In quite possibly the first case of its kind, a former factory manager was fined $8,000 and ordered to pay a further penalty of $4,030 for corruption. Toh Phoo Chye, 46, had obtained Nokia mobile phones from foreign workers in exchange for recommending to the management to renew their work permits. This case was reported
How do migrant workers see the spaces, people and activities around them? What is significant to them? A fascinating exhibition will let you in on the secret. Migrant Encounters is the brainchild of Ye Junjia ("Jia"), and brought to fruition with the help of her friends Tai Shuxia and Jessie Koh. Supported by the Max
Acting Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin revealed in parliament 12 November 2012 that 260 employers were found to have contravened the limit of overtime work between 2008 and 2011. Of these, 56 employers were issued compositions fines by the Ministry while another 21 were prosecuted in court for more serious breaches. The remaining were issued warnings
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7H0sbZnCf2I Many people will have seen the above Youtube video that circulated a few months earlier. It was made by Beyond the Border, Behind the Men, a project that celebrates the otherwise anonymous and invisible Bangladeshi migrant workers in our midst. Now the BTBBTM music team is having their first concert, The Exchange, on the
The recent amendments to the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act (EFMA) will take effect on 9 November 2012, reported the Straits Times and Channel NewsAsia. Both reports highlighted the introduction of administrative penalties. A financial penalty will be imposed on administrative infringements. These are EFMA breaches that do not directly harm workers and are not
When a Transient Workers Count Too volunteer met domestic workers of the Filipino Family Network and the Indonesian Family Network in June and said, ‘We were thinking about what we should do for International Migrants’ Day this year...’, there was no discussion. Immediately, the workers said that they’d like to have a sports day. So
Introduction by Alex Au: Even as Debbie Fordyce was explaining to a group of students from the National University of Singapore (NUS) the problem of homelessness and lack of social space for foreign workers, ten to twelve uniformed officers swept into the same area to shoo away men resting in the shaded space. It was
A report in the Business Times, 24 April 2012, highlighted the gradual drying up of Singapore's usual sources of foreign blue-collar workers. The story, headlined "S'pore magnet losing its foreign worker pull" by Cai Haoxiang is archived in Asia One. The traditional source of unskilled labour, Malaysia, dried up years ago. But in recent years
After a 12.5 percent increase in the number of S Pass holders from December 2011 to June 2012 [see earlier story], the government is looking at doing more to control the inflow. The Straits Times reported Acting Manpower minister Tan Chuan-jin saying that "We should have an update on this perhaps in the first quarter
A letter by TWC2 exco member Debbie Fordyce was published in the Straits Times 25 October 2012. She highlights the quite common problem of the government creating a bias against workers in favour of employers. Straits Times, 25 October 2012, Print Forum Foreign workers' medical dilemma Foreign workers often find themselves in a Catch-22 situation
