For months, men have been confined to dorms, unable to go out to buy daily necessities they might need. TWC2's SEN team delivered little things that made life more bearable.
Recently, journalists doing follow-up stories about Covid-19 have been reaching us with similar questions. For convenience, we will put our responses here.
The general community is "saved" from Covid-19 only because migrant workers are made to pay the price for us: severe confinement, never mind mental wellbeing and medical complications.
If being locked up in dormitories through Covid-19 was bad, being held on a ship was worse. On reaching out to workers there, we heard cries for deliverance.
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.
