Stories about workers’ experiences, the many ways our volunteers help, insights and facts that TWC2 have unearthed

16 10, 2014

Are workers’ troubles due to ignorance or to harsh realities that leave them vulnerable?

2019-08-30T16:33:00+08:00October 16th, 2014|Articles, Facts, research, analysis, Stories|

By Elizabeth Zhou The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) recently printed colourful flyers in four languages – English, Chinese, Bengali and Tamil. Meant to reassure and educate the migrant worker community of the procedures and processes in place to take care of their rights, these flyers paint an image of a benign and helpful ministry, one

Read More
4 10, 2014

No salary, no day off for 20 months, part 2

2019-08-30T16:33:01+08:00October 4th, 2014|Articles, Stories|

By Nissa Mai Continued from Part 1. I have a lot of other questions for Surya [1]. How did such an empowered, decisive young woman get trapped in a clearly illegal and exploitative situation for such long time? Wasn't her contract for only two years? And if she didn't receive her salary, why didn't she

Read More
2 10, 2014

No salary, no day off for 20 months, part 1

2019-08-30T16:33:01+08:00October 2nd, 2014|Articles, Stories|

By Nissa Mai “I will kill you ah!” She very angry, angry. She smack me four times. I say, “I'm a human, I'm sorry!” [Then], Amah show me the big knife. She say, “[If] you argue, I cut you with the big knife.” That's when Surya (not her real name) ran away for the first

Read More
29 09, 2014

Injured worker taken on grand tour of Singapore

2019-08-30T16:33:01+08:00September 29th, 2014|Articles, Stories|

Rahman Md Jaminur found himself at the bottom of a drain, severe pain shooting from his right ankle. His back also hurt. Fortunately, his phone was within reach and he called his friend. Help, I fell. Two co-workers came running. They carried him to the construction site office where the safety supervisor was. The latter said,

Read More
29 09, 2014

980,000 work permit holders as at June 2014

2019-08-30T16:33:01+08:00September 29th, 2014|Articles, Facts, research, analysis|

New data released by the Ministry of Manpower (source) show increases across all categories of foreign work passes during the first six months of 2014. The data period has also changed; where MOM used to report workforce numbers as at December each year, this time MOM reported for the mid-year point. This is consistent with

Read More
26 09, 2014

Low salary, no overtime and injured, but they like Singapore

2019-08-30T16:33:01+08:00September 26th, 2014|Articles, Stories|

By Meera Rajah “Why Singapore?” – Ishwar Singh and Pardeep Kumar appear slightly perplexed as to how to answer this direct question, somewhat aware of the vague implications surrounding it. Ishwar (above, right) has now been in Singapore for five years. Pardeep (above left) has been here for slightly longer. Having arrived in 2007, this

Read More
23 09, 2014

Pay slips crucial for injury compensation too

2019-08-30T16:33:01+08:00September 23rd, 2014|Articles, Stories|

By Fuxiong Many stories on this website have documented the difficulties workers face in the period following a work accident. Denial of medical treatment, efforts by employers to repatriate them against their will, or attempts to deny that the accident even occurred (thus foreclosing any chance of compensation for the resulting permanent incapacity) are common

Read More
Go to Top