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Bangladeshi bank charges 10% interest per month
Street scene, Dhaka Rakib and Kanak don't know each other, but both come on the same day to Transient Workers Count Too with similar stories. The chief similarity was that they both had borrowed from Brac Bank whose branches and billboards can be seen all over Bangladesh. This
Neat payslips hide violations in plain sight
Rahman Habibur complains that he has been short-paid for well over a year. It is not immediately obvious when one looks at his payslips. They appear very clearly drawn up. But closer examination reveals that he has a case. Habibur, together with workmate Uddin Jashim, figured in an earlier story Construction
Injured worker given ‘good news’: “Go home, see your family for a week.”
By Chow Zheng Shuan Uddin Md Jashim -- or Din, as his friends call him -- is at Isthana Restaurant this Monday evening for dinner provided by TWC2. After receiving his packed meal from the counter, he settles down at a table to recount his story to me. I picked
TWC2 participates in country review of Bangladesh at the United Nations in Geneva
Transient Workers Count Too was represented at a meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, where the Bangladesh government's handling of migrant worker issues came under scrutiny. Specifically, Bangladesh's governance was reviewed against its commitments to the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and their Families. Bangladesh
No work, no money, no food
By Bill Poorman “No work.” Those were the worst possible words that Masud could have heard. Like all foreign workers, he had come to Singapore to put in long hours and make a better life. In Singapore, he could earn a higher income than in his home country of Bangladesh. But when he
Cheating agents and sleeping agencies
By Jean Law Debesh* is going back to Bangladesh after a mere four months working in Singapore. He is leaving much poorer than if he had not come at all. This is because his money was taken from him in an illegal transaction that was not brought to justice. He
68% of construction workers work illegally long hours
Over two-thirds (68%) of foreign construction workers work so much overtime that their total monthly overtime hours would breach the legal maximum of 72 overtime hours a month. Of these, one in three (23%) worked twelve and a half hours or more in a single day -- which also violates the
Worker can’t get surgery; everything’s a bureaucratic mess
By Namgay Choden Hasan Mohammad Suman’s left thumb was injured December 2016 when it was jammed between steel bars at his worksite. It is late February now as I speak with him. He is scheduled to have surgery tomorrow at Ng Teng Fong Hospital in Jurong East. However, for the surgery to go
From a complicated injury case, a simple truth
By Long Yiou As a rookie interviewer, I feel that Hossain Mohammad Alamgir’s injury case is far more complicated than the storyline of the movie Inception. Though he has only been in Singapore for two years -- he came in August 2014 -- Hossain has had two injury disputes with three
When a case is “resolved”, what does that mean?
L-R: Minarul, Bayazid and Soroardi By Sean Yee In Parliament on 6 February 2017, Manpower minister Lim Swee Say said, "MOM received about 9,000 salary-related claims involving some 4,500 employers in 2016. So, 9,000 claims; 4,500 employers. Through mediation by MOM and adjudication by the Labour Court, we