The above was the headline for a feature story carried in the Sunday Times, 4 December 2011, about romantic relationships between foreign workers in Singapore. The newspaper's reporters trawled Lucky Plaza and Little India over two Sundays and reported that "foreign men and women holding hands were a common sight." Taking up a full page,
December 1, 2011 For immediate release Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) welcomes the sentencing guidelines laid out by Justice V K Rajah in his written decision issued last week in Lee Chiang Theng vs Public Prosecutor. Justice Rajah said that "employers who persistently fail to discharge their legal responsibilities towards foreign workers will ordinarily have
In response to Straits Times' editorial following remarks by Justice V K Rajah dismissing the appeal of Lee Chiang Theng who had mistreated over 600 migrant workers, TWC2 president Russell Heng sent this letter to the newspaper editors on November 30, 2011: --- Dear Straits Times, I welcome your editorial remarks on abusive employers of
In a commentary published by socio-political website The Online Citizen (TOC), Jolovan Wham criticised the Ministry of Manpower's (MOM) ineffectual moves with respect to abuses committed by repatriation companies. Link to article. It is not clear however, whether Wham was writing in his personal capacity or as Executive Director of HOME (Humanitarian Organisation for Migration
The Indonesian government is launching a scheme to help Indonesian domestic workers in Singapore with salaries during their first few months here. The scheme, known as People Business Credit for Indonesian Migrant Workers, will be managed by Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) and overseen by the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs in Indonesia, said Mr Fahmi
New workers arriving in Singapore will receive a booklet giving them important information about their stay and job here. Each person arriving with an In-principle Approval for a Work Permit will get a copy at Immigration. Titled 'A Guide for Foreign Workers' in English, it comes in six other languages -- Chinese, Thai, Tamil, Bengali
This article was first published on Yawning Bread and republished here with permission (slightly edited). In a landmark judgement from the High Court, Justice V K Rajah not only dismissed the appeal of an employer who caused great suffering to over 600 foreign workers, but stated for the record that employers who "persistently" mistreated their
The Straits Times carried an editorial on November 29, 2011, following the Court of Appeal's decision in the case of Lee Chiang Theng vs Public Prosecutor, as reported here (Judge: Bosses who ill-treat workers will go to jail).. This is the editorial in full: Hit these labour abusers hard MIGRANT workers performing hard labour in
Stay green, at least a little longer. Don't be so quick to throw away your older cameras and laptops when you've bought a newer model. Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) has use for them. As a charity organisation, we depend entirely on donations. Rather than spend precious cash donations on buying new laptops and cameras,
Dismissing an appeal against a jail sentence imposed by a District Court, Judge of Appeal Justice V K Rajah said that employers who fail to pay their foreign workers on time or house them in acceptable quarters can expect to spend time in jail. Lee Chiang Theng now has to serve his four-week jail sentence
