We ask two workers to describe what exactly were the barriers they faced when they needed to leave their dorms. A third worker shares a screenshot of a WhatsApp exchange.
Over 300,000 migrant workers were locked down in their dormitories in April 2020. They would not be allowed to go out for leisure until 17 months later, when a tiny trickle were allowed out.
The permanent night shift made Zhong literally ill, but the employer would not allow a shift change. So he resigned, but going home was one problem after another.
Workers are sent by their employers to worksites way too early before their shift starts, thus depriving them of sufficient rest in their beds at the dorms.
Hundreds of mostly unvaccinated workers came down with Covid-19 at a dormitory, but the scene was set well before by government policies or neglect.
The Ministry of Manpower announced new dormitory standards in September 2021. They're nearly all about control and surveillance, not comfort and wellbeing.
Covid-19 is not the only easily transmissible disease around. There's another and it's been killing more people for years. Yet, we didn't lock up our workers.
Far from justifying continued confinement of migrant workers in dorms, the cluster in Westlite Juniper shows how hollow the argument for confinement is.
A TWC2 volunteer went for a walk and came across a six-metre high hoarding. What is the ugliness that it is trying to hide from our view?
Ziaur and Miah work for a furniture manufacturer. Plush sofas, polished wood and the glint of brass surround them. What's there not to like?
