News > Media Coverage
A Singapore company at the heart of fisherman trafficking — New York Times
The New York Times has an exposé on Step Up Marine, a manning agency operating out of Singapore's Chinatown, and its network of recruiters in neighbouring countries. Young men are deceived and entrapped into horrendously abusive jobs on fishing trawlers, including Eril Andrade who died at sea. Court papers in the
Cleaners found living in bin centres
The Straits Times carried a feature report 18 July 2015 about Bangladeshi estate cleaners living in trash collection centres, commonly referred to as 'bin centres'. Reporters visited eight such places across the island. The news story can be found by clicking the thumbnail below: Among the bin centres visited by
Ensure pay is banked, offer (job) mobility
Published in the Straits Times Forum, 17 June 2015: --- FOREIGN WORKERS' WAGE WOES Ensure pay is banked, offer mobility Sunday's report ("More foreign workers seek help over wage woes") mentioned that the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) will be making it mandatory for employers to issue itemised payslips next year.
Today newspaper reports on our ‘day off’ findings
Today newspaper devoted a full page to our newly-released research report on weekly day off for domestic workers. Of the 195 respondents surveyed by the non-governmental organisation from July 2013 to October last year, only 41 per cent said they had four rest days each month. Close to a quarter
Kickbacks in the news: MWC urges workers to complain; reader retorts: “unlikely to work”
In the wake of the sentencing of a construction company boss for demanding kickbacks from his employees (see news story in Today newspaper, thumbnail at right), the Straits Times had a story about his unsavoury practice on 13 April 2015. The Straits Times noted that extortionate demands are typically made
Letter to Straits Times: Lower debt, raise job security
Following the deaths of two Bangladeshi workers in a fire , and a commentary article by Straits Times journalist Toh Yong Chuan (7 April 2015), TWC2 president Noorashikin Abdul Rahman wrote to the editor to better focus the root causes of poor housing. The letter was published on 17 April
BBC features a 17,000-man dormitory
Headlined Singapore is keeping an eye on its foreign workers, the BBC did a report (14 April 2015) on Tuas View Dormitory, said to be the largest in Singapore, housing 17,000 migrant workers. While showcasing its facilities, it also discusses the surveillance system incorporated into its design and operations. The
In the news: bad food served to workers
"Foul-smelling curry, rock-solid fish with scales still intact..." -- this was how Today newspaper opened its story (titled "Foreign workers served 'unappetising, stale food'", 19 March 2015) on the poor quality of food that foreign workers get. The story referred primarily to male workers at construction sites. Based on an
Acting on a tip-off, TWC2 rescues a maid trapped over two years without a day off, part 2
The Ministry of Manpower has accused TWC2 of publishing a "grossly untruthful account" relating to Indonesian domestic worker Wahyuni (see our earlier article here). This quote was contained in a story published in The New Paper on 8 March 2015 and archived on AsiaOne. See here and here. Transient Workers Count
John Gee in Straits Times: A win-win way to help injured foreign workers
This is the opinion piece by John Gee of Transient Workers Count Too, published in the Straits Times, 3 December 2014. ---- A win-win way to help injured foreign workers The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) is considering outsourcing the inspection of workplaces to counter the illegal employment of foreign workers,