All Articles
In the hours following an accident, the mischief starts
By Keith W Hossain Jabed's story is one of long frustration. His accident happened more than one year ago, but his medical treatment has been suspended because his employer wouldn't pay, and now he is likely to be sent home without being properly cured. "I cannot turn head very much,"
Dentists treat foot injuries, don’t they?
By Mayank Tripathi “Why should I go to a dentist for a broken foot?" exclaims a visibly weary Md Sultan Khan, when he begins telling me his story. About a year ago, Sultan, an employee of Sino Marine & Engineering, incurred an injury while at his workplace in Keppel shipyard.
High Court overrules MOM Labour Court on overtime pay
In a noteworthy decision, the High Court ruled that the Ministry of Manpower's Assistant Commissioner for Labour misapprehended the law, applying it wrongly. The latter (also known informally as the Labour Court) had ruled in favour of the employer VGP Corp Ltd. But the High Court, in a written decision
Through six years working here, Suman’s salary stayed much the same
Most times, when TWC2 volunteers interview workers, the conversation tends to focus on the immediate problem he or she faces, be it an injury needing proper medical attention, unpaid salaries, or a job scam. Suman Barman has an injury too, to his right thumb, but he was also a good
Owed $18,000 by boss, Arul told he should go home without collecting it
By Jacintha Gopal Narayanasamy Arulmurugan (Arul) has in hand a formal order issued by a Labour Court ordering his employer to pay him $18,276.42 in owed salary. But he is facing the stark possibility that he’d soon be told by the Ministry of Manpower to buy his own ticket and
Lawyer tells injured worker he can go home without waiting for WICA process to conclude
By Sonia Pillai Quite early in the interview, Palani Srinivasan, 43, mentions that his lawyer has told him to go home after his third operation. “Let me do collection for you,” was what (according to Srinivasan) his lawyer said. TWC2 vice-president Alex Au, who is sitting beside me, thinks it
Scammed worker given only six months to recover his $4,500 loss
By Fuxiong Torikul's hoped-for second job in Singapore never materialised. Instead, he's $4,500 in the red, having paid this total sum to an 'agent' and the boss. Getting it back is going to be difficult. He borrowed this amount from his father-in-law, who mortgaged his small plot of farmland to
“Sign now,” says ‘workers control assistant’ to injured Arif
By Joyce Wong Confronted by enforcers, Arif fled the dorm for his own safety. He left all his belongings behind. On 18 Jan 2014, fifteen days after a section of a finger was cut off by a cement mixer during work, Arif Hossin Chan Miah received a phone call from
Kowtham leaves Singapore poorer than when he arrived
Vallathan Kowthaman is going home end January 2014. He has no reason to smile as broadly as he does in the photo above, being about $6,000 poorer than when we arrived for his second job in March 2013. But he gives us a big smile because TWC2 has been his
Alam’s disappearing accident
By Benjamin Wong The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) website states that for a worker to claim under the Work Injury Compensation Act (WICA), "the employee only needs to prove that he was injured in a work accident ..." (emphasis added by TWC2). In reality, many workers have difficulty even meeting