By late May 2012, Jakir Hossain (above), Dilip and their workmates had not been paid for three months. When Dilip heard that his father in India had fallen ill, he pleaded with his boss for his backpay. He needed to send money to the family back home, he told his boss. Recalls Jakir: "Boss tell
By Benjamin Wong Dipangkar sits awkwardly, his back upright, not leaning against the back of the chair. As I interview him, senior volunteer Alex Au picks up on a subtle difference in Dipangkar's English. "What did you study?" Alex asks. "I have a Bachelor of Social Science in Bangladesh," Dipangkar replies. But conditions are not
By Lee Kah Ghim “I see helmet throw at worker, supervisor kick worker. Every fault supervisor also hit.” Sanjit Debuath tells me. “One time supervisor ask worker go outside, supervisor hit him. Worker call police then next day worker sent back to Bangladesh.” During the fourteen months he worked at a Korean construction company --
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
Shah Alam hopes to go home soon. It's better than staying on in Singapore, sleeping on the streets. "Now raining season, got big problem for me," he says. "Even at night not raining, floor also wet." To wash himself each day, he depends on the kindness of a restaurant owner in Little India. "Over
By Benjamin Wong Ilias Mir Anisur (above left) and Badal Barai (right) are part of the third group of workers from the same company, Lian Shing Construction Co Pte Ltd, to approach TWC2 for help. Despite so many workers lodging complaints with the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) over a 12-month period, the company is still
By Nigel Lin He gives us a big smile now, but in the evening of 12 May 2012, he lay writhing in pain after a nasty fall off the top rungs of his ladder -- a scene like this and you would expect this poor soul to be receiving medical attention immediately. Not for Fasal
By Asha R He came to make a living, but ended up thousands of dollars poorer. Rony Nurul Islam, 36, is a quiet man with an easy smile, but get him talking about how he ended up in TWC2's soup kitchen, and the frustration starts pouring out of him. Rony came to Singapore in July
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
Anowar Hossain (above right) was financially desperate ten months after the accident at his worksite. He had been terminated from his shipyard job and received no income since. To pay for food and lodgings, he relied on borrowing. At some point, even friends and relatives tired of lending money without end. Despite having suffered a
