By Chang Ya Lan At eight in the morning, Md Golam Kibria Rokon Uddin Molla would already have arrived at the construction site, dressed in his construction attire, ready for a hard day’s work. The company that he worked for was in the business of structural construction work – in other words, laying the foundation for
By Samantha Ege Information is what opens the door to knowing our rights, exploring our options and making conscious decisions. Yet, information is something that we do not always have. In the absence of information, our rights can seem invalidated, our options unclear and our decisions not so concrete. In the absence of information, we
Minister for Manpower Lim Swee Say In response to a question by Member of Parliament Hri Kumar (PAP Bishan), the Minister for Manpower, Lim Swee Say, provided an oral answer in Parliament on 11 May 2015: The Employment Act (EA) protects both local and foreign workers against salary non-payment. Under the law, employers
A typical day in TWC2's office. Foreground: six workers owed 4 months' pay, calculating their owed amounts including overtime. Rear: five workers from a different company waiting to consult with TWC2's social worker. They had come to Singapore with MOM's approval for a job, only to be told by the boss that there's no
The Ministry of Manpower has accused TWC2 of publishing a "grossly untruthful account" relating to Indonesian domestic worker Wahyuni (see our earlier article here). This quote was contained in a story published in The New Paper on 8 March 2015 and archived on AsiaOne. See here and here. Transient Workers Count Too stands by our story
Late November 2014, an email came from the blogsite TR Emeritus about an Indonesian domestic worker who was not allowed to leave her employer's house for two years. The email sender said "hope you guys can take a look at this case seriously. The poor maid is said to be always hungry and begging for
When an employer in South Korea needs to fill a position with a foreign worker, he has to apply to the central government's Job Center. This state body will provide the employer with three shortlisted workers and the employer has to choose from among them. When Kim Misun, executive director of We Friends, an NGO
By Lindene Cleary His first job didn't even last a year, losing out on unpaid salaries. His second job lasted barely a week, with him having to foot hospital bills. His personal finances are awash in red ink. We all suffer from accidents and bad luck from time to time. We miss the bus, we
We didn't at first plan to write up their story because it was a story we've heard countless times before -- not that their plight was any less distressful for them. The men from Harri Construction complained of unpaid salaries, losing their jobs, and terrible conditions at their quarters. But two months later, the Straits
By Seema Punwani "I cannot go back! If I go back I die. I die". Rahman keeps repeating in his broken English. His friend who is kindly acting as a translator tries to calm him down and entreats him to explain his predicament in detail. And so begins Rahman's story -- sadly not very unlike
