"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 wages. Even his case officer
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 from his native Sri Lanka
On the day before his departure, Mohammed Dulal Harunur Rashid brought a little self-made poster to Transient Workers Count Too's office. It said "I and my family never forget TWC.TOO . . . Long live TWC.TOO. Every social worker and associate." It was one of those touching moments when everything we did seemed worthwhile. It
Shah Ali didn't have much choice when his one-year work permit came to an end. Having paid an employment agent about S$4,400 to get this job for him a year ago, he had still not recovered the investment. If he didn't get his work permit renewed and continued in the job, he would be in
At the end of a work shift, while waiting for the rest of the crew to assemble their things and board the company lorry, the driver had a brief word with Arif Hossain. He said he believed that Arif's employer had gone bankrupt, and suggested that Arif should check the status of his work permit.
The general principle is this: When workers lose their jobs because their employer breached a rule or two and thus caused the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) to revoke the work permits the employer had previously obtained, the ministry tries to be compassionate towards the workers. If they are required to stay on in Singapore to
Three months after he arrived in Singapore for his job, Amin Hajee Baten, 39, was filled with renewed hope. His agent, whom we shall call Mr E, had finally given him a specific address in Peninsula Plaza, which Amin assumed would be where he should report for work. At long last. Peninsula Plaza is an
Continued from part 1. Kabir Mohammad Sana Ulla Miah got a reprieve. At the request of a senior officer of the Ministry of Manpower, TWC2's social worker contacted him just as he was despondently packing his bag to go to the airport, and told him he should not board the plane. There was a new
The worker at the other end of the phone line was extremely upset, and TWC2 social worker Raymond Ang had a hard time calming him down. Kabir Mohammad Sana Ulla Miah had been given an air ticket to go home to Bangladesh that very evening (Monday, 23 July 2012). Earlier, the officer at the Ministry
Through a Tamil interpreter, Pragash told TWC2 that his employer asked him to sign two letters, both written in English. He had no idea what was said on them, nor was he given a copy. He signed. Why?!#! asked your friendly TWC2 volunteer. Because in similar situations previously, he explained, workers who didn't sign when
