News and opinions in the public domain and TWC2’s response
The Online Citizen reported, February 6, 2012, that about 200 mostly Bangladeshi workers downed tools at their worksite in Tampines over unpaid salaries. The key details reported were: At 8 am, instead of starting work, the workers went on strike because they have not been paid since October 2011. TOC understands that several pleas to
Andy Nelson Ng Mui Shee (right) was fined $16,000 on Monday, January 30, 2012, for four counts of false declaration of foreign workers' salaries. This is an offence under the Employment of Foriegn Workers Act. The assistant sales manager at an employment agency had been asked by two client companies -- Sun Blues Cleaning Maintenance
As economic growth in India and China roars ahead, lifting wages, companies in Singapore addicted to cheap labour are scouring other countries as potential sources. A story in the Straits Times, January 20, 2012, reported that where they used to turn to China, India and Bangladesh, they are now recruiting from 'non-traditional' sources such as
Indian national Chelladurai Lenin, 42, reportedly fell at a construction site, but did not want to be sent to hospital because he was working here illegally and was afraid of being deported. He later died of a fractured skull and bleeding in the head, reported the Straits Times, January 20, 2012. According to his wife,
Originally charged with murder, which carries a mandatory death penalty, Indonesian domestic worker Fitriah, also known as Vitria Depsi Wahyuni, has had her charge reduced to culpable homicide, reported the Straits Times on January 20, 2012. She is accused of killing her elderly employer, Madam Sng Gek Wah, 87, at the latter's Serangoon Gardens home
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
NTUC Lifestyle magazine had a four-page feature on Transient Workers Count Too in their recent monthly issue. With a circulation of 294,000 this should give TWC2's message a considerable boost. You can read the story in pdf format by clicking the icon at right. The magazine's reporter interviewed TWC2 treasurer Alex Au at Suthas restaurant
