Discussion: laws and regulations
By Alex Au The above photo was taken around 11:30 am at a void deck below a block of flats. It shows packets of lunch on a broken chair. There were roadworks going on nearby and these packets were almost surely lunch for the crew. What's not in the photo was a Town Council cleaner
Sadhin worked for a small roofing company. He was, in fact, the only worker and he and his boss were often the only two on the job. On 17 October 2013 Sadhin was working on the roof of a private home, tasked with cleaning the roof before the repairs could begin. In the process
By William Chin The boss wasn't happy to see his employee presenting a medical leave certificate. "Why you go see doctor? No (limb) drop off, no broken," was his reaction. As Humayun Mohammad Enu tells it, he had to get his own medical treatment, and until now has not been reimbursed despite medical care being
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
"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
Four months after employees of Genius Engineering and related companies lodged salary complaints with the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), Mouazzam Hossin (pictured above) is still in Singapore, struggling to get something out of what he is owed. Mouazzam is among the last of the workers still here. Nearly all the rest -- there were altogether
It is still October 2014. Chodawre Badal doesn't say much, but just shows your writer a letter from the National University Hospital (NUH) giving him an assessment date for 8 May 2015, seven months away. 'Assessment' is the stage when a worker, following a work injury, is assessed for residual permanent incapacity, so that an
At a symposium organised by the Asia Research Institute, TWC2 head of research John Gee said that whilst globally, there had never been better protection in law for migrants' rights, yet in many respects, their actual position was going backwards. Even in Singapore, he felt there has been progress, but placement costs represent one area in which
By Eitan After a year of volunteering, I can now spot a new guy at our soup kitchen with little difficulty. Unlike the 'regulars' who know the drill -- present a meal card, sign into the registration book, get a token -- and who also engage in some banter with TWC2 volunteers, the new ones
Singapore brings in hundreds of thousands of migrant workers from India and Bangladesh for the construction and marine industries. We also have large numbers of technical and professional immigrants from the Indian subcontinent. They need to eat. They prefer to eat at restaurants that serve their kind of food. To keep their customers happy, restaurant
