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Raising productivity needs direct intervention; lengthening maximum employment period too indirect
The Ministry of Manpower’s extension of the maximum period of employment of work permit holders from six to ten years is a move in the right direction (See http://www.mom.gov.sg/newsroom/Pages/PressReleasesDetail.aspx?listid=415). Like the ministry, Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) believes that improving the skill levels and productivity of foreign workers should be
Maximum period of employment for work permit holders extended to 10 years
In a statement issued March 26, 2012, the Ministry of Manpower announced that work permit holders from "non-traditional sources" such as Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand, as well as from China, can be employed for a maximum of ten years, up from six years previously. The statement can
Employment agent jailed for S-Pass scam
Shokkanarayanan Ramakrishnan, 43, was sentenced to four weeks' jail for abetting a false declaration as part of an S-Pass scam. The Permanent Resident was then an employment agent with Islets Solutions Pte Ltd, and had helped an employer (not named in the Channel NewsAsia story, March 26, 2012) "to falsely
Thai fishing trade under fire for human trafficking
Desperate Cambodians, recruited into the Thai fishing fleet, have been jumping off their boats to escape life-threatening work conditions. They are often not paid either, reported Nirmal Ghosh , Straits Times' correspondent in Thailand. The feature story (Straits Times, 24 March 2012, Thai fishing trade under fire for human trafficking)
Maid dies from 13-floor fall
Chinese-language newspaper Lianhe Wanbao and the Straits Times reported that a domestic worker from Indonesia fell to her death on Saturday afternoon, March 17, 2012. She fell from her employer's home on the 13th floor of a flat in Pasir Ris Street 71. From the bamboo clothes pole found next
Levy rise of questionable benefit, says labour economics professor
In a side panel to an article in the Straits Times story on Wednesday, March 21, 2012 (Retire on CPF savings? Think again, by Radha Basu), associate professor Hui Weng Tat cautioned about the possibility of employers attempting to recover higher levy rates by lowering foreign worker wages, and urged greater
Underaged maid given 10 years for killing employer
Vitria Wahyuni was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment by Justice Choo Han Teck for killing her employer, Madam Sng Gek Wah, 87, on November 25, 2009. The domestic worker, then aged 16, had been in the job for only four days when she strangled the older lady after
TWC2 glad that Tanjong Pagar MP has raised issue of abandoned injured workers
Transient Workers Count Too Monday, March 12, 2012 Media Release For immediate release TWC2 glad that Tanjong Pagar MP has raised issue of abandoned injured workers; invites reporters to 4th anniversary of our free meals programme The issue that Ms Indranee Rajah (PAP Tanjong Pagar) brought up in parliament, in
Concrete slab falls on worker, killing him
Masud al Manum met a tragic and untimely death when a concrete slab fell on him. He was operating an excavator three or four storeys deep inside a hole in the ground when the slab, measuring 4m by 2m, fell. It occurred at the construction site of the
New Paper describes Bangladeshi workers as toyboys
A day after salaciously reporting the violent deaths of a domestic worker and her Bangladeshi lover in a short-time hotel room, the New Paper carried a feature about Bangladeshi men as toy boys sought out by Singaporean women. In a story dated March 7, 2012 (Toyboy targets, by Shaffiq Alkhatib,