For immediate release Two anniversaries are taking place in March 2013: On 9th March, it will be ten years since the launch of The Working Committee Two at a forum in the courtyard of the old National Library building. It was from this ad-hoc group that Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) emerged, becoming a society
Periodically, Transient Workers Count Too produces a Direct Services Report, summarising the help we render to migrant workers. Help takes various forms, including advice through a toll-free helpline, intervention and case management and a free meals programme. The 18-page Report for the years 2010 and 2011 can be downloaded by clicking the link.
The Cuff Road Food Programme is Transient Workers Count Too’s signature project. Not only does it address a critical need among workers who have been abandoned and left destitute, it offers an important contact point between the organisation and those in need of help. Workers not only get a hot meal, they get a consultation
The Cuff Road Project (TCRP) has provided more than 360,000 meals to migrant workers since it began in March 2008. The eligibility criterion for admission into the meal programme is that a worker must be out of a job due to injury, dispute with his employer or similar reason. They are no longer permitted to
“We’re not supposed to swim,” says Ana, a domestic worker. “I'm not sure why. I think it’s maybe because they think we’re dirty.” In the block where Ana lives, domestic workers can’t book a barbecue on their own, they can’t form groups and they can’t sit and eat beside the playgrounds where they look after
The Ministry of Manpower is launching a pilot scheme to allow four hundred Cambodian domestic workers in. It has invited employment agents to apply to join the scheme. The Straits Times reported that six agencies will be selected. (See Straits Times, 2 Feb 2013, Your next maid could be from... Cambodia) The 400 will arrive
Channel NewsAsia (reported) on 28 January 2013 that seven employers were convicted for failure to give foreign workers acceptable housing in 2012. In total, 1,062 employers were warned or fined in 2012 for providing foreign workers with poor accommodation, the news report said. Since only seven were "convicted", it appears that the "fined" were perhaps
Transient Workers Count Too joined with several other civil society groups and actors to issue a statement on allegations of police brutality made by two former SMRT bus drivers who are now facing charges for their alleged role in the "strike" of 26 and 27 November 2012. The statement: --- January 29, 2013 SINGAPORE –
For the first time as far as anyone in TWC2 can remember, the government has revealed how much it collects each year in foreign worker levies. Every employer who hires a foreign worker in Singapore has to pay a monthly levy based on a prevailing scale of charges. To a parliamentary question by Gan Thiam
Administrative fees for work passes will be increased on 1 April 2013, announced the Ministry of Manpower on 10 January 2013. Below is the annex to the ministry's announcement providing a table of charges before and after: While employers of Work Permit holders are supposed to bear administrative fees for application, issuance and renewal, the
