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By Debbie Fordyce Does the Ministry of Manpower pay lawyers to handle work injury compensation claims? “Lawyers always exciting to take case.” At least some injured workers certainly think that MOM does. They say that they’ve heard that MOM pays lawyers $300 a month to file and manage work injury compensation (WIC) claims. Newly injured
Unlike other studies that tend to be more focussed on a particular issue, e.g. recruitment costs or access to healthcare, this study takes a more inclusive approach, to look at the various costs of migration, as surfaced by migrant workers themselves in face-to-face interviews. It therefore reveals issues that may be missed by other studies,
In this article "$" represents the Singapore Dollar unless we specifically say otherwise, e.g."US$". It's been some time since we last wrote about recruitment costs. It's not a topic we should lose sight of. No progress is being made on this front, and high costs remain the chief reason why migrant workers cannot exert their
Seven volunteers from TWC2 manned our stall at a migrant worker roadshow on Sunday, 18 December 2018. The humidity was high and everyone was sweaty, more so when workers crowded around our stand, but it was well worth it. We must have given out hundreds of fliers -- maybe a thousand -- all in their
By Ada Cheong, based on an interview in September 2018 Miah Younose takes his arm off the table and leans back into his chair, laughing to make light of his predicament. Unpaid for four months and bearing the sunken cost of $4,800 in agent fees, he is desperate to remain in Singapore to find
For several months in late 2017 and early 2018, we puzzled over a statement by the then-Minister for Manpower Lim Swee Say that in the first half of 2017, only about 600 of foreign workers with salary claims indicated that they wished to find new employment (see footnote 1). We felt that 600 was an
By Megan Tan Min Chih, based on an interview in August 2018 Durzey did his best to remain calm after the call. It was a harrowing few minutes, in which he could barely make out what the hospital staff on the other end of the phone was trying to communicate. Eventually, he understood the gist
cof By Koh Jie Min, based on an interview in August 2018 Seeing Chand’s well-groomed face and clean clothes, it is hard to believe that he has been alone and out of a job in Singapore for ten months. Despite having been involved in a workplace accident in July 2017, his work
By Darren Tan, based on an interview in August 2018 By July 2018, Munshi Kader was reaching the end of his temporary job with a chemical factory in the Pioneer district of Singapore. He had worked two six-month stints at this factory, and the boss liked him enough to want to retain him permanently. "MOM
