By Chow Zhi Ying Safiulla told the law firm that he wanted to discharge them from representing him. He was shocked to be told in return that he had to pay $1,000 before they would issue a discharge letter. Not having this kind of money, he is now stuck. But why did he need to
When a Transient Workers Count Too volunteer met domestic workers of the Filipino Family Network and the Indonesian Family Network in June and said, ‘We were thinking about what we should do for International Migrants’ Day this year...’, there was no discussion. Immediately, the workers said that they’d like to have a sports day. So
Introduction by Alex Au: Even as Debbie Fordyce was explaining to a group of students from the National University of Singapore (NUS) the problem of homelessness and lack of social space for foreign workers, ten to twelve uniformed officers swept into the same area to shoo away men resting in the shaded space. It was
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
By Benjamin Wong Approaching Zakir Hossain, one immediately notices the giant white cast that covers his left forearm. What comes to mind are the stories, the turn of events so commonly heard: an accident occurs, a worker gets injured, his work permit gets cut, he isn't able to get an operation, and maybe is even
By Rob Irene joins the queue to get her height measured. She is in a group of about 10 new arrivals from the Philippines packed into a training room to take the Ministry of Manpower’s mandatory Settling In Programme for domestic maids. Irene arrived from Manila last night and joins a group of about 20
By Suresh A ride sitting at the back of a truck in May this year was all it took to change the fate of Kashem Abul for worse. He's been working in Singapore for a total of 13 years, albeit for different companies. Only three months into his job with a new employer, Kashem was
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
By Lee Kah Ghim If you witnessed a man being punched in the eye by another, would you render assistance? What if the victim were a foreign worker, someone who belonged to a category of individuals Singaporeans so frequently look down upon; would you still help? It was an apparent ‘no’ for the people at
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
