Discussion: economics of labour migration
A typical day in TWC2's office. Foreground: six workers owed 4 months' pay, calculating their owed amounts including overtime. Rear: five workers from a different company waiting to consult with TWC2's social worker. They had come to Singapore with MOM's approval for a job, only to be told by the boss that there's no
By Alex Au The above photo was taken around 11:30 am at a void deck below a block of flats. It shows packets of lunch on a broken chair. There were roadworks going on nearby and these packets were almost surely lunch for the crew. What's not in the photo was a Town Council cleaner
In the wake of the sentencing of a construction company boss for demanding kickbacks from his employees (see news story in Today newspaper, thumbnail at right), the Straits Times had a story about his unsavoury practice on 13 April 2015. The Straits Times noted that extortionate demands are typically made when the worker is most
Following the deaths of two Bangladeshi workers in a fire , and a commentary article by Straits Times journalist Toh Yong Chuan (7 April 2015), TWC2 president Noorashikin Abdul Rahman wrote to the editor to better focus the root causes of poor housing. The letter was published on 17 April 2015. Lower debt, raise job
By Seema Punwani "I cannot go back! If I go back I die. I die". Rahman keeps repeating in his broken English. His friend who is kindly acting as a translator tries to calm him down and entreats him to explain his predicament in detail. And so begins Rahman's story -- sadly not very unlike
By Walter Wadiak As I sit down to do my first interview with a migrant worker, I’m looking for problems. Perhaps a story about an uncompensated injury — I have already seen plenty of these in my few visits here. Maybe I will find a man whose meagre salary has been either underpaid or not
This is the opinion piece by John Gee of Transient Workers Count Too, published in the Straits Times, 3 December 2014. ---- A win-win way to help injured foreign workers The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) is considering outsourcing the inspection of workplaces to counter the illegal employment of foreign workers, a task that currently involves
At a symposium organised by the Asia Research Institute, TWC2 head of research John Gee said that whilst globally, there had never been better protection in law for migrants' rights, yet in many respects, their actual position was going backwards. Even in Singapore, he felt there has been progress, but placement costs represent one area in which
A visit to the Asea Trading International Singapore Skills Centre in Tangail District of Bangladesh began with a conversation with the managing director Mr. Md Anisur Rahman. He proudly boasted that his centre hosts about 100 men at a time offering training in such skills as welding, electrical wiring, waterproofing, pipefitting and installing acoustical ceilings.
By Stéphanie Psarski It is sad, how some humans can treat other humans. On 26 July 2014, construction worker Hossan slipped on oil and landed heavily on his back. The company doctor gave him Panadol and two days' medical leave. But at the end of the two days, the pain was still very bad, he
