Employers abused the Training Employment Pass scheme to hire cheap day labour; now hear it from the worker's perspective: distress, helplessness and financial disaster.
Without a sense of financial security, resigning from a bad job may be an unrealistic move for migrant workers – even when salary isn't fully paid.
There's a continuing pattern of employers locking up their employees. We describe a recent case when TWC2 had to intervene and explain why such employer attitudes and behaviour persist.
Our earlier article "Management executives" washing dishes got media attention. Then more informants came to us to tell us about the issue. It's much bigger than we had thought.
Another day, another scam. This time, it involves the Training Employment Pass. This case suggests lax controls and oversight at MOM. But when real individuals lose big money, something has to be done.
A Burmese restaurant worker was never paid for overtime work, suffered huge salary deductions, and then more than a year later, discovered that the employer had substituted his contract with another one.
A Chinese worker was asked to work, not for the company stated on her work permit, but for a related company. The boss was the same. How could she say no? And then when she was not paid properly, how does she claim what's due?
Working at height demands rigourous safety measures. If an accident happens and is traceable to negligence, criminal charges can follow. So, when we heard about superficial compliance with regulations....
Two lifeguards hired from Kerala, India were tasked to work 14-hour days, seven days a week. And paid only half of what had been documented as the agreed salary. Wouldn't fatigue affect their alertness?
Sixty years after Singapore ratified the ILO's Forced Labour Convention 29, we can't help but see areas where Singapore can be accused of insufficient compliance. What are those areas?
