By Ramesh Companies are using gangsters to intimidate, threaten and to ultimately send ‘troublesome’ workers home. Ali (not his real name) has seen better days. He wanders the labyrinthine alleys of Little India in search of friends and familiar faces. On some days all he needs are a warm wave of recognition and reassuring words,
Up till then, it was a quiet morning at TWC2's office. Up till when the phone rang. On the other side was a woman whose voice told of deep concern. Mrs K (not her real name) told TWC2 staff member Mansura that there was a domestic worker in an apartment a few doors away from
"Oh yes, and the prints you see here are for sale," Sim Chi Yin said, almost as an afterthought to the speech she had just made, launching her book The Long Road Home, "and the proceeds will benefit Transient Workers Count Too, Home and Migrant Voices in equal thirds." She was referring to the framed
It is against the law for employers and agents to retain another person's passport without "reasonable excuse". Passports Act, Section 47, subsection (5) says: 47 (5) If — (a) a person has or retains possession or control in Singapore of a foreign travel document; and (b) the person knows that the foreign travel document was
In the one-and-a-half years working in Singapore, Rashid said he was short-paid by $21,000. This arose out of the way the employer computed his salary, which appears to be in violation of the Employment Act. "My basic salary was $700 a month," which is roughly the going rate in Singapore for migrant construction workers without
L to R: Shahin. Milon Kazi, Azizul and Awlad They had complained to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) that their employer had forged (in their words) their employment contracts, but ministry officials said they had to support their allegation with a police report. The problem was, they weren't sure how to make a
The volunteering spirit was in full flow the weekend of 17 and 18 Sept at crUX. Over 20 IT professionals devoted part of their weekend (some of them all weekend), coming together to develop a new website for TWC2 pro-bono. Led by Wen Huang and Mohammed Pitolwala from Savant Degrees, the aim of the event was
By Spiegel Back home in Shariatpur, Bangladesh, he left behind a wife and four young, school-going children. Far away in Singapore, he sought a better living. If only for just eight months, he did find it. But a horrific workplace accident would cost him nearly everything. His name is Jitu. After paying an agent $4,000
There is a common idea that migrant workers are responsible for a disproportionate amount of crime in Singapore. When, in 2008, some residents in the Serangoon Gardens area expressed their opposition to a dormitory for migrant workers being set up in the neighbourhood, statements were made that it would be unsafe for children to travel
Foreign domestic workers (FDW) expressed high levels of satisfaction with working in Singapore, reported the Ministry of Manpower, based on a survey it conducted in 2010. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being 'extremely satisfied', about half of the FDWs indicated that they were "extremely satisfied" with working in Singapore. Similarly, employers
