Six worker cases illustrate how Singapore's work permit system constrains the freedom of workers to refuse a job, putting them at risk of having to serve an employer against their will.
Singapore allows employers to act in bad faith while pretending to have rules that allow retention of skills and experience.
No clear answer could be obtained whether a worker was eligible to work in Singapore again. MOM said Yes, but ICA quietly marked him as a No. What then happened?
Two men had to look for new jobs. One was in Bangladesh and the other was in Singapore. Different outcomes.
On 24 June 2022, MOM retired the Exit Pass system and workers could go out freely. And still workers were calling TWC2 saying they were confined. What does this say about policy effectiveness?
We ask two workers to describe what exactly were the barriers they faced when they needed to leave their dorms. A third worker shares a screenshot of a WhatsApp exchange.
Through her two months with us, our intern spoke with many workers complaining about being confined in their dorms. She shares her reflections here.
Over 300,000 migrant workers were locked down in their dormitories in April 2020. They would not be allowed to go out for leisure until 17 months later, when a tiny trickle were allowed out.
Although he has worked many years in Singapore before, Elyas arrives in Singapore in February 2022 for a new job. He tells us two interesting things about the recruitment process.
A review of cases related to the SCAL retention scheme identified the main obstacles workers faced in getting onto the scheme. These obstacles meant more work at MOM and reduced effectiveness of the scheme.
