All Articles
Covid-19: Tales from the ground, part 2
Workers tell us of their experiences during the lock-down. Here is a miscellaneous collection of their direct experiences -- about insufficient toilets, insufficient food and all sorts of inconveniences due to the lockdown.
How many employers are there?
Here's a figure: There are 66,000 employers of S-Pass and Work Permit holders as at April 2020. And workers with bank accounts now number 521,000, which seems to be 77.5%. Numbers exclude FDWs.
Manpower Ministry’s advisory on circuit breaker still unclear
In a media statement dated 13 April 2020 (links to short version and long version) we pointed out that an entire section of the Ministry of Manpower's Advisory on salary and leave arrangements during Circuit Breaker was not only unclear, but seemed to bless salary reductions for foreign
The dorms are not the problem
An essay based on a talk given by Alex Au at a Labour Day webinar organised by Maruah in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic that badly affected migrant workers in Singapore.
Lockdowns and merry-go-rounds
Medical needs for non-Covid situations risk being neglected. Two stories from two workers stuck in dorms. The hospitals are fine, but seeing a doctor in the dorm or filling a prescription... facepalm!
A self-cultivated Achilles heel
As Covid-19 infections among migrant workers hit new highs, John Gee takes stock of the bigger picture: What is it about Singapore's migrant labour policy that makes this crisis a self-inflicted one, and where do we go from here?
Covid-19: Tales from the ground, part 1
Workers tell us of their experiences during the lock-down. Here is a miscellaneous collection of their direct experiences -- about getting fever, the long wait for test results and not getting wifi.
Joyless Joylicious, part 3
Twenty roommates of a migrant worker were locked inside a room after the worker fell ill with Covid-19. The room was locked from the outside. The employer was unhappy we went public with the problem on Facebook. MOM also said we had not informed them.
Joyless Joylicious, part 2
Twenty roommates of a migrant worker were locked inside a room after the worker fell ill with Covid-19. The room was locked from the outside. TodayOnline confirms the story in a report the next day but also quotes dorm operator saying it was necessary.
Joyless Joylicious, part 1
Twenty roommates of a migrant worker were locked inside a room after the worker fell ill with Covid-19. The room was locked from the outside. The story (parts 1 to 3) recounts our efforts to free them from criminal confinement, and the battles we had to fight even after we succeeded.