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
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
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
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
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
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
By Poh De Sheng Moorthy, an Indian national, is the sole breadwinner for his family, which consists of his wife, young daughter and parents. He came to Singapore a year and a half ago after being promised a basic salary of $429 per month by a local recruiter in India. However, what seemed like a
TWC2's latest research takes a detailed look at recruitment costs borne by female domestic workers in Singapore. Based on a survey of 232 workers conducted in early 2016, the study reveals how much they paid, to whom, and how many months' of salary deductions these payments represented. It also gathered their opinions as to
By Kimberley Ng In recent years, Singapore’s slowing economy has meant fewer construction and marine sector jobs for migrant workers. What few might realise is that recruitment costs have risen prohibitively through the same period. The two are not unrelated: it is a matter of demand for work outstripping supply of jobs. Unfortunately neither the
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmuX0UUq5Jk Video by Nicole Ng, text by Colin Ng, with contributions by Alex Au For most construction workers like Islam Mahabub, a job here comes at a hefty price. Based on casual reports collected by TWC2 from among the thousands of workers we see each year, the cost of a job can range from $2,000
