Interesting updates related to migrant worker issues
Ambulance set ablaze. Photo: Straits Times The Committee of Inquiry on the Little India Riot made its Report public on 30 June 2014. Much of the report deals with the particulars of the incident (that occurred after 9pm on 8 December 2013) which do not have much relation to the work and mission
A director of a construction company was fined $20,000 for taking money from his foreign workers. Demanding and accepting such kickbacks is illegal. Lin Pinghe 54, took the money from twenty workers from China in 2011, reported the Straits Times in its story on 3 June 2014 (pictured above). He pleaded guilty at the hearing.
In 2013, over 90 percent of TWC2's spending went towards charitable activities, benefitting our clients in a relatively direct way. We spend little on overheads, reflecting a philosophy of frugality we are proud of. Total expenditure in the year was $481,139, leaving us with a surplus of $254,755 from the year's income of $735,894. About
The director of the Foreign Manpower Management Division, Kevin Teoh, told the commission of inquiry looking into the Little India riots that his ministry does not abandon workers. This was after TWC2 president Russell Heng had hold the committee in earlier testimony that workers "basically have to resort to charity to survive in Singapore" as they
By Lucas Ho Selvam (not his real name) rests his head, heavy with worry, in his hand. "I very worry," he says. "So many nights I cannot sleep." He knows about a recent the report in the Straits Times: "22 Indian nationals charged for false declaration of salaries," ran the headline in the Straits Times
Transient Workers Count Too understood from indirect sources that the Ministry of Manpower originally had no plan to prosecute employer Woolim Plant Engineering for failing to pay correct salaries. For background to story, see Part 1 and Part 2. The reason given was (we heard) that the workers "didn't want to press charges." TWC2 continued
In a noteworthy decision, the High Court ruled that the Ministry of Manpower's Assistant Commissioner for Labour misapprehended the law, applying it wrongly. The latter (also known informally as the Labour Court) had ruled in favour of the employer VGP Corp Ltd. But the High Court, in a written decision released on 31 December 2013,
Sunday Times, 9 February 2014 carried a feature article by Radha Basu, leading with a figure that Bangladeshi worker Hussain Iqbal had given TWC2: $1.50. That was the hourly rate that his employer paid him for nearly a year, despite a document issued by the Ministry of Manpower confirming that his employer Woolim would pay
Nine worksite fatalities were recorded in the first month of 2014, reported the Straits Times (ST, 30 Jan 2014, Structure collapse kills one, injures 10 workers in Sentosa, by Yeo Sam Jo). The latest victim was a 36-year-old Chinese national working on a project on Sentosa. Ten others were injured Wednesday 29 January when the
Ten days after the riot in Little India, the police and Home Affairs Ministry announced that 28 foreign nationals will be charged and 53 deported. The 28 workers charged so far were "active participants" in the riot who committed violent acts, damaged property, defied police orders or incited others to do so. Although the Attorney-General's
