign domestic workers (FDW) expressed high levels of satisfaction with working in Singapore, reported the Ministry of Manpower, based on a survey it conducted in 2010. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being ‘extremely satisfied’, about half of the FDWs indicated that they were “extremely satisfied” with working in Singapore. Similarly, employers...
Posted on August 21, 2011 in Articles, Facts and research
Family members often have different views on migrant workers, especially on the treatment of their own domestic workers. This short story by Anne Bergen-Aurand, first published in our members’ newsletter of March-April 2010, recalls a difficulty faced by a caller to our helpline: TWC2′s helpline frequently receives calls from “concerned others.” These are callers who...
Posted on June 29, 2010 in Articles, Stories