All items filed under News
MOM’s Labour Court skirted with enforcing an illegal ‘contract’
Volunteers at TWC2 were alarmed to hear from Sohel Rana, in mid July 2016, that the Assistant Commissioner of Labour presiding over his Labour Court case might be planning to rule in a manner contrary to written law. It would seriously undermine his claim and set an extremely bad precedent.
Bangladeshi cleaner electrocuted while washing floor
The Straits Times reported, 1 December 2016, a coroner's finding that Kabir Mohammad Faysal, 29, had been electrocuted while using a water jet to clean the floor at a housing estate. The motor of the jet had not been grounded and he was barefoot as he did his job. The Straits
Boss fined for raking in $93,000 in renewal fees
The Straits Times reported that Ng Boon Cheng, managing director of Lian Lee Wooden Case Maker Co (above, in ST pic), was fined $60,000 on 22 November 2016 for collecting kickbacks from his foreign workers. The story came out in the newspaper's 23 November online edition. The newspaper reported that:
The price of a job
TWC2's latest research takes a detailed look at recruitment costs borne by female domestic workers in Singapore. Based on a survey of 232 workers conducted in early 2016, the study reveals how much they paid, to whom, and how many months' of salary deductions these payments represented. It also
Diluted Justice: Protection and redress for trafficked fishermen in Asia
A joint research by Dr Sallie Yea and Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) reveals that trafficked fishermen face insurmountable barriers to access legal and economic justice and protection. These barriers are caused by the following factors: significant gaps in measures for victim identification, a lack of coordinated support for the
A note to students
TWC2 receives numerous requests from students embarking on project work, or fulfilling other school requirements. While we are pleased that students are keen to find out more about migrant workers and to devise projects to make positive changes in their lives, we find that students often approach TWC2 with preconceived
The name of the devil is process: how regulatory process creates and sustains the disempowerment and injustices faced by migrant labour
For a few years now, Transient Workers Count Too has been asked to give a talk to journalists gathered at the annual Asia Journalism Fellowship. The following videos are adapted from the talk that Alex Au gave on 8 September 2016. There were about 20 journalists in TWC2's Dayspace, from
Extend subsidised Zika testing to foreign workers
Our press release made it into the Straits Times 7 September 2016 (imaged above) --- Statement for the media: Transient Workers Count Too urges the Ministry of Health to rethink the exclusion of subsidised testing for foreign workers who may be infected with the Zika virus. The Ministry announced yesterday
Foreign workers hit badly by zika and dengue: better housing needed
One of the most striking facts coming out of the currently ongoing zika virus outbreak in Singapore is that the initial cases seemed to have been concentrated at one construction site in the Sims Drive area. Of the first 41 confirmed cases, 36 were workers at the Sims Oasis project
TWC2 calls for better protection for domestic workers to commemorate the adoption of the ILO Domestic Workers Convention (C189).
16 June 2016 marks the fifth anniversary of the adoption of ILO’s Domestic Workers Convention (C189) which sets international standards of decent work for domestic workers. The C189 is currently in force in 21 countries[1] (International Labour Organization, n.d.). The adoption of C189 is significant because it ensures that the