Stories about workers’ experiences, the many ways our volunteers help, insights and facts that TWC2 have unearthed
By Terence Kek “So this is ‘barbecue’! This is the first time we have barbecue and it is nice!” Nazimul, mumbles happily, in between mouthfuls of perfectly grilled food – which includes the fish they caught that same afternoon. This is the fifth outing organized by TWC2 Discover Singapore. The day began with two hours of
By Lim Wei Zhen Seventy to a hundred kilogrammes make a heavy load to share between two men. Yet for Elias Malu Miah (picture, right) and Mahmudul Hasan Majbar Rahman (left), as well as many like them, it is a burden they must shoulder most days. While the Construction Safety Orientation Course teaches that the
By Max Ang Dawn on 10 July 2013, and the men file out of the Woodlands dormitory to wait for the company bus. A phone rings. It's a co-worker from the Tuas South dorm with alarming news: 'gangsters' have showed up and taken fourteen men away. More calls come in, confirming the same. Word
By Fuxiong After an accident report was made at the Ministry of Manpower, "my boss, he angry me," says Shirazul. "He say now have problem with insurance." Shirazul's story raises several questions for which no answers are immediately available. The employer treated him relatively well when he was injured and needed medical treatment. It was
By Wendy Ma If you had $1,000, how would you spend it? This sum is equivalent to five months of Wang Cunbo’s living expense in Singapore, as he spends only $200 per month. He sends the remaining $1200 of his monthly salary back home in Zhengzhou, China, so that he can build a house for
By YC Loh For some transient workers, the option of spending their last days in Singapore calmly settling their affairs and buying gifts before returning home is far removed from reality. Instead, they are forcibly repatriated to their home countries when their employers are unwilling to incur the costs of giving them medical treatment or paying
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
By Chow Zhi Ying Zaman (not his real name) was out of work for three months even though his work permit had not expired. After a serious conflict with his supervisor, who demanded money from him, his boss agreed to give him a transfer letter. It would allow Zaman to join another company if he
"At the [agency] office, every morning, we must clean the office," says Mary Grace Pescador, 31, a domestic helper from the Philippines, "and from 10am to 1am -- i.e. past midnight -- we have to stand. As punishment." The six women were being punished by their employment agent because the employers they had been assigned
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
