All items filed under News

TWC2 participates in country review of Bangladesh at the United Nations in Geneva

May 7th, 2017|

Transient Workers Count Too was represented at a meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, where the Bangladesh government's handling of migrant worker issues came under scrutiny. Specifically, Bangladesh's governance was reviewed against its commitments to the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and their Families. Bangladesh

68% of construction workers work illegally long hours

April 25th, 2017|

Over two-thirds (68%) of foreign construction workers work so much overtime that their total monthly overtime hours would breach the legal maximum of 72 overtime hours a month. Of these, one in three (23%) worked twelve and a half hours or more in a single day -- which also violates the

The New Paper: Jobless and unpaid, foreign workers face daunting fate

March 25th, 2017|

The difficulties faced by foreign workers in Singapore seeking alternative jobs -- even when permitted to do so by the Ministry of Manpower -- were highlighted in a story in The New Paper 24 March 2017. The focus was on the men from HBB Engineering and related company C-Plus Engineering,

MOM makes about-turn after saying it can’t much help HBB workers

March 18th, 2017|

The Straits Times reporter met with the men on Thursday 2 March 2017. We thought the story would be out around the weekend, but the newspaper didn't have enough space. Parliament was sitting and debating the budget; space in the Home section was at a premium. The story was the

Give.asia and the Straits Times snatch two men from the jaws of penury

March 12th, 2017|

Islam Rafiqul and Sujan Ahmed were downcast when they first approached TWC2 for help. But by the time they went back to Bangladesh, their faith in Singaporeans was fully restored, thanks to the Straits Times and Give.asia -- a crowdfunding platform for people in need. In Rafiqul's case, he had

Harri boss finally sent to jail for salary and housing abuses

February 26th, 2017|

In an encouraging development, the prosecutor in a recent case made the argument that using the threat of dismissal and repatriation to compel foreign workers to accept lower wages would constitute an offence. According to a news story in Today newspaper, Nallusamy Narayanan, the boss of a number of companies

One quarter of Labour Court salary orders unpaid

February 24th, 2017|

At the parliamentary sitting of 9 January 2017, Nominated Member of Parliament Kok Heng Leun posed a question to the Minister for Manpower Lim Swee Say (pictured above). As published in the Hansard, Labour Court Orders on Employee Salary Non-payment Mr Kok Heng Leun asked the Minister for Manpower (a) how

9,000 salary complaints, 16,000 injured workers in 2016

February 23rd, 2017|

In 2016, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) received about 9,000 complaints from workers over salaries. These complaints related to about 4,500 employers. This was reported in the Straits Times, 6 Feb 2017, in a story reporting on questions and answers from a parliamentary sitting. Manpower minister Lim Swee Say also

For members of TWC2: Email verification exercise 2017

February 19th, 2017|

TWC2 is proud that that we have many long-standing members. But the drawback is that your email addresses may have changed over time. We need to do a verification exercise, and we seek your cooperation to ensure that our membership register is up-to-date. This is particularly as, with the help