This year alone, Transient Workers Count Too came across three workers who had sustained head injuries. In dealing with the emergency, a part of their skulls had to be removed. With only soft skin covering the unprotected part of the brain, they were left exposed to future injuries. These three stories relate to the commentary,
Shah Ali didn't have much choice when his one-year work permit came to an end. Having paid an employment agent about S$4,400 to get this job for him a year ago, he had still not recovered the investment. If he didn't get his work permit renewed and continued in the job, he would be in
Soman Murugappan worked hard for his diploma in electrical and electronics engineering, specialising in instrumentation and control. If he's lucky, he'll be getting a job as a cleaner. The 26-year-old from Tamil Nadu, India, came to Singapore in early April 2012. He had been given a job with an airconditioning piping company. Things went smoothly
Acting Minister for Manpower Tan Chuan-jin penned a blogpost in the Manpower blog in which he sought to explain to the Singapore public the recent trends in foreign workforce numbers. He said that many businesses have told him that his ministry, by tightening work passes for foreigners, was "unreasonably making it difficult for businesses". However,
By Nasreen Ramnath The steel beam fell away beneath his feet, and he was suddenly swinging like a pendulum in mid air. Holding on for dear life to a steel cable, he hung suspended 10 meters above a yawning pit. Terrified, he looked down and immediately shut his eyes to keep out the sight of
By Suresh Little did Bitdut Chandra know that he would have to endure a second crisis after the first. In March this year, the lanky 27-year-old from Dhaka seriously injured his right leg while at work. Six months on, he is still undergoing treatment at Singapore General Hospital (SGH) and walks with a slight limp. His
At the end of a work shift, while waiting for the rest of the crew to assemble their things and board the company lorry, the driver had a brief word with Arif Hossain. He said he believed that Arif's employer had gone bankrupt, and suggested that Arif should check the status of his work permit.
By Lee Kah Ghim “I want more working.” Sitting with me is Nazmul Hossain, 27, a very fit young man raring to take on more jobs just so that he can feed his family of three back home in Bangladesh. “I want more working. I no money send back to family," he says of his
The drop in the number of immigration offenders was covered recently in the news: 2,077, 1,698, and 1,318 people were arrested for immigration offences in the first half of 2010, 2011 and 2012, respectively [endnote 1]. The news story did not reveal whether these numbers included both male and female immigration offenders, who encounter significantly
The general principle is this: When workers lose their jobs because their employer breached a rule or two and thus caused the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) to revoke the work permits the employer had previously obtained, the ministry tries to be compassionate towards the workers. If they are required to stay on in Singapore to
