Continued from part 1. This is the second of six parts: Looking forward to a bright new future, Sellathurai Boominathan embarked on a journey, early January 2011, that should eventually take him to Canada. He had heard that work there would pay C$10.00 (S$12.50) per hour. He was aware however that the plan required him
The Straits Times reported that employment agents in Myanmar are encouraging young women to lie about their ages in order to work in Singapore as domestic workers. Currently, Singapore requires a person to be at least 23 years old for the domestic work sector, and the onus is on employment agents here to ensure this
We heard a faint knock at the door around 2pm on Saturday afternoon as I tapped away on my laptop; I was here in TWC2's office to edit some photos for the website. Mr Ho, an older Singaporean, looked like he had stumbled upon the wrong place: Golden Mile Complex with its network of offices
‘Signing on the dotted line: examining operational indicators of trafficking’ is a two part article written by TWC2’s immediate past president, John Gee, for the website of The Trafficking Research Project (TTRP), and published in June and July 2012. The first part of the article is on contract abuse, where companies have tried to impose
I got a call last week from a maid who works in Little India named Josie. She approached me in my capacity as a writer for TWC2 as she wanted to share her story. Josie, who is from Abra province in the Philippines and heralds from a family of seven, has worked in Singapore since
Details are beginning to emerge about the accident that happened in the Bugis area on Wednesday, 18 July 2012. The two workers from mainland China who perished were reported to be have been under a mould into which wet concrete was being poured. They were there to check for leaks as the tons of concrete
UPDATE:As at 5 p.m. on Monday, 23 July 2012, total donations exceeded $23,000. DONATION WINDOW WILL CLOSE ON FRIDAY, 27 July 2012 at 23:59h. This should allow sufficient time for those interested to help to do so. As agreed with the lead initiator of this appeal, Benjamin Lee aka Mr Miyagi, should there be any
Two Chinese workers were killed and eight other migrant workers injured when scaffolding at the Bugis station worksite collapsed, deluging the two workers below with wet cement. The construction industry is one of the most hazardous industries for workers in countries worldwide. Singapore is not exceptional in this respect. The rate of fatalities in this
It by no means applies to all migrants we talk to at TWC2, but anger simmers very close to the surface in some of the men we encounter. Not all. Most are unbelievably patient and humble while waiting for the slow, ponderous wheels of bureaucracy to turn. But Akkabar isn’t one of those men. I
There is a rising trend in work injury claims, reported the Straits Times on 16 July 2012. Figures from the Ministry of Manpower show that more people have been making injury claims through the Work Injury and Compensation Act (Wica) over the past three years. Last year, 12,768 claims were made, compared to 12,288 in
