In theory, employers are required by law to provide medical treatment for work permit holders they bring into Singapore. In practice, the more unscrupulous employers will try to get the employee out of Singapore before the worker realises he is being deprived of treatment and learns to use official channels to get his employer to
By Isabel Chew Aktaruzzaman is intent on telling me his story. His cellphone rings a number of times during our interview but he rejects them because it is more important that people hear his story. On 23 July, Aktar and a co-worker were moving a 6-inch pipe weighing (by his estimate) 60 kg when his
Rahman Md Jaminur found himself at the bottom of a drain, severe pain shooting from his right ankle. His back also hurt. Fortunately, his phone was within reach and he called his friend. Help, I fell. Two co-workers came running. They carried him to the construction site office where the safety supervisor was. The latter said,
By Meera Rajah “Why Singapore?” – Ishwar Singh and Pardeep Kumar appear slightly perplexed as to how to answer this direct question, somewhat aware of the vague implications surrounding it. Ishwar (above, right) has now been in Singapore for five years. Pardeep (above left) has been here for slightly longer. Having arrived in 2007, this
By Keith Wong "Twenty months," says Kabil Monul (not his real name). That's how long it has been since an industrial accident caused a dislocation of his left shoulder. Only today (in August 2014) has he received an offer from the Ministry of Manpower for compensation for permanent incapacity: a mere two "points", which translates
By Stéphanie Psarski This testimony is a very good and heart warming example of how, to workers, Transient Workers Count Too makes a difference even in the tiniest thing. Injured on his back in July 2012, Kamal Mostafa has been waiting in Singapore for his case to be settled by MOM for two years. Not
Alleged mistreatment by employers have led to riots in Malaysia by foreign workers, various news sources are reporting. Most serious was what happened on Tuesday night (26 August 2014) in the Malaysian state of Johor. As reported by Malaysian newspaper The Star: Some 800 workers of a factory here set fire to the building Tuesday
Shahadatsmiles broadly when he's in good company with TWC2 By Meera Rajah Shahadat Hosain, like many other migrant workers from Bangladesh, Myanmar, China, Thailand and the Philippines, took a job with a subcontractor of Keppel Shipyard in hope of creating a better life. He was prepared to put in the strenuous manual labour
With additional reporting by Debbie Fordyce Part 1 described how Mollah Jahangir lost his job as soon as he asked his employer to pay for medical treatment. This, even though he had loyally worked for the company for eight years. And even though he continued working for five months since the start of 2014 when
"So many years, I not sick," says Mollah Jahangir, 35. "One time have problem only, boss quickly want to send me home." This employer enjoyed loyalty from his worker for eight years, but showed none in return. Mollah Jahangir worked as a grass cutter and occasional water pipe fixer for CPK Contractor Pte Ltd, one
