On February 1, 2011, new rules came into effect for lorries transporting workers. There were also increased penalties. In the eight months following (Feb to Sep 2011), the number of employers caught flouting safety rules was 1,329, said Minister of State for Transport Josephine Teo, in a statement to Parliament, this week. This is 49 per
During a parliamentary sitting this week, four members of parliament urged the government to do more to promote "best sourcing". The term is used to mean judging contract bids on more than price, and including criteria such as offering fair wages to workers. Mr Zainudin Nordin (Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC) started the ball rolling when he
The Straits Times spotted about ten foreign workers among about 150 people in a queue to buy bak kwa at a popular shop in Chinatown. Bak kwa is the local name for honeyed barbecued pork, a traditional delicacy around Chinese New Year. In its report, the newspaper identified one of the men as Indian national
TWC2 community worker Kenneth Soh together with five volunteers devoted a Sunday afternoon distributing information leaflets in the Geylang area, targeting workers from China. Four of the volunteers are in the header image above (left to right): Chan Weng Hong, Guo Quanzhi, Serena Tan and Chou Yahuei. Chloe and Kenneth are not in the picture.
It has recently come to Transient Workers Count Too's attention that a clause in the Income Tax Act that refers to withholding tax may apply to low-wage migrant workers. Workers who are terminated prematurely and who, as a result, have worked and stayed less than 183 days in Singapore would be considered "non-residents". The Income
Volunteer case workers are sometimes confused as to how salaries of work permit holders (other than domestic workers) should be calculated. This is understandable because methods used by employers differ widely, and most times, the chosen method violates the law. Yet, because volunteers may see so many incorrect ways to calculate salaries, they begin to
A worker approaching Transient Workers Count Too for help at our free meals programme would have his case catergorised as a "Company case" if the source of his difficulty is the behaviour of his employer. The most common misdeed would be to delay payment of salaries or to undercalculate. Other misdeeds that we see regularly
A Chinese construction worker was jailed ten weeks by a judge, January 13, 2012, for criminal trespass, committed when he staged a one-man protest at a worksite. On October 19, 2011, Ai Yong Li went up seven floors of an incomplete block of apartments and climbed out onto the scaffold, threatening to jump to his
NTUC Lifestyle magazine had a four-page feature on Transient Workers Count Too in their recent monthly issue. With a circulation of 294,000 this should give TWC2's message a considerable boost. You can read the story in pdf format by clicking the icon at right. The magazine's reporter interviewed TWC2 treasurer Alex Au at Suthas restaurant
Hossain is angry. He is among a group of Bangledeshi workers scammed out of around S$250,000 by an elaborate ruse to lure desperate migrants into overseas jobs that don’t exist. It’s happened many times before. A group of more than 50 Bangledeshi workers – Hossain among them – were duped into handing over instalments of
