News and opinions in the public domain and TWC2’s response
Jolovan Wham (right), writing in his personal capacity, sent an open letter to Tan Chuan-Jin, acting minister for Manpower on 7 January 2013. The opening paragraph references a defamation suit that the minister is threatening Vincent Wijeysingha of the Singapore Democratic Party with, over a previous Facebook post by the latter. Vincent was previously the
"Singapore will find it difficult to recruit foreign construction workers even from newer markets like Sri Lanka and the Philippines if it does not match salaries that employers elsewhere are offering," reported the Straits Times on 3 Jan 2013. The newspaper was aggregating the reactions of agents, employers and migrant rights activists to news that
A brief report in Today mentions a Christmas Day fatal fall of a 32-year-old construction worker at a Sengkang West Way worksite. The newspaper, citing the Ministry of Manpower, said the Chinese national was plastering a wall on the roof of the building when he fell through an opening. He was pronounced dead at the
The above video shows an industrial building converted into a dormitory for Chinese, Indian and Bangladeshi workers. Each room houses about 40 men -- there are at least two rooms -- in extremely crammed and poorly ventilated conditions. The video also pans the shower and toilet facilities. It was produced by the website publichouse.sg and
In a blogpost to mark International Migrants Day, Acting Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin revealed some statistics: MOM receives some 7,000 telephone enquiries and 2,500 emails per month on employment-related matters from both local and foreign workers. Some 600 statutory employment claims (e.g. non-payment of salary or overtime pay, unauthorised deductions made from salary etc) are
Twenty Indian workers, employees of Sime Chong Construction, refused to report for work on Tuesday 18 December 2012 over two months of salary arrears, reported various media on 18 and 19 December 2012. Four other workers, from China, had earlier lodged complaints at the Ministry of Manpower on 7 November 2012 over the same issue and
In response to the labour dispute that erupted between SMRT Corp and its China bus drivers on 26 November 2012, the Singapore government has termed it an “illegal strike” and instituted legal proceedings against five of the drivers. One of them has since pleaded guilty and been sentenced to 6 weeks in jail. Following that,
The lead story on the front page of the Straits Times (18 Dec 2012: Dormitory operators unite to raise standards) was about eight dormitory operators founding a new Dormitory Association of Singapore (DASL) in September this year. More interestingly, the story provided some numbers about dormitory beds in Singapore. It said that these eight companies
Two workers from China have been charged for criminal trespass after they climbed atop a crane to protest what they said was a case of salary non-payment. The Ministry of Manpower was quick to deny that they were owed any salaries and the men were arrested as soon as they were persuaded to climb down.
Five ex-SMRT bus drivers have been charged for criminal offences. Bao Fengshan's case was heard on 3 December 2012. He was accused of "commencing the strike", pleaded guilty and was jailed six weeks. (Channel NewsAsia, 3 Dec 2012, 6 weeks' jail for SMRT bus driver involved in strike, by Dylan Loh) Gao Yueqiang, 32; Liu Xiangying,
