Articles > Stories
“My boss also Work Permit man,” says S-Pass holder
By Fuxiong It's my first interview with a migrant worker and I am feeling like I am thick in the head. After nearly half an hour I still cannot make sense of Mark's story. The company that hired him is not where he worked. The boss was not really the
Don’t go to Singapore, it’s a place full of hardship and suffering
Rashedul isn’t typical of the men who leave Bangladesh for Singapore in search of wealth and fortune, and he would be the first to acknowledge that himself. He was in the middle of completing his bachelors degree in English literature at Jagganath University in Dhaka when, following his father’s advice,
Yousuf’s boss went out of his way to help
A horrible accident resulting in death and injury reveals an employer who provided unwavering support for his Bangladeshi worker. An accident between a double-decker bus Service Number 87 and a large tree-pruning vehicle left a 50-year-old male passenger dead and several others injured on Friday. The collision occurred along Chai
At the holidays, a little thoughtfulness for those far from home
By Benjamin Wong TWC2 volunteer Siva (above at right) is decked out in a black T-shirt, grey bermudas and sandals. On the table next to him sits a stack of boxes. A worker approaches him, and Siva hands him one from the stack. The worker takes the box and looks
Helping with the basics
Some cases that come to Transient Workers Count Too are very complicated. Others, especially of serious injuries, are heart-breaking. But Zay Lay Tun's request was a simple one: He wants help to resign from his job in an orderly way. He has no idea how. "I want go home see
Put in a fix by uncontactable boss
By Suresh At a time when employers are crying for shortage of workers in Singapore, a worrying trend of foreign workers hanging around with no work is seen on the rise. Their employers brought them in with valid work permits, and then disappeared. Two workers from Bangladesh -- Rubel Hazrat
Pay rate unilaterally reduced by boss three months into job
"When I go back to Chennai, I will put fire my passport," Subburaman says, agitatedly. "I not coming back Singapore. In India, I beggar man also can. Don't like working here." He is clearly frustrated. Sokkalingam Subburaman is of the view that his employer owes him over $7,000 in unpaid
Salary chipped away for years, injured and now homeless
By Chow Zhi Ying "At first I saw doctor type fifteen days' MC in his computer," reports Abu Ahasan, but the foreman, who went with him to the hospital, told the doctor: "You give fifteen days' MC, I got problem." The doctor changed it to one month of 'light duty'
Motorbikes lost
The night she came screaming into the kitchen was the night the motorbikes took off. Fernando is left nursing his financial wounds. This story sounds a bit of a farce, except that it's real. The events Fernando Wawalege recounted happened only a few weeks earlier. He had come to Singapore
In lawyer we trust
By Rachel Hui Three months after a lorry collision (see story on AsiaOne) that left twenty-five foreign workers injured and one dead, Pandian, 34, the driver of one of the lorries, still cannot walk without his crutches. His hip and upper legs had been trapped inside the vehicle. “Fifty stitch,”