Isaac (L) and Anowar (R) By Isaac Ong, based on an interview in November 2017 Anowar arrived in Singapore for his current job with Akilas Enterprise in late 2016, working for several months without issues. In June this year, however, life changed drastically. He tells us that he was not called to work,
For the first time, a company director will be caned for offences under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act. Goh Eng Kiat, 33, was found guilty of fraudulently obtaining work passes for 30 foreign workers as construction labour. It was fraudulent because the company, Jasper Contractors, did not require them and did not have work
Singapore is so short of labour that a well-known taxi company has been relying on construction workers to run its vehicle workshops. They are asked to clean the taxis, but also "do gearbox repair," says Uddin Jashim, 31, a former worker there. Your writer asks him, with some concern, "Do you know how to repair
With additional reporting by Mohd Ridhwan Saju kept reminding his boss for the rest of his May 2014 salary. He had received only $300 compared to something over $1,000 he considered was rightly due. He had put in a lot of overtime work in May. "Ah Soon, he say later, later," reports Saju of his
With additional reporting by Chris Lee Eventually, the case ended in a rather unsatisfactory way. We can hardly fault Jalil Shaikh Bala Miah Shaikh, 27, for being frustrated with the outcome. His case shows how Singapore's work injury compensation system is stacked against migrant workers. Whenever an employer flatly denies to the authorities that an
Most men from Bangladesh dress quite conservatively. Compared to his compatriots, Sohel, standing at our front door, flashed a lot of skin. Your writer remarked to himself: This guy is halfway to becoming Singaporean. When Sohel opened his mouth, more proof flowed. He was fluent in Singlish. It turned out that for the better part of
Transient Workers Count Too's letter in response to an article about foreign workers working illegally (Straits Times, Monday, 25 Nov 2013, summarised here) was published in the newspaper's letters section on Friday 29 November. This is the text of the letter: Plug gaps in system to reduce illegal work When injured or unpaid foreign workers
The lead story in the Home Section of the Straits Times last Monday looked into foreign workers working illegally. ('Workers find illegal jobs through informal network', 25 Nov 2013). It was accompanied by a photograph that Transient Workers Count Too considers somewhat irresponsible. Only the lower half of the photograph is on this page. In
In the story Crime victim detained for months, we covered the case of Muthunayagam Saju who was robbed. After reporting the matter to the police, he has been kept in Singapore for months and months because he may be needed as a witness when the robber goes to court. He is not allowed to work
The drop in the number of immigration offenders was covered recently in the news: 2,077, 1,698, and 1,318 people were arrested for immigration offences in the first half of 2010, 2011 and 2012, respectively [endnote 1]. The news story did not reveal whether these numbers included both male and female immigration offenders, who encounter significantly
