Two workers in quick succession come by and share with us the absurdities of migrant worker lives. But beneath the hilarity lurks the beast that devours all: recruitment cost.
Mohatab showed TWC2 two IPA documents he had in hand. Both named him as the worker and had the same dates. But the employers were different as were the salary details. Another scam!
When a worker has paid a huge amount to get a job, he cannot afford to lose that job and will thus be vulnerable to unreasonable, exploitative demands by the employer. How huge is huge?
Is there a way for governments to regulate trans-national fee-charging? Is it too convenient to plead jurisdictional limitations, and do nothing?
Just because he felt ill on day at work Akanda was summarily fired. Is he optimistic about finding another job?
During the job interview, the boss described his company as a large main contractor. Then why did Nurunobi get work on only 9 days out of the first 24?
Salim arrived in Singapore with an IPA letter saying the job would pay him $950 per month. Within 36 hours, his boss told him the salary would be around $520 a month. Take it or leave it.
Foreign workers are increasingly becoming illegal job agents, preying on fellow countrymen like Alamin wanting to come to Singapore. This underground activity puts Singapore's law and order reputation at risk.
Two Bangladeshi workers tell us about waiting. Waiting to get overtime wages, waiting to get claims settled through MOM. But waiting is not painless.
TWC2 volunteer Stefan dives deep into issues of loans, pawning, interest rates and repayment installments. Compared to the meagre salaries foreign workers in low-skill jobs earn, the numbers are disturbing.
