By Jas Kaur Abu Younus Mohammad is no novice to work in Singapore. So why is it that a man who has experience and in fact, skills, is sitting here with no job? Younus has held three jobs in Singapore. Firstly, he did a painting job for two years, for which he had paid a
By Zhan Nanxin When Alex touches Sardar Md Shamin’s shoulder, he flinches. The accident is several months ago, but should his injury be permanent, he will be unable to take up any heavy-duty job again, in Singapore or in any other country. He will be unable to support both his sisters back home in Bangladesh who
"Boss say I must not talking (tell others) how I accident," Alam recounts of the first hours after his forearm was torn open. "He say I must explain like this: (that) I go canteen to makan (eat), and I fall down there." "He tell other workers, nobody must talking." But when Alam Mahbubul finally got
"He crushed and crumpled the leaflet in his fist and threw it away," said the young volunteer, visibly distressed by the rejection she had just encountered. "He said, 'All this no use. My friend [will] never walk again.'" Most of the time, when our volunteers fan out on our monthly outreach event, they are received
By Ranjana Raghunathan I ask Balasubramanian Mangaleswaran if he requested for medical treatment from his employer right after injuring his leg. He replies, “I asked them immediately, they just said that they would not pay for it.” He was told, “you must take care of it yourself.” This is against the law (see box at
By Samantha Ege “This leg, very big already,” Ali tells me, gesturing towards his noticeably swollen foot. On 23 February 2015, Ali was working as he would normally do, at a shipyard. He was dressed in the necessary protective gear, complete with brand new safety footwear. However, this was not enough to save his foot
By Ranjana Raghunathan Adaikkalam Nagarajan, 32, was given a “special shoe” to wear for a month. “No other treatment! I was in pain for a month, even with painkillers. I was given light-duty for a month, no medical leave.” TWC2 has noted that many doctors don't issue full medical leave certificates, but only light duty
By Hong Ying Harun Rashid Or has not had the treatment doctors recommended since his accident on 25 August 2015. While trying to understand why, the Ministry of Manpower's own processes come into the picture. As much as he is being victimised by a callous employer, he may also be disadvantaged by a bureaucracy too lax
By Daniel Ling “Driver put all my baju (clothes) in bag, tell me, ‘Boss say, tomorrow go Bangladesh for two month. [If] you no go, boss work permit cutting’”. Hossen Murad, 26, was still recovering from a serious workplace injury. Amid mounting medical bills here, his employer had sought to pressure him into returning to
When workers first approach TWC2 for help, an experienced volunteer would run through a checklist of questions with him. We do this because even though workers are quite able to describe the particular problem they need help with, they may not realise that there are other issues that require attention. For example, a worker who has
