On February 1, 2011, new rules came into effect for lorries transporting workers. There were also increased penalties. In the eight months following (Feb to Sep 2011), the number of employers caught flouting safety rules was 1,329, said Minister of State for Transport Josephine Teo, in a statement to Parliament, this week. This is 49 per

During a parliamentary sitting this week, four members of parliament urged the government to do more to promote "best sourcing". The term is used to mean judging contract bids on more than price, and including criteria such as offering fair wages to workers. Mr Zainudin Nordin (Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC) started the ball rolling when he

The Straits Times spotted about ten foreign workers among about 150 people in a queue to buy bak kwa at a popular shop in Chinatown.  Bak kwa is the local name for honeyed barbecued pork, a traditional delicacy around Chinese New Year. In its report, the newspaper identified one of the men as Indian national

A Chinese construction worker was jailed ten weeks by a judge, January 13, 2012, for criminal trespass, committed when he staged a one-man protest at a worksite. On October 19, 2011, Ai Yong Li went up seven floors of an incomplete block of apartments and climbed out onto the scaffold, threatening to jump to his

A brief report in the Straits Times, January 10, 2012, mentioned that Minister for National Development Khaw Boon Wan told parliament the day before that with the Housing and Development Board (HDB) cranking up its building programme, the number of construction workers involved in HDB's public housing projects will increase from last year's 18,000 to

In a story datelined Jakarta, January 5, 2012, the Straits Times reported plans afoot in Indonesia to ban sending maids abroad by 2017 unless the receiving country recognises them as formal workers. Under the Domestic Worker Roadmap 2017, it wants to ensure maids are treated like other workers when they work abroad - earning minimum

The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) intends to amend the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act in 2012  to strengthen the regulatory hand vis-a-vis errant employers, reported the Straits Times, December 29, 2011. The aim is to "hold employers more accountable for the basic rights and welfare of migrant workers under their charge," the newspaper reported. This

The Settling-in Programme (SIP)  for new maids, expected to start in the middle of 2012, is likely to cost $50 to $120 for a one-day or one-and-a-half-day course, reported the Straits Times,  December 21, 2011. This estimate was given as the Ministry of Manpower conducted a briefing for likely providers of the course. Among conditions

The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) sent letters to two repatriation companies on November 18, 2011, putting them on notice not to abet any employer avoiding payment of wages and other amounts owed to workers, or preventing the workers making claims under the Work Injury Compensation Act or the Employment Act, reported the Straits Times, December

Lim Seong Ong, director of Asia Link Marine Industries, was sentenced to eight weeks' imprisonment for inflating the number of local employees he had, in order to secure a larger number of work permits for foreign workers. The number of foreign workers a company can hire is linked to the number of local employees it