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Worker offers to pay for own medication, yet employer refuses assistance
By Lim Shaomin "Four days how to tahan?" says Selim, using a local colloquialism meaning 'withstand'. "Hospital follow boss instructions." I am speaking to Selim Mahmud Babu regarding his most recent injury -- several broken bones in the fourth fingers of his left hand. West Point Hospital gave him four
TWC2 partners with Ogilvy & Mather to call on employers to give domestic workers their due day off
Press Release 23 April 2015 In the run up to International Workers’ Day, or Labour Day, on May 1, TWC2 has partnered with Ogilvy & Mather (O&M) to launch a campaign urging employers to grant a weekly day off to their domestic workers. As part of the campaign, O&M
Whose interests should doctors look out for?
By Sabrina Tay He held his index finger out next to mine and the difference was stark. Rubel’s finger was deformed, the nail shorter than what it should have been and the flesh at his fingertip warped. “Can you feel anything?” I asked as I gently touched his finger. “Cannot
Safety goes into dumpster along with workers’ rights
By William Chin The boss wasn't happy to see his employee presenting a medical leave certificate. "Why you go see doctor? No (limb) drop off, no broken," was his reaction. As Humayun Mohammad Enu tells it, he had to get his own medical treatment, and until now has not been
Guess what’s under the bra
By Maya Nguyen Three of us from TWC2 were in a ward of a major hospital. The hospital's medical social worker had asked us to come speak with a domestic worker who had been warded; she might have employment problems that medical social workers could not help with. The domestic
A dormitory is not a home: a place of threat, not security
By Chang Ya Lan Even in good health, a migrant worker does not enjoy the pleasure of a home in Singapore. Dormitory space is far from equivalent to what we take for granted: a place of rest and relaxation after a long, tiring day at work; a shell of privacy
Worker wants to see his ill mother, boss says he doesn’t care if worker dies too
By Keith Wong Some workers need to hold on to their jobs to support their families, but lose them anyway through no fault of their own. Sikder Gopal needs to quit his job, to go home to be with his extremely ill mother, yet is stymied every step of the
Work Injury Compensation framework fails smell test
By Sam Myat San I have always taken my sense of smell for granted. I used to imagine that losing one’s sight or hearing would be debilitating but that the olfactory sense was dispensable. That was until I met with a young man called Pugalenthy Karthikeyan (or Karthi, as he
Wide and wider our circle expands
By Russell Heng A line from an old song I know underlines TWC2’s experience when staff at Barclays, Singapore raised $25,670 for us in 2 hours of one afternoon. It goes, “Wider and wider our circle expands”. Let’s start at the very beginning. In September a bank staff Deepak Siddappa
Five days of injury cancels out five years of loyalty
By Lindene Cleary Shabul came to Singapore in 2009 to work for a marine company. During those five years he has dedicated himself to working hard to support himself and his family back home in Bangladesh. He’s never been injured, and has taken only a handful of days off for