A simple salary claim became a 14-month saga, eating up a good chunk of state resources. It was completely unnecessary, since the solutions that would prevent such disputes from arising in the first place are almost no-brainers. Yet, for reasons unknown, the Ministry of Manpower has not adopted the suggested solutions proposed by Transient Workers
7 am on Saturday, 7 July 2012. Two heavily-tattooed Chinese men walked into a company dormitory and demanded that Md Mustakim Khan pack his belongings right away. "They say to me, 'Today your flight go home'," recalled the worker from Bangladesh. He protested that he had only just been given a 19-day medical certificate for
"Look, my hand like this, cannot move," said Moriddul. His fingers could move, but he couldn't flex or rotate his wrist. "When did this happen?" your writer asked him. October 2011, he said. He was a "supplied worker", seconded by his boss to another contractor's construction site. On the fateful day, he was collecting tools
Everything was wrong about Majid's job except one thing: he was earning the kind of money he had hoped for, and he was being paid on time. Having invested about $4,400 in recruiting agent's fees to land the job in Singapore, now making $900 to $950 a month meant that he should be able to
His left hand is now a stiff claw; it's not going to help him earn a living ever again. He is only 26 years old, according to his passport. Fifteen months ago, on January 9, 2011, Johir was at work on a construction site switching or attaching some parts to what he called "the mouth"
Vikram (not his real name) came to Transient Workers Count Too regarding an injury for which his boss was reluctant to provide proper medical care. But that's not what this story is about. Just to make sure that at least other aspects of his working life were in order, we asked about the regularity of
In Mohamed and Bilal have gone is the story of two of 56 men laid off because their employer reportedly failed to pay the government's foreign worker levy. When so many workers are affected, several groups of men come to Transient Workers Count Too at different times. They end up speaking to different volunteers. So it was
5:30 pm. Our social workers Kenneth Soh and Raymond Ang were tidying up their desks -- not to go home, but to set off to Little India where Transient Workers Count Too's soup kitchen operates. Then the phone rang. A worker, speaking in Chinese, introduced himself and said he had a huge problem. "My name
This is an uncommon story. It's a story about a case in which Transient Workers Count Too decided we couldn't help any further. Like any organisation, funds and volunteers' time are limited, and if we are uncritical, expending resources on less deserving cases, then more deserving ones go unattended. However, this side of our work
Jahangir waited till all seemed very quiet outside the room where he was held. It was 11 p.m. He climbed out of his window and tip-toed across the grass to the fence. Summoning a burst of energy, he climbed and topped it in a single bound, half-tumbling into the jungle on the other side. But
