News and opinions in the public domain and TWC2’s response
The story made it to the front page. When TWC2 received a copy from Healthserve of a circular letter issued jointly by the Ministries of Health and Manpower to all registered medical practitioners, we knew it would be something the Straits Times might be interested in. We contacted the newspaper and shared it with them.
"He needs to be around somebody at all hours," says Debbie Fordyce, co-ordinator of TWC2's Cuff Road Project. "The epileptic fit can come at any time, and someone needs to catch him to make sure he doesn't fall and hurt himself." Fortunately, TWC2 has hundreds of workers on our register at any one time, idled
Media Statement: Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) is gravely concerned that current bad haze conditions will affect the health of workers in many trades, e.g. construction, marine, sanitation, landscaping. TWC2 strongly urges the government to impose a mandatory Stop Work Order when 3-hour average PSI readings, issued hourly, exceed 200, or when PM2.5 readings exceed
Five companies were convicted for a variety of offences involving mistreatment of their foreign employees, reported Channel NewsAsia on 30 May 2013. (Link). They were named as: Soon Aik Marine Engineering Pte Ltd, Soon Aik Offshore Pte Ltd, Soon Aik Shipbuilding Pte Ltd, Yong Soon Shipbuilding Pte Ltd, and Yong Soon Marine Engineering Pte Ltd.
In a letter published by Today newspaper, TWC2 immediate past president John Gee proposed a means by which good labour standards can be propagated in Singapore. Companies should write labour standards into contracts with their subcontractors. Government-linked companies should lead the way, he says, among other suggestions. --- Today, 31 May 2013, Voices section Companies
A report in Today, 24 May 2013, provided a glimpse into and some figures relating to raids conducted in Little India to ferret out illegal workers. In "Two foreigners arrested for suspected illegal employment", the newspaper reported that officers from the Ministry of Manpower checked twelve shops along Kinta Road, Race Course Road and Race Course
The Sunday Times featured a newly-hired male domestic worker from Myanmar on its 12 May 2013 edition. 31-year-old Lum Hkawng comes from Kachin state in northern Myanmar. The former steel welder, who speaks Mandarin, is working for a partially-handicapped man in his 50s who was injured in a traffic accident. The employer lives alone. Journalist
On 26 March 2013, we received an email from Wang Fatt Oil & Gas Construction Pte Ltd (a member of E S Goup Holdings), the former employer of Pastula Venkata Ramana, saying that several statements in our article about his case (link here) were incorrect. The company said in the email that the Ministry of Manpower "have
Transient Workers Count Too received a complaint about a post on this website about Singapore mums using blogs to vent about their maids. The blogger, Expat Bostonians, has written a rebuttal here. Her point was that she never intended to demonise domestic helpers and that it was unfair to her to be quoting from her
The newspaper Today reported on 26 April 2013 that construction company Zhong Jiang (Singapore) International was fined $8,000 for failing to pay salaries on time to ten workers, between last October and December. The salaries that were paid late came up to more than S$44,400, and were for the months of September to November. The company pleaded guilty to
