Over 120 migrant workers from three linked companies lost their jobs late 2025. For many of them it's a struggle to get a bed for the night and food in the stomach. The law is clear, but enforcement is mysteriously absent.
An employer had not paid his workers' salaries for five months. A few men went to MOM to file claims. In case the remaining men also do so, the employer had a plan: create evidence that salaries had been paid.
Not having paid his workers' salaries for five months, a boss comes up with a ruse to create a paper and video record that salaries had actually been paid, perhaps hoping to stymie any salary complaints at MOM.
Over a hundred men working for three inter-connected companies filed salary complaints. All were owed thousands of dollars; but all had also paid around $10,000 to get their jobs. Do the math: 100 men x $10,000 each.
A case study of how bad MOM policy makes life a living hell for a victim of salary non-payment. He is broke, homeless, with no money for food. There is no social safety net. Deliberately so?
Like many shipyard workers who come to TWC2 for help, Salak tells us about his recruitment fee and the agent's efforts to cover it up. His experience is no exception.
What happens when a foreigner finds himself or herself the subject of a police report made by someone else? What happens if the police have little evidence to go on?
Last October, the Business Times carried a commentary on the sustainability of our migrant labour model. We add our views.
Here is another shipyard worker, with a recruitment fee story like many others, except that the details show how involved the employer was in the fee negotiations.
Lots of migrant workers can be found in our F&B sector, but the exploitative working conditions are terrible, despite nice laws.
