Here's a heads-up to a forthcoming book The Outlaw Ocean by Ian Urbina, following his years-long investigation of labour abuses and human trafficking in the fishing industry.
In June a year ago, we wrote about the Everglory scam. It's not confined to Everglory Construction Pte Ltd but is in fact quite a common scam. Since the first cases emerged in early 2018, Transient Workers Count Too has seen a new case every few days. The earlier article described how the
In this research study, TWC2 found that about 80% of South Asian workers were "repeat workers", a huge change from a few years ago. We also found that about half of them used a Singapore-based job broker to find a job. Typically, these are foreign workers themselves, not licensed employment agents. It's illicit but profitable.
By Yasha S based on an interview in January 2019 For 47-year old labourer Motaleb Abdul, seeking justice for what he is owed seems like a never-ending game of disappointment. Despite having a salary settlement agreement drawn by Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management (TADM), he has yet to be paid by his Singaporean boss
Most injured workers who seek help from TWC2 have engaged a law firm to assist with their injury claim. Although legal assistance is not necessary for the no-fault work injury compensation (WIC) process at the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), many workers feel more secure having an injury lawyer. Perhaps the worker is unsure
Construction workers tidying up at the end of the day The number of Work Permit holders in the construction industry has gradually declined since a peak in 2015. Last December (2018), there were 280,500 Work Permit holders in this sector, fourteen percent below the 2015 figure of 326,000. To a
By L. Narasimhan based on an interview in March 2019 "I wander around the city, going from place to place trying to find a new job," says Sukhwinder Singh, when I ask him what he has been doing for the past three months. "I wake up in my apartment, eat at Gurudwara [temple], and then go
By Liang lei based on an interview in February 2019 When a foreign worker arrives in Singapore, he would have a letter titled In-Principle Approval for a Work Permit (IPA) from Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower (MOM), stating his personal details, employer and salary, amongst other details. The IPA letter has proven invaluable in guarding foreign
Senthilkumar's salary claim didn't end well for him. It went all the way to the Employment Claims Tribunal which found against him on 1 March 2019. In a nutshell, his claim was that the payment vouchers he was asked to sign (and add his thumbprint to) had amounts that didn't match the cash
Transient Workers Count Too notes that the new Regulations (with effect from April 2017) subsidiary to the revised Employment of Foreign Manpower Act (2012), contain two clauses that make employers' responsibility more explicit. These are among other changes in the new Regulations. These two clauses are found in Part III of the Fourth Schedule of
