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Falling 3 metres, Homun feels he’s a marked target, part 1
By Elizabeth Zhou Getting injured is a foreign worker’s greatest nightmare. Monday, 5 May 2014. The evening was humid. Sweat gathered on his forehead and trickled down his side-burns. Homun adjusted his helmet and readied himself for a bit more work. It was almost time to go home. Then he
Singaporean concerned about workers with nowhere to sleep
The above photo came into TWC2's email box one day in June 2014. Taken around 7am and sent to us by a Singaporean resident in a block of apartments, it shows 25 - 30 foreign workers sleeping in a pavilion amid a housing estate. She told us that she was
Foreign worker levy and the release worker
Foreign worker levy rates have been rising in recent years and the trend continues through 2014 and 2015. The present rate for unskilled construction workers who are hired beyond the employer’s MYE (Man Year Entitlement) rose from $750 to $950/month in July 2014, and will reach to $1050/month in July
Two domestic workers sexually assaulted, part 2
9:30am -- the phone rang. On the line was a TWC2 volunteer telling us about a Filipina domestic worker Mercedes (not her real name) who was crying for help in a shopping mall. We advised the volunteer to send Mercedes to our office as soon as the worker had calmed
Nights are for crying
By Nissa Mai Asty attributes her improved quality of life to the new weekly day off law, which has opened up opportunities for her to develop valuable skills and connect with other Indonesian domestic workers in Singapore. But for the first six years of her employment here, she had no
In a foreign country, information from social networks figure strongly
By Danielle Hong This evening, Khan Masud, amiable and floppy-haired, is a first-timer at Transient Workers Count Too's free meal program, known as the Cuff Road Project. He heard about the soup kitchen from an acquaintance living around Rowell Road in Little India and decided to come by. Sure enough,
Illegal hirer reports his own illegal worker
By Fuxiong "If I not work, how I live?" Injured worker Md Milon Samsul Haque is telling me why he is now under investigation by MOM for working illegally. But his story has a twist: It was his illegal employer who reported to the authorities that Milon was working underground.
Migrant workers in Qatar – a personal perspective, part 3
Jennifer and Steve Parenteau lived in Qatar for six years before coming to Singapore last year. This is Part Three of their three-part story about migrant workers in Qatar. --- By Jennifer Parenteau Initiatives for Bridging the Gap Living in Doha taught us so much about the inequalities of our
Migrant workers in Qatar – a personal perspective, part 2
Jennifer and Steve Parenteau lived in Qatar for six years before coming to Singapore last year. This is Part Two of their three-part story about migrant workers in Qatar. In Part One they profiled the stories of some of the workers they met. Here in Part Two, is a general story
Migrant workers in Qatar – a personal perspective, part 1
What's it like to live and work in Doha as a migrant worker? Jennifer and Steve Parenteau lived in Doha for six years, not as migrant workers but as expats, with some of the privileges such a life affords. As Jennifer says, "We were allowed to walk on the Corniche