News and opinions in the public domain and TWC2’s response
Press Release 29 November 2012 情网下翻阅 Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) notes with concern statements issued by some stakeholders since the SMRT labour dispute on 26 November 2012. Until key facts have been established by the police and full accounts from both employer and workers given a chance to be heard, TWC2 calls upon the
Mominul Islam, 36, died at his worksite on the morning of 16 November 2012. He was killed when steel rods fell on him. The Straits Times reported a co-worker describing the incident at 30, Tuas Bay Drive, as one where a "wire mesh" (probably a criss-cross assembly of rods) weighing between three and five tons
Two companies, Techcom Construction & Trading and Sunway Concrete Products, were charged in court for failing to pay their workers on time, reported the Straits Times on Friday, 16 Nov 2012. Sunway is the main contractor for Techcom. Techcom faces a total of 59 charges under the Employment Act for failing to pay its workers
In quite possibly the first case of its kind, a former factory manager was fined $8,000 and ordered to pay a further penalty of $4,030 for corruption. Toh Phoo Chye, 46, had obtained Nokia mobile phones from foreign workers in exchange for recommending to the management to renew their work permits. This case was reported
Acting Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin revealed in parliament 12 November 2012 that 260 employers were found to have contravened the limit of overtime work between 2008 and 2011. Of these, 56 employers were issued compositions fines by the Ministry while another 21 were prosecuted in court for more serious breaches. The remaining were issued warnings
The recent amendments to the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act (EFMA) will take effect on 9 November 2012, reported the Straits Times and Channel NewsAsia. Both reports highlighted the introduction of administrative penalties. A financial penalty will be imposed on administrative infringements. These are EFMA breaches that do not directly harm workers and are not
A report in the Business Times, 24 April 2012, highlighted the gradual drying up of Singapore's usual sources of foreign blue-collar workers. The story, headlined "S'pore magnet losing its foreign worker pull" by Cai Haoxiang is archived in Asia One. The traditional source of unskilled labour, Malaysia, dried up years ago. But in recent years
After a 12.5 percent increase in the number of S Pass holders from December 2011 to June 2012 [see earlier story], the government is looking at doing more to control the inflow. The Straits Times reported Acting Manpower minister Tan Chuan-jin saying that "We should have an update on this perhaps in the first quarter
A letter by TWC2 exco member Debbie Fordyce was published in the Straits Times 25 October 2012. She highlights the quite common problem of the government creating a bias against workers in favour of employers. Straits Times, 25 October 2012, Print Forum Foreign workers' medical dilemma Foreign workers often find themselves in a Catch-22 situation
Clicking the header "Archive" immediately above this paragraph will lead you to a list of newsletters published by TWC2 over the years, highlighting the important issues of the time.
