Placement agents & fees

14 07, 2017

Migrant workers in Singapore “vulnerable to forced labor, including debt bondage”, says US TIP 2017 report

webmaster2019-08-30T16:31:32+08:00July 14th, 2017|News, Our Stand|

Transient Workers Count Too is deeply appreciative of the US State Department's efforts at drawing attention to the evil of trafficking in persons, through its annual Trafficking in Persons Report. The 2017 segment relating to Singapore can be found here: https://www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/countries/2017/271276.htm Singapore was classed as Tier 2. TWC2 notes in particular these comments in the report:

4 07, 2017

Job prematurely ended, Mollah Sharif facing debt collectors in three days

Volunteer Writing Team2019-08-30T16:31:32+08:00July 4th, 2017|Articles, Stories|

By Bill Poorman All he needs is some more time. Not forever. “One week, two week, three week,” Mollah Sharif Hossain says. Instead, he got only three days. Three days to save his life. It’s a Monday evening at TWC2's free meals programme. Just yesterday, Mollah Sharif and his co-worker, Rafique (who goes by one name),

20 05, 2017

Bangladeshi bank charges 10% interest per month

alex2019-08-30T16:31:33+08:00May 20th, 2017|Articles, Facts, research, analysis, Stories|

Street scene, Dhaka Rakib and Kanak don't know each other, but both come on the same day to Transient Workers Count Too with similar stories. The chief similarity was that they both had borrowed from Brac Bank whose branches and billboards can be seen all over Bangladesh. This bank is a major loan-maker

7 05, 2017

TWC2 participates in country review of Bangladesh at the United Nations in Geneva

webmaster2019-08-30T16:31:33+08:00May 7th, 2017|Articles, Happenings, News, Our Stand|

Transient Workers Count Too was represented at a meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, where the Bangladesh government's handling of migrant worker issues came under scrutiny. Specifically, Bangladesh's governance was reviewed against its commitments to the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and their Families. Bangladesh ratified this convention in August

3 05, 2017

No work, no money, no food

Volunteer Writing Team2019-08-30T16:31:33+08:00May 3rd, 2017|Articles, Stories|

By Bill Poorman “No work.” Those were the worst possible words that Masud could have heard. Like all foreign workers, he had come to Singapore to put in long hours and make a better life. In Singapore, he could earn a higher income than in his home country of Bangladesh. But when he arrived here in September of

29 04, 2017

Cheating agents and sleeping agencies

Volunteer Writing Team2019-08-30T16:31:33+08:00April 29th, 2017|Articles, Stories|

By Jean Law Debesh* is going back to Bangladesh after a mere four months working in Singapore. He is leaving much poorer than if he had not come at all. This is because his money was taken from him in an illegal transaction that was not brought to justice. He tried to get the police

25 03, 2017

The New Paper: Jobless and unpaid, foreign workers face daunting fate

webmaster2019-08-30T16:31:33+08:00March 25th, 2017|Media Coverage, News, News Flash, Our Stand|

The difficulties faced by foreign workers in Singapore seeking alternative jobs -- even when permitted to do so by the Ministry of Manpower -- were highlighted in a story in The New Paper 24 March 2017. The focus was on the men from HBB Engineering and related company C-Plus Engineering, featured in our post MOM

20 02, 2017

Shortpaid, indebted and repatriated

Volunteer Writing Team2019-08-30T16:31:34+08:00February 20th, 2017|Articles, Stories|

By Jiang Haolie Molla Shohid will be put on a flight back to his village of Bhouria Challa in Bangladesh any day now. He does not know if he will be compensated for the promised wages that never materialised. He is not even sure of the day of the flight. His boss has kept him

9 02, 2017

Sujel’s agent charged him 26 times his basic salary for placement fee

Volunteer Writing Team2019-08-30T16:31:34+08:00February 9th, 2017|Articles, Stories|

S Peramaiyan (left) and Sujel (right) By Teo Yi Ning It is not often that we get to meet a migrant worker that has been working and living in Singapore for more than 20 years. Subramaniyan Peramaiyan first came to Singapore from India in 1995 as a construction worker, He paid $5,500 in

5 02, 2017

Average recruitment cost hit $15,000 in 2015 for first-time Bangladeshi construction workers

webmaster2019-08-30T16:31:34+08:00February 5th, 2017|Articles, Facts, research, analysis|

After hearing anecdotal reports of 'agent fees' in the region of $17,000 or $18,000, Transient Workers Count Two carried out a pilot survey to determine if these were rare cases, or if recruitment costs have risen dramatically. An earlier research report published in 2012, Worse off for working? found that Bangladeshi workers needed to work