Preliminary findings from a study of workplace injuries and ill-health in 2011 reveal that slightly more than half of total costs fall on workers themselves, when quantified into dollar terms. Since low-wage foreign workers tend to be the ones doing the dangerous jobs, they suffer injuries and ill-health disproportionately. Now they -- the least able
This commentary by John Gee, immediate past president of TWC2, was carried in Today newspaper on 22 July 2013: --- It is just before 9am on a Sunday and there is an elegantly dressed woman in the lift, but she is carrying a large bag that does not go with her outfit. She steps out
A moratorium has been declared on sending Filipina domestic helpers to Singapore starting 2 September 2013. This news was carried by Channel NewsAsia (CNA) and the Straits Times (23 July 2013). CNA said 150 maid agencies in the Philippines, members of a trade association, want employers in Singapore to bear more of the cost of
Transient Workers Count Too served 57,852 meals at our Cuff Road Project through the first six months of 2013. We averaged about 2,160 meals per week, which is 45 - 50 percent higher than the weekly average in 2011. The monthly totals can be be gleaned from the table at left. The June figure is
The Ministry of Manpower sent out an email reminder to 28,000 workplace safety and health officers telling them "not to influence doctors to give injured workers less sick leave than they need," reported the Sunday Times on 21 July 2013. According to the newspaper, this email was dated 11 July, which would be four days
The above are file pictures and do not represent any of the workers mentioned in this article Foreign workers with relatively serious injuries get very little medical leave when their employers send them to private hospitals. From a recent survey (15 July 2013), we came across one worker (Case ref 094) who had a broken
Early July 2013, a group of seven post-graduates from Seoul National University visited Transient Workers Count Too. They were in Singapore for a week for field work related to research on the subject of housing of migrant workers -- their chosen topic for their masters dissertation in urban planning. TWC2 vice-president Alex Au (back to
Twenty-five foreigners pleaded guilty to "submitting forged academic certificates to the Controller of Work Passes in order to obtain work passes" on Tuesday, 16 July 2013, reported Channel NewsAsia. (Link) The 20 males and five females are aged between 19 and 48 years old. Twenty-one are from Myanmar, three from India and one from the
Click to see a larger image Generally, legal representation is not necessary for claiming Work Injury Compensation. MOM will deal with the relevant parties to process the claim, and any party can approach MOM for advice or assistance on the claims procedures. However, if the claimant wants to assess whether to claim compensation
In its editorial of Saturday, 13 July 2013, the Straits Times says "collusion between doctors and employers is conduct simply too callous to go unpunished." It was addressing the issue of insufficient medical leave given by some doctors in private practice to injured workers, as covered by the newspaper in a news story last Sunday.
