Announcements and upcoming events:
Featured Articles
Seeing double: an unexplained mystery
A curious case involving nearly 20 men approaching TWC2 within a week, all of whom had proper IPAs at MOM, but due to a mismatch of names compared with their passports, were refused Work Permits.
Read more
“If you complain, we will kill you”
Employers abused the Training Employment Pass scheme to hire cheap day labour; now hear it from the worker's perspective: distress, helplessness and financial disaster.
Read more
Resign? What fiction is this?
Without a sense of financial security, resigning from a bad job may be an unrealistic move for migrant workers – even when salary isn't fully paid.
Read more
If farmers can lock up their oxen in a barn, why can’t we lock up our workers too?
There's a continuing pattern of employers locking up their employees. We describe a recent case when TWC2 had to intervene and explain why such employer attitudes and behaviour persist.
Read more
Management executives washing dishes – media coverage and more
Our earlier article "Management executives" washing dishes got media attention. Then more informants came to us to tell us about the issue. It's much bigger than we had thought.
Read more
Scams and substitutions, case #3 of 3
Another day, another scam. This time, it involves the Training Employment Pass. This case suggests lax controls and oversight at MOM. But when real individuals lose big money, something has to be done.
Read more
Scams and substitutions, case #2 of 3
A Burmese restaurant worker was never paid for overtime work, suffered huge salary deductions, and then more than a year later, discovered that the employer had substituted his contract with another one.
Read more
Scams and substitutions, case #1 of 3
A Chinese worker was asked to work, not for the company stated on her work permit, but for a related company. The boss was the same. How could she say no? And then when she
Read more
Fall guys for working at heights
Working at height demands rigourous safety measures. If an accident happens and is traceable to negligence, criminal charges can follow. So, when we heard about superficial compliance with regulations....
Read more
Entrusting children’s lives to sleepless lifeguards
Two lifeguards hired from Kerala, India were tasked to work 14-hour days, seven days a week. And paid only half of what had been documented as the agreed salary. Wouldn't fatigue affect their alertness?
Read more
How compliant is Singapore with ILO Convention 29 on forced labour?
Sixty years after Singapore ratified the ILO's Forced Labour Convention 29, we can't help but see areas where Singapore can be accused of insufficient compliance. What are those areas?
Read more
Management executives washing dishes
In quick succession, many cases that looked like a new type of job scam surfaced. Agents and employers appear to be exploiting weaknesses in scrutiny and vetting in MOM's IPA process. Victims come to TWC2
Read more
Outreach by the sea
TWC2 took nearly 300 migrant workers from various communities out to Lazarus Island for a day of fun. At the same time, we set aside time to prep them with information as to how to
Read more
On the margins of marginal labour
A research report on the chronic livelihood distress faced by workers caught up in investigations by the Police and other agencies and the shortcomings of current systems.
Read more