Facts, research, analysis

7 12, 2013

The difference WICA makes

webmaster2019-08-30T16:34:14+08:00December 7th, 2013|Articles, Facts, research, analysis|

Several stories on our website tell of workers who complain that their employers deny that their injuries were caused by workplace accidents. A recent study by Transient Workers Count Too and Healthserve found that a significant percentage of them worry about what their employers told doctors about the circumstances of the accident. But why? Why

6 12, 2013

Who said what to the doctor?

webmaster2019-08-30T16:34:14+08:00December 6th, 2013|Articles, Facts, research, analysis, News, Our Stand|

About one in three injured workers, when brought to medical attention after an accident, find that it is the boss or company representative who tells the doctor what caused the injury. The worker doesn't get a chance to speak. Yet, it is rare that the boss or company representative witnessed the accident. Another one-third of

29 11, 2013

Do workers exaggerate their injuries? Part 1

webmaster2019-08-30T16:34:14+08:00November 29th, 2013|Articles, Facts, research, analysis, Media Coverage, News, Our Stand|

An article in the Straits Times, 9 November 2013, on workers' injuries and medical leave prompted a small flurry of letters to the newspaper's Forum page. The initial article, headlined 'Hospitals give too much sick leave for injuries: Bosses' reported that Bosses are crying foul that foreign workers are getting too much medical leave from

29 11, 2013

Do workers exaggerate their injuries? Part 2

alex2019-08-30T16:34:14+08:00November 29th, 2013|Articles, Facts, research, analysis, Media Coverage, News, Stories|

The scab on one of Das Thiru's knees about three weeks after the accident Continued from PART 'The employers believe these workers exaggerate their injuries to fool doctors' – so reported the Straits Times on 9 November 2013 (‘Hospitals give too much sick leave for injuries: Bosses’ by Amelia Tan) Is this true?

9 10, 2013

65 percent of injured and salary-claim workers threatened with premature repatriation

webmaster2019-08-30T16:34:17+08:00October 9th, 2013|Articles, Facts, research, analysis, Happenings|

For both groups -- those regularly working and those with injury and salary claims-- the threat of premature repatriation creates a lot of stress. It is the most important stress factor among working workers, and the second-most important, after being injured, among injured and salary-claim workers. Having uncleared debts incurred in agents fees also hung

24 09, 2013

Study on injured workers’ housing conditions reveals widespread neglect of employers’ responsibilities

webmaster2019-08-30T16:34:18+08:00September 24th, 2013|Articles, Facts, research, analysis|

Only 28 percent of injured workers have been offered accommodation by their employer (sometimes, MOM) post-injury. This despite the fact that the law requires employers to provide decent housing while they are in Singapore. Even so, these 28 percent were not in that offered accommodation; they fled for fear of forced repatriation and other pressing

22 09, 2013

Training centres in Bangladesh have become money-minting machines

alex2019-08-30T16:34:18+08:00September 22nd, 2013|Articles, Facts, research, analysis|

It started as a way to ensure that migrant workers coming to Singapore had some basic skills, but the raison d'etre has since become something else: to extract as much money as possible from the poor. "It" is the tangled business of providing training, testing and recruitment in Bangladesh. The key to its metamorphosis is

19 09, 2013

Direct Services Report for 2012

webmaster2019-08-30T16:34:18+08:00September 19th, 2013|Articles, Facts, research, analysis|

Periodically, Transient Workers Count Too produces a Direct Services Report, summarising the help we render to migrant workers. Help takes various forms, including advice through a toll-free helpline, intervention and case management and a free meals programme. The 26-page report for the year 2012 can be downloaded by clicking the link.

29 08, 2013

Survey uncovers exorbitant agent fees suffered by Bangladeshi workers

Volunteer Writing Team2019-08-30T16:34:19+08:00August 29th, 2013|Articles, Facts, research, analysis|

By YC Loh For Bangladeshis in their first job here, about half paid more than S$7,000 to their agent. More than 70 percent paid over $5,000. By contrast, the majority (over 60%) of Indians paid less than $5,000 to their agent for their first job. These figures emerged from a survey recently conducted by TWC2. The average

1 08, 2013

Workers will bear over $5 billion of costs for injuries sustained in 2011

webmaster2019-08-30T16:34:51+08:00August 1st, 2013|Articles, Facts, research, analysis, News, News Flash|

Preliminary findings from a study of workplace injuries and ill-health in 2011 reveal that slightly more than half of total costs fall on workers themselves, when quantified into dollar terms. Since low-wage foreign workers tend to be the ones doing the dangerous jobs, they suffer injuries and ill-health disproportionately. Now they -- the least able