News and opinions in the public domain and TWC2’s response
A Ministry of Finance official wrote to the Forum pages of the Straits Times to say that about ten percent of Work Permit holders pad income tax in 2011. The short letter is given here in full: Work permit holders, such as domestic helpers, are generally semi-skilled or unskilled ('Provide figures on work permit holders
The EFMA governs the employment of foreign staff in Singapore. The great majority of non-Singaporean employees are low-salaried migrant workers.Out of over one million non-Singaporeans employed in the country in 2011, 870,000 are low paid workers considered to be semi-skilled who are present on work permits. Perhaps another 100,000 are S-Pass holders. Currently, work permits
The EFMA governs the employment of foreign personnel in Singapore. The great majority of non-Singaporean employees are low-salaried migrant workers. TWC2 brought together a legal team to work on proposals for the amendment of EFMA and the regulations issued under it – specifically, the different types of work pass. TWC2 is grateful to those who
Falling from heights has claimed the life of an eighth domestic worker this year. An Indonesian maid fell to her death from the ninth floor of a Woodlands flat on Thursday (26 April 2012) at about 6:20 pm, reported the Straits Times (28 April 2012, Yet another maid falls to her death, by Cherie Thio),
Minister of state for community development, youth and sports, Halimah Yacob, called on employers not to insist that domestic workers clean the outside of windows. She was responding to reporters' questions about the seven maids who had fallen to their deaths so far this year while cleaning windows or hanging out the laundry. Her words
The new Settling-in-Programme (SIP) for first-time domestic workers will kick in from May 1, reported the Straits Times on April 14, 2012. The compulsory programme replaces a controversial entry test which many first-time maids find hard to pass because of their weak command of the English language. The workers must attend the course before their work
Speaking to reporters, the secretary-general of the Natioanl Trades Union Congress (NTUC), Lim Swee Say, said "'Today, our challenge is that we are too foreign worker-centric." This was reported in the Straits Times on April 14, 2012. Lim, who is also a minister without portfolio, added, "I, as secretary-general, feel that we need to get
The subject of paying for medical treatment needed by foreign workers came up in a letter by a Jeffrey Law published by the Straits Times in its online edition on March 14, 2012. Below it is the reply by the Ministry of Manpower, followed by a letter by Debbie Fordyce, a member of TWC2's executive
The term 'placement fees' will, after May 1, 2012, only include the cost of medical check-ups, document processing and charges by Indonesian training centres, unlike currently where the term includes fees by recruitment agencies and other middlemen. This change will mean lowering placement fees from about $3,000 currently to about $1,600 for first-time maids and
The New Paper published a laudable background feature on domestic maids from the Philippines and Indonesia on Monday, March 26, 2012. In the three-page spread by lead writer Amanda Phua, the story described their pre-Singapore lives back in their villages where electricity is a luxury and modern household appliances unknown. It shows how hard the
