Type of issue: accommodation
Improvement in housing should be only one element in a broader reforms, if we are to arrive at a more ethical relationship with migrant labour. Job restrictions, low salaries, etc, must also be addressed.
Workers' experiences during the lock-down: a sister helping another who lost her job, a worker who came to Singapore and found a missing employer, a worker stuck here worried about his collapsing house...
An engineer floated the concept of building mega-dormitories over the sea, each with a "small-town centre", to minimise migrant workers' entry into our downtown and Singaporean spaces. What do we say to that?
Workers' experiences during the lock-down: about anxiety, life in a temporary hospital, vanishing salaries, financial disaster. Also about the things going on at TWC2: donations pouring in and volunteers running around.
Actions and demands by the government strongly impact the economics of dormitories. Improving minimum standards from 4.5 to 7.5 sq metres per head does not have to mean substantial cost increases.
The current minimum of 4.5 sq metres per person is too low a standard. It should be 7.5 sq metres. There shouldn't be barracks-style dorms anymore, but apartment-type accommodation with a max of 8 persons per apartment.
We laid out $85,000 to help some migrant workers keep a roof over their heads. These workers, having lost their jobs, are in more difficult situations than those in dorms. Includes video story from TRT World.
Workers tell us of their experiences during the lock-down. Here is a miscellaneous collection of their direct experiences -- about insufficient toilets, insufficient food and all sorts of inconveniences due to the lockdown.
In a media statement dated 13 April 2020 (links to short version and long version) we pointed out that an entire section of the Ministry of Manpower's Advisory on salary and leave arrangements during Circuit Breaker was not only unclear, but seemed to bless salary reductions for foreign workers. "Circuit Breaker" is the
An essay based on a talk given by Alex Au at a Labour Day webinar organised by Maruah in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic that badly affected migrant workers in Singapore.