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Why foreign workers are reluctant to raise pay issues
A letter by Debbie Fordyce of TWC2 was published in the print section of the Straits Times 17 July 2014. It was a follow-on to a letter by Migrant Workers' Centre, which in turn was a response to an article by Radha Basu in the Sunday Times of 6 July.
Give foreign workers a fair deal – Sunday Times, 6 July 2014
"COI into Little India riot suggests sensible and practical ways to improve their lives " says the subheader to a column by journalist Radha Basu in the Sunday Times of 6 July 2014. The article focussed on the recommendations contained in the Report of the Committee of Inquiry (into the recent
Two dollars per hour
In her column published 6 July 2014 in the Sunday Times, Radha Basu highlighted the fact that many foreign workers in Singapore are still being paid at the ridiculous rate of $2 per hour. In preparing her article, she was provided evidence of this by Transient Workers Count Too, in
Increasing residential segregation for foreign workers
Recommended by the Committee of Inquiry (COI) into the Little India riot in its report released on Monday, 30 June 2014: the possibility of making services and amenities available to workers outside of areas prone to congregation i.e. Little India, thereby reducing possibilities of problematic events altogether. The COI stance,
Building boom leading to more workplace injuries
Released yesterday by the Manpower Ministry, new statistics revealed a jump in construction-related deaths this year – 17 in the first half, with eight cases in January alone, up from 11 in the same period last year. Major injury cases also leaped 15 percent this period from last year to
TWC2’s response to the COI Report on the Little India Riot
Ambulance set ablaze. Photo: Straits Times Media Statement For immediate release, 3 July 2014 TWC2’s response to the COI Report on the Little India Riot TWC2 wishes to make three points in response to the Report on the Little India Riot issued 30 June 2014 by the Committee
Committee of Inquiry issues report on Little India riot
Ambulance set ablaze. Photo: Straits Times The Committee of Inquiry on the Little India Riot made its Report public on 30 June 2014. Much of the report deals with the particulars of the incident (that occurred after 9pm on 8 December 2013) which do not have much relation
Video: Singapore’s foreign muscle
There is an increasing interest among social media groups in featuring foreign workers, the important roles they play in Singapore and the hardships they suffer. Here is one from SPAM media:
Memorandum on required training for construction sector workers
By John Gee In 2011, when looking into the costs Bangladeshis face in coming to work in Singapore’s construction industry, one of the expenses about which the research team asked workers was that of training. They quickly discovered that, though the workers had to pay significant amounts to training centres to gain skills
Construction companies and bosses in court for kickbacks and other employment offences
A director of a construction company was fined $20,000 for taking money from his foreign workers. Demanding and accepting such kickbacks is illegal. Lin Pinghe 54, took the money from twenty workers from China in 2011, reported the Straits Times in its story on 3 June 2014 (pictured above). He