Jaya sits in a park near the TWC2 food project on Rowell Road. We arrive at a black door with no number on it. Jayasurenda (Jaya for short) from Sri Lanka, is about to show me where he has slept for the last 6 months while waiting for his case to be resolved
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
On the day before his departure, Mohammed Dulal Harunur Rashid brought a little self-made poster to Transient Workers Count Too's office. It said "I and my family never forget TWC.TOO . . . Long live TWC.TOO. Every social worker and associate." It was one of those touching moments when everything we did seemed worthwhile. It
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
How do migrant workers see the spaces, people and activities around them? What is significant to them? A fascinating exhibition will let you in on the secret. Migrant Encounters is the brainchild of Ye Junjia ("Jia"), and brought to fruition with the help of her friends Tai Shuxia and Jessie Koh. Supported by the Max
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
By Nigel Lin I offer Pitchai a handshake – it is my first time interviewing a foreign worker and hey, I thought it’d be polite to do so. He takes it up, albeit rather weakly. That prompts my first question. “Is your right arm okay?” “Very pain when I moving the hand,” is all I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7H0sbZnCf2I Many people will have seen the above Youtube video that circulated a few months earlier. It was made by Beyond the Border, Behind the Men, a project that celebrates the otherwise anonymous and invisible Bangladeshi migrant workers in our midst. Now the BTBBTM music team is having their first concert, The Exchange, on the
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
