9 02, 2015

Korea’s regulatory system for migrant workers offers many features worth emulating

2019-08-30T16:32:54+08:00February 9th, 2015|Articles, Facts, research, analysis|

When an employer in South Korea needs to fill a position with a foreign worker, he has to apply to the central government's Job Center. This state body will provide the employer with three shortlisted workers and the employer has to choose from among them. When Kim Misun, executive director of We Friends, an NGO

4 02, 2015

“Locking into container never happened,” says employer

2019-08-30T16:32:54+08:00February 4th, 2015|Articles, Stories|

Express Point Engineering Pte Ltd took exception to our article published on 17 December 2014, titled 'Injured Hossian hidden away in locked container'. The employer asserted that this was untrue, though this was possibly later qualified with a further nuance: that they had no knowledge of any such incident. Following an email from Express Point,

18 01, 2015

With each job here, Saide gets poorer

2019-08-30T16:32:54+08:00January 18th, 2015|Articles, Stories|

By Lindene Cleary His first job didn't even last a year, losing out on unpaid salaries. His second job lasted barely a week, with him having to foot hospital bills. His personal finances are awash in red ink. We all suffer from accidents and bad luck from time to time. We miss the bus, we

14 01, 2015

Deeply in debt, Musfiqur stays cheerful

2019-08-30T16:32:54+08:00January 14th, 2015|Articles, Stories|

By Ashley Frois We're barely under the eaves. Rain, like troubles, pours down mere inches from our seats. Everything is damp. Two seats away and drier, a fellow volunteer is interviewing another construction worker, Rahman Sadequr. That worker is speaking morosely of his money problems. My interviewee, Musfiqur (pictured above), is strangely upbeat. He too

10 01, 2015

Months after initial complaints to ministry, housing and salary abuses still surfacing

2019-08-30T16:32:54+08:00January 10th, 2015|Articles, Facts, research, analysis, Stories|

We didn't at first plan to write up their story because it was a story we've heard countless times before -- not that their plight was any less distressful for them. The men from Harri Construction complained of unpaid salaries, losing their jobs, and terrible conditions at their quarters. But two months later, the Straits

7 01, 2015

Careful spitting merits fine

2019-08-30T16:32:54+08:00January 7th, 2015|Articles, Stories|

"You did Spit onto a Public Place (Drain)" -- this was the awkward and legalistic way Imran’s Notice to Attend Court described his offence. How was he to know that spitting in a drain by the side of the road was wrong? “No person shall spit any substance or expel mucus from the nose upon

3 01, 2015

The death loan

2019-08-30T16:32:54+08:00January 3rd, 2015|Articles, Stories|

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

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