Articles

25 11, 2014

Blue Diamond director gets the blues: why can’t service sector staff come from India?

alex2019-08-30T16:32:57+08:00November 25th, 2014|Articles, Stories|

Singapore brings in hundreds of thousands of migrant workers from India and Bangladesh for the construction and marine industries. We also have large numbers of technical and professional immigrants from the Indian subcontinent. They need to eat. They prefer to eat at restaurants that serve their kind of food. To keep their customers happy, restaurant

22 11, 2014

A visit to a skills training centre in Bangladesh

webmaster2024-04-12T17:33:00+08:00November 22nd, 2014|Articles, Stories|

A visit to the Asea Trading International Singapore Skills Centre in Tangail District of Bangladesh began with a conversation with the managing director Mr. Md Anisur Rahman. He proudly boasted that his centre hosts about 100 men at a time offering training in such skills as welding, electrical wiring, waterproofing, pipefitting and installing acoustical ceilings.

19 11, 2014

MOM wants worker to pay back $21,000

alex2019-08-30T16:32:57+08:00November 19th, 2014|Articles, Stories|

The process of work injury compensation goes like this: When a course of treatment is completed, the injured worker is assessed by doctors for any residual permanent incapacity. If there is, an interim Notice of Assessment (NOA) is sent to the worker, the employer and the insurance company that issued the work injury compensation policy,

16 11, 2014

Which caused Rashed more suffering: the accident or the lawyer?

Volunteer Writing Team2019-08-30T16:32:57+08:00November 16th, 2014|Articles, Stories|

TWC2 volunteer Meera Rajah assisted a worker as he struggled to sort out his injury case after having things messed up by a law firm. This is Meera's detailed account of how the mess came about and what she had to do to help him. It shines a spotlight into an area not often discussed:

13 11, 2014

With injured knee, Uzzal crawls under barbed wire to escape company ‘jail’

Volunteer Writing Team2019-08-30T16:32:58+08:00November 13th, 2014|Articles, Stories|

By Seema Punwani Uzzal's world stopped on 28 Oct 2013. It was the day he found himself locked in a room, alone, injured and his documents taken away from him. What could he, a foreign worker from Bangladesh, have possibly done to warrant this kind of inhumane treatment? He had an accident at the shipyard

9 11, 2014

Condition for getting treatment? Don’t tell doctor it was a work accident

Volunteer Writing Team2019-08-30T16:32:58+08:00November 9th, 2014|Articles, Stories|

By Stéphanie Psarski It is sad, how some humans can treat other humans. On 26 July 2014, construction worker Hossan slipped on oil and landed heavily on his back. The company doctor gave him Panadol and two days' medical leave. But at the end of the two days, the pain was still very bad, he

6 11, 2014

What plagues the migrant worker

webmaster2019-08-30T16:32:58+08:00November 6th, 2014|Articles, Facts, research, analysis|

This paper by Meera Rajah, a young volunteer helping out with case documentation and follow-up, provides a good summary of the issues that migrant workers commonly face. It is however, not just a descriptive summary, but delves into the reasons why things are as they are, putting the finger on the inequality of bargaining power.

5 11, 2014

Bhuiyan and friends defeated

alex2019-08-30T16:32:58+08:00November 5th, 2014|Articles, Stories|

This is a four-part story about four workers whose employer's behaviour appears to have crossed a few red lines relating to trafficking in persons. Five months after Monir Bhuiyan and three others lodged their salary complaints against their employer J S Metal Pte Ltd, the company was still in business, presumably with good cashflow and

5 11, 2014

Bhuiyan and friends defeated, part 2

alex2019-08-30T16:32:58+08:00November 5th, 2014|Articles, Stories|

Continued from Part 1. This second part of the JS Metal saga shows up defects in the Ministry of Manpower's processes. From the many cases that TWC2 has seen, it appears that these defects spring mainly from the heroic assumption that when a case of salary non-payment or underpayment arises, it's a "labour relations" dispute

5 11, 2014

Bhuiyan and friends defeated, part 3

alex2019-08-30T16:32:59+08:00November 5th, 2014|Articles, Stories|

Continued from part 2. Part 1 narrated what happened when Monir Bhuiyan, Titu, Mahi Uddin and Shahjahan came to Singapore for their jobs at JS Metal Pte Ltd. They had each been offered $550 a month as basic salary. This was documented in the In-Principle Approval letters (IPA) issued by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM)