All items filed under News
Having to write off $6,500, worker feels ‘heart pain’
By Keith W "Now I get less," says Prashath Ranthulan (not his real name). "Other worker, they take $3,000 and go back [home]. Agent give, but tell worker [if] take money, cannot go MOM." He was the only one to turn down the hush money. Why? "I want to complain
Moving to new office
Transient Workers Count Too will be moving our office to another address during the week of 9 to 13 September, 2013. Our new address, located within the same building, is: 5001 Beach Road, #09-86 Golden Mile Complex Singapore 199588. Our previous landlord wanted the old unit back, so we had
Andrew Loh reports on workers’ dormitories in industrial buildings
In a Yahoo Singapore story titled 'Hidden slums of Singapore revealed' Andrew Loh describes conditions he witnessed in places where migrant workers are housed. He visits some of these places and has a video of what he saw: He writes: On the second floor lies the narrow doorway to the
Baby dumping case: address more realistically sexuality issues among domestic workers
A week-old baby girl was found abandoned on 8 August 2013. Police have now traced the mother to a foreign domestic worker, media reports said today, 15 August 2013. Chinese newspaper Wanbao reported: The maid hid her pregnancy from her employer, and later tried to hide her infant daughter in
Workers will bear over $5 billion of costs for injuries sustained in 2011
Preliminary findings from a study of workplace injuries and ill-health in 2011 reveal that slightly more than half of total costs fall on workers themselves, when quantified into dollar terms. Since low-wage foreign workers tend to be the ones doing the dangerous jobs, they suffer injuries and ill-health disproportionately. Now
Mixed progress on maids’ day off
This commentary by John Gee, immediate past president of TWC2, was carried in Today newspaper on 22 July 2013: --- It is just before 9am on a Sunday and there is an elegantly dressed woman in the lift, but she is carrying a large bag that does not go with
Big cut in Filipina maids September 2
A moratorium has been declared on sending Filipina domestic helpers to Singapore starting 2 September 2013. This news was carried by Channel NewsAsia (CNA) and the Straits Times (23 July 2013). CNA said 150 maid agencies in the Philippines, members of a trade association, want employers in Singapore to bear
Don’t dictate sick leave, employers told
The Ministry of Manpower sent out an email reminder to 28,000 workplace safety and health officers telling them "not to influence doctors to give injured workers less sick leave than they need," reported the Sunday Times on 21 July 2013. According to the newspaper, this email was dated 11 July,
25 foreigners jailed for submitting false academic qualifications
Twenty-five foreigners pleaded guilty to "submitting forged academic certificates to the Controller of Work Passes in order to obtain work passes" on Tuesday, 16 July 2013, reported Channel NewsAsia. (Link) The 20 males and five females are aged between 19 and 48 years old. Twenty-one are from Myanmar, three from
Straits Times editorial: Callous collusion must be stopped
In its editorial of Saturday, 13 July 2013, the Straits Times says "collusion between doctors and employers is conduct simply too callous to go unpunished." It was addressing the issue of insufficient medical leave given by some doctors in private practice to injured workers, as covered by the newspaper in