News and opinions in the public domain and TWC2’s response
In response to the article Employer's passport to trouble, published in Today, January 25, 2010, John Gee wrote to journalist Esther Ng: Dear Esther, I hope that you've had mostly positive reactions to your article on the retention of migrant workers' passports by agents and employers. It is an issue that TWC2 has raised a
Minister for Manpower Gan Kim Yong revealed in Parliament that two employment agencies were fined for refusing to return passports to migrant workers, reported Today on January 25, 2010. The ministry further reiterated to Mediacorp that "Employers should not retain their foreign workers' passports without their consent." However, it is more often employers, rather than
By Er Yanbing, a student at NTU, and reproduced with her kind consent. The ramped up measures announced last month by the government to enhance the safety of workers transported on lorries have sparked mixed reactions among Singaporeans. These measures, which include requiring all lorries that double up as passenger transport to be fitted with
New measures to increase safety and provide shelter for workers transported in open-backed vehicles were announced in Parliament on August 18, 2009. They are to be phased in over three years. Here is a record of the statement made in Parliament on this matter: Mdm Halimah Yacob asked the Minister for Transport (a) whether he
Some people who felt strongly about the issue for safe transport for workers started Project Humane Transport in 2009 to raise support for change. The media reported on migrant workers and decent transport, especially when accidents took place. Quite a few people wrote to the press to put forward their views. A former National Serviceman
Tnis letter was sent to the Straits Times on May 19, 2009: --- Dear ST, It was saddening to read your report of the accident in which four men were killed and six injured on Monday morning. Accidents are bound to happen on the roads from time to time, despite all the efforts made to make
This article appeared in ‘Today’ on August 3, 2006 and is reproduced as published. Give the maid a break The issue of a regular rest day needs to be legislated, not left to private contract John Gee A new standard contract for domestic workers and employers, produced by CaseTrust and the Association of Employment Agencies
Today, February 5, 2008, by Leong Wee Keat Link: http://www.todayonline.com/articles/236052.asp They are two different sets of statistics, painting two very different pictures. According to the Philippine Embassy, in an annual report recently submitted to the Philippine government, the number of Filipinos trafficked into Singapore and forced to work at red-light establishments last year hit an
Remarks by then TWC2 president, John Gee, at a forum organised by students at National University of Singapore, 9th November 2007: 'The Maltreatment of Migrant Workers: Myths, Causes and Consequences'. Today, I want to speak particularly about the issue of a regular day off for domestic workers. Around half the women from other countries who
An accident in which one Indian worker was killed recently drew public attention once again to the problem of the transportation of foreign workers in the back of trucks and lorries. 24-year old Solai Raj from Tamil Nadu died after a car hit the lorry in which he was being carried, causing it to spin
