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Unknown to worker, records say it wasn’t a workplace accident
By Joyce Wong Pitchai Murugesan rolls up his right sleeve and shows us a long surgical scar running from his upper arm down to below the elbow. I estimate it to about 20-30cm long. He has suffered nerve damage: his little finger stays bent and he has difficulties exerting strength
MOM catches employer charging workers for permit renewal
Ananth's newly-minted Special Pass, that's bad news for him By Fuxiong Around 20 November 2013, "MOM call all 30 men to [a] meeting," says Ananth (not his real name). I ask if the boss was present. "No, not boss, but company driver [was] there." Held at the Bendemeer
Law students’ reflections 1: What they need
By Sanjana Jayaraman Sometimes because of the very nature of life and development, we tend to sideline people. No one deserves that kind of treatment because it is unfair and that person could very well have been one of us. Foreign workers are as much human as we all are.
Easrafile chose to give up $1,050 to see ill father
By Nor Karno Easrafile Sikdar Eskandar Sikdar approached Transient Workers Count Too for assistance on 30 October 2013 with an unusual request. Most workers ask us to help them commence or progress their salary or injury compensation claims, but Easrafile asked for the opposite. Could you help me stop the process
The blue thumb
Hossain Mohamed Dulal holds up his cellphone and shows us a a picture that he took of his left hand. It's bandaged after surgery, but his thumb is a sapphire blue. He says that day his boss "catch my hand and squeeze" it. "Very, very pain," he says of that
“Play play accident,” says foreman to doctor
By Emily Benjamin At National University Hospital (NUH) where Khan Momen was brought to after his accident, the orthopaedic surgeon only spoke "little bit to me", said the injured worker. The surgeon spoke mostly to the company foreman and safety officer, and at some distance from the patient too. While Khan
Woolim, part 1: how low can a salary go?
Hossain Iqbel's IPA states a basic monthly salary of $800, but for a year, he's been paid a basic of only $1.50 an hour (equivalent to $286 a month). The 'IPA' is the In-principle Approval for a Work Permit, a letter issued by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) to employer
We ask three Bangladeshis what they think of Singapore
By Davina Tham Ever since recent events in Little India (see Riot in Little India after bus knocks down pedestrian), the tendency to depict migrant labourers as a matter of statistics, a numbered but faceless crowd, has only worsened: 28 charged, 53 deported and another 200 "issued a formal police
Escaping from repatriation toughs, Neelakandan left all his belongings behind
"Meeting time, they speak all very nicely," recalls Neelakandan of a meeting at his company office on Tuesday, 22 October 2013. Present were "boss wife", a Chinese Singaporean, a manager and an engineer, both Sri Lankans. They -- Neelakandan's superiors -- asked him for details about the incident on Sunday
Menton diary, Part 5
GO TO PART 2 December 2013, Monday Two designated contact persons from the Toh Guan group of ex-Menton staff come to the office to update and discuss the case with social workers Kenneth and Karno. Quite a few things have happened over the weekend. Twenty workers have been paid $1,500