Stories

9 03, 2015

Foreman to worker: Medical care only if you say injury wasn’t work-related

Volunteer Writing Team2019-08-30T16:32:53+08:00March 9th, 2015|Articles, Stories|

By Samantha Ege His name is Shohag, a young graduate from Bangladesh with a Bachelor of Business Studies. He sits opposite me and spreads three cards on the table between us. ‘Building Construction Supervisor’, ‘Work-at-Height’, ‘Lifting Supervisor’ they read, giving me a glimpse of the post-degree path Shohag has taken here, in Singapore. But the

6 03, 2015

Employer reunites family for the holidays

Volunteer Writing Team2019-08-30T16:32:53+08:00March 6th, 2015|Articles, Stories|

By Jacintha Gopal Amy (not her real name) hadn’t been home for Christmas for seven years. The mother of two boys, aged 13 and 10 years, is a domestic worker from the Philippines working for an expatriate family living in Singapore. Having lived apart from her husband and children since 2007, Amy told me that

4 03, 2015

Asking for medical treatment, losing job

Volunteer Writing Team2019-08-30T16:32:53+08:00March 4th, 2015|Articles, Stories|

By Maya Nguyen Sixteen days after an accident, Sahajahan, 28, went to a lawyer to seek help with his case. He was then sent to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) where he was told his Work Permit had been cancelled eleven days before. No one had told him. Sahajahan was completely unaware that his overstay

1 03, 2015

Acting on a tip-off, TWC2 rescues a maid trapped over two years without a day off

alex2019-08-30T16:32:54+08:00March 1st, 2015|Articles, Stories|

Late November 2014, an email came from the blogsite TR Emeritus about an Indonesian domestic worker who was not allowed to leave her employer's house for two years. The email sender said "hope you guys can take a look at this case seriously. The poor maid is said to be always hungry and begging for

4 02, 2015

“Locking into container never happened,” says employer

webmaster2019-08-30T16:32:54+08:00February 4th, 2015|Articles, Stories|

Express Point Engineering Pte Ltd took exception to our article published on 17 December 2014, titled 'Injured Hossian hidden away in locked container'. The employer asserted that this was untrue, though this was possibly later qualified with a further nuance: that they had no knowledge of any such incident. Following an email from Express Point,

29 01, 2015

With good employer, Vijay may soon have another mouth to feed

alex2019-08-30T16:32:54+08:00January 29th, 2015|Articles, Stories|

Once in a while, we come across a worker who tells us that he is treated well by his employer. Vijay is one of them. He has asked us not to use his real name because he hopes to continue working with the same employer after he has recovered from his injury. To reveal his

22 01, 2015

Container accommodation, but for toilet, must go very far

Volunteer Writing Team2019-08-30T16:32:54+08:00January 22nd, 2015|Articles, Stories|

By Keith Wong "For toilet, must go very far," is how Syful Md Siddiqur Rahman puts it. "How far is far?" I ask. "Go into the jungle?" "No jungle there," he explains. "Go other corner [of] site. Very big site." Syful is describing his living conditions and the sanitation arrangements he has to put up

18 01, 2015

With each job here, Saide gets poorer

Volunteer Writing Team2019-08-30T16:32:54+08:00January 18th, 2015|Articles, Stories|

By Lindene Cleary His first job didn't even last a year, losing out on unpaid salaries. His second job lasted barely a week, with him having to foot hospital bills. His personal finances are awash in red ink. We all suffer from accidents and bad luck from time to time. We miss the bus, we

14 01, 2015

Deeply in debt, Musfiqur stays cheerful

Volunteer Writing Team2019-08-30T16:32:54+08:00January 14th, 2015|Articles, Stories|

By Ashley Frois We're barely under the eaves. Rain, like troubles, pours down mere inches from our seats. Everything is damp. Two seats away and drier, a fellow volunteer is interviewing another construction worker, Rahman Sadequr. That worker is speaking morosely of his money problems. My interviewee, Musfiqur (pictured above), is strangely upbeat. He too

10 01, 2015

Months after initial complaints to ministry, housing and salary abuses still surfacing

alex2019-08-30T16:32:54+08:00January 10th, 2015|Articles, Facts, research, analysis, Stories|

We didn't at first plan to write up their story because it was a story we've heard countless times before -- not that their plight was any less distressful for them. The men from Harri Construction complained of unpaid salaries, losing their jobs, and terrible conditions at their quarters. But two months later, the Straits