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Our accounts reflect our frugality
In 2013, over 90 percent of TWC2's spending went towards charitable activities, benefitting our clients in a relatively direct way. We spend little on overheads, reflecting a philosophy of frugality we are proud of. Total expenditure in the year was $481,139, leaving us with a surplus of $254,755 from the
MOM does not abandon workers, says ministry director
The director of the Foreign Manpower Management Division, Kevin Teoh, told the commission of inquiry looking into the Little India riots that his ministry does not abandon workers. This was after TWC2 president Russell Heng had hold the committee in earlier testimony that workers "basically have to resort to charity to
230 retail employees face jail
By Lucas Ho Selvam (not his real name) rests his head, heavy with worry, in his hand. "I very worry," he says. "So many nights I cannot sleep." He knows about a recent the report in the Straits Times: "22 Indian nationals charged for false declaration of salaries," ran the
Woolim, part 3: employer charged
Transient Workers Count Too understood from indirect sources that the Ministry of Manpower originally had no plan to prosecute employer Woolim Plant Engineering for failing to pay correct salaries. For background to story, see Part 1 and Part 2. The reason given was (we heard) that the workers "didn't want
High Court overrules MOM Labour Court on overtime pay
In a noteworthy decision, the High Court ruled that the Ministry of Manpower's Assistant Commissioner for Labour misapprehended the law, applying it wrongly. The latter (also known informally as the Labour Court) had ruled in favour of the employer VGP Corp Ltd. But the High Court, in a written decision
$1.50 an hour is just too little for anyone
Sunday Times, 9 February 2014 carried a feature article by Radha Basu, leading with a figure that Bangladeshi worker Hussain Iqbal had given TWC2: $1.50. That was the hourly rate that his employer paid him for nearly a year, despite a document issued by the Ministry of Manpower confirming that
Nine worksite fatalities in January 2014
Nine worksite fatalities were recorded in the first month of 2014, reported the Straits Times (ST, 30 Jan 2014, Structure collapse kills one, injures 10 workers in Sentosa, by Yeo Sam Jo). The latest victim was a 36-year-old Chinese national working on a project on Sentosa. Ten others were injured
28 charged, 53 to be deported
Ten days after the riot in Little India, the police and Home Affairs Ministry announced that 28 foreign nationals will be charged and 53 deported. The 28 workers charged so far were "active participants" in the riot who committed violent acts, damaged property, defied police orders or incited others to
Alcohol and private-hire bus ban this weekend in Little India
Tamil workers enjoying a day off at a field near Race Course Road on a typical Sunday. Not one of them consuming alcohol. In the wake of last Sunday's small riot on Race Course Road at the southeastern corner of Little India, the government imposed a ban on
Riot in Little India after bus knocks down pedestrian
Ambulance set ablaze. Photo: Straits Times A small riot broke out in Little India on Sunday night, 8 December 2013. The junction of Race Course Road and Hampshire Road (just north of Little India MRT Station) is usually teeming with South Asian migrant workers Sunday nights. The area