Articles > Stories
Advertising intern does good famously
Challenging themselves to "do good famously", three interns from British advertising agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty Limited (BBH) came up with the idea of having one of them, Ian Napier, live and work as a migrant worker for a short while, and report on what it feels like to be one
‘Pay me $550 – $570 a month,’ the boss said
On Tuesday morning, December 13, 2011, the boss of RegiCo (pseudonym of company name) called 23 employees, all migrant workers, to his office and announced that the company was bankrupt. "You should go to the Ministry of Manpower after this," he advised. One would think the men would have been
Arrived in Singapore, kept waiting for his job, only to find himself an illegal
Mahabubul Abul Khayer's employment history illustrates how exploitative and disgraceful Singapore's record of using foreign labour is. Repeatedly, employment agents made thousands of dollars out of him. At least in the early years, he got in return a job through which he more or less recovered what he had paid.
Jail for bosses who mistreat workers, says judge
This article was first published on Yawning Bread and republished here with permission (slightly edited). In a landmark judgement from the High Court, Justice V K Rajah not only dismissed the appeal of an employer who caused great suffering to over 600 foreign workers, but stated for the record that
Of life and debt
By Spiegel Ramachandran arrived six years ago. Leaving his parents and two siblings in Tamil Nadu, he found in Singapore a new life, steady employment, and a shot at lifting his family into a better existence. He earned his keep as a fitter at Jurong Shipyard, where his amiability and
Banned for being broke
"I no money, I no job," said Kesar (real name withheld on request), explaining why he worked illegally for a short spell. After he complained to his employer about deductions from his salary, he was threatened. "Boss angry and he say 'I send you back to Bangladesh'." Fearing capture and
Midnight rescue
The midnight air was humid and still. Russell slid his car into the driveway fronting the block of flats marked for the rendezvous, turned off his headlights, and rolled down his window glass to listen intently to the sounds emanating from the block. Nothing unusual so far -- a bit
Workers asked to choose between pay cut or repatriation
Without work, Abubakar (right, above) was not getting any money and had to depend on free meals served by TWC2, but it wasn't because the scaffolder wasn't willing to work. It was simply because his boss was penalising him for refusing to take a pay cut. The boss had not
The runaway
Hanis came to Singapore in August 2009 from East Java for a job as a domestic worker. Like so many others, she hoped to make enough to help support her husband and two children -- a four-year-old son and a daughter aged 11, whom she left in the care
Three videos: Inside look at migrant worker housing
There are many stories about migrant workers being housed worse than animals, in unsafe and unhygienic conditions. But it is hard to grasp how bad things can be without the visual image. With phone cameras becoming ubiquitous, these images are coming out. The first is a video first posted on