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Featured Articles
Dry numbers on time logs “cannot feel my body”
This story dives into two construction workers' time logs; they tell a tale of exhaustion.
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Overworked and underprotected: research into excessive overtime and loss of rest days
A new research study uncovers how common it is for migrant workers to work extremely long hours, and give up their rest days
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Young woman meets toothless tiger
A young woman's year in Singapore is spent exploring the toothlessness of Singapore regulators.
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“Every day hotel … change; daily change”
Over 120 migrant workers from three linked companies lost their jobs late 2025. For many of them it's a struggle to get a bed for the night and food in the stomach. The law is
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Boss does not pay salary, prefers a cover-up – Proddi’s story
An employer had not paid his workers' salaries for five months. A few men went to MOM to file claims. In case the remaining men also do so, the employer had a plan: create evidence
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Boss does not pay salary, prefers a cover-up – Bissek’s story
Not having paid his workers' salaries for five months, a boss comes up with a ruse to create a paper and video record that salaries had actually been paid, perhaps hoping to stymie any salary
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How to make a million dollars and get away with it
Over a hundred men working for three inter-connected companies filed salary complaints. All were owed thousands of dollars; but all had also paid around $10,000 to get their jobs. Do the math: 100 men x
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Bad policy design left Xoan with nowhere to sleep
A case study of how bad MOM policy makes life a living hell for a victim of salary non-payment. He is broke, homeless, with no money for food. There is no social safety net. Deliberately
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Shipyard worker made to pay $8,500 for his job, then made to lie about it
Like many shipyard workers who come to TWC2 for help, Salak tells us about his recruitment fee and the agent's efforts to cover it up. His experience is no exception.
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Police investigations that go nowhere – who pays the price?
What happens when a foreigner finds himself or herself the subject of a police report made by someone else? What happens if the police have little evidence to go on?
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Business Times Op-ed: how sustainable is Singapore’s low-wage migrant labour model?
Last October, the Business Times carried a commentary on the sustainability of our migrant labour model. We add our views.
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Made in Dhaka: principles, false documents and videos
Here is another shipyard worker, with a recruitment fee story like many others, except that the details show how involved the employer was in the fee negotiations.
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When egg tarts and coffee leave a bitter taste
Lots of migrant workers can be found in our F&B sector, but the exploitative working conditions are terrible, despite nice laws.
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Broken ankle, but no medical leave
Many injured workers report that company representatives accompany them to doctor appointments, and influence doctors' actions. Here's one case and its implications.
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