Stories about workers’ experiences, the many ways our volunteers help, insights and facts that TWC2 have unearthed
By Shona Loong It is 7.30pm on a Sunday evening, and I am making my way through the heart of Little India. Although this route is familiar to me, everything looks different. Streets that are normally silent and empty are transformed by the presence of large numbers of migrant men chattering away in Bengali. A
Akbar is at risk of being cheated thousands of dollars. This story is going to explain how the conditions for this possible outrage has been laid. 6:30 pm, 26 March 2015. He blacks out. Construction worker Akbar Hossain Abdur Rob will not regain consciousness till days later. That gap remains a blank; he only knows
By Lee Min-wei In the wee hours of 3 June 2015, Juvy, a petite and soft-spoken Filipina domestic worker, mustered the courage to flee from her employer’s apartment. Leaving behind most of her belongings in a locked suitcase, she put what she could into a small tote and yellow plastic bag and took a taxi
Have you ever seen anyone spit in public? Have you ever done it yourself? That’s what I thought: most of you have seen people spit and some of you have done it yourself. It’s more common among older people, and more common among men than women. I’ve seen many people spit, but I’ve never known
Our letter published in the Straits Times Forum on 17 June 2015 mentioned that countries in the Middle East have made it mandatory to pay workers' salaries through bank transfers when Singapore has not. This note provides a bit more detail about this point. UAE In the United Arab Emirates, which comprises Dubai, Abu Dhabi
The ballroom at the Fort Canning Lodge was filled with excitement as 150 domestic workers filed in to take their seats around the fifteen big round dining tables. The workers wasted no time and started to pose for photographs with the decorations and backdrop for the event as pop music blared in the background. This
Once in four years, each member state of the United Nations is subject to peer review with respect to its human rights record. The Singapore government will appear before this process, known as Universal Periodic Review (UPR), in Geneva, in January 2016. In the lead-up to this process, the UN Office of the High Commissioner
TWC2's monthly outreach took place on 14 June 2015 at Boon Lay. Two social workers, three interns and eight volunteers participated. Led by social worker Louis Ong, they fanned out to distribute TWC2 flyers and speak to workers to introduce the ways we can help them. We stress that our services are provided free of
By Alexandra Galvez “I don’t want to go to jail. I cannot come back to Singapore to work if I go to jail. I like Singapore and I want to continue working here. I need to provide for my family,” Ali (not his real name) is worried, his countenance darkening with anxiety and desperation. The
Government legislation has helped improve foreign domestic workers’ access to compensation in lieu of a day off, but 59% of foreign domestic workers in Singapore still do not get a weekly day off. To mark International Domestic Workers’ Day (16 June 2015), Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) publishes a new report: ‘The Right to Rest:
