Type of issue: salary & deduction
By Alex Au Many stories on the website of Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) tell of the abuses inflicted on migrant workers in Singapore. TWC2 holds the view that the regulatory system governing the recruitment and control of foreign labour lies at the root of these abuses. Fortunately, many employers refrain from taking full advantage
By TWC2 vice-president Alex Au On Friday 29 August 2014, the Ministry of Manpower said that my letter published in the Straits Times forum 25 August 2014 (Salary non-payment a big issue for migrant workers) "paints an inaccurate picture". MOM's reply was published in the newspaper on Friday 29 August. The headline of MOM's letter
A new survey of nearly three hundred male migrant workers found that 26 to 40 percent of them suffered a pay deduction commonly known as 'savings money' -- roughly one in three workers. The deduction averaged $50 a month. An earlier survey (see: One third of male migrant workers aren't paid what they are due)
By Isabel Chew “Before I always think Singaporean very good but today I see I cannot take it lah. Because salary don’t give.” As I wrap up my interview with Latif, the morose Bangladeshi worker shares with me his feelings about the seemingly hopeless situation. He has not been paid in three months, and is
A large group of workers from Genius Engineering approached TWC2 for help over salary non-payment. Volunteer Meera Rajah meets two of them. By Meera Rajah “Next week… next week… wait”, Rafiqul and Hossain are now – unfortunately – accustomed to this unvarying refrain. It has been three months and four days since they last received
Veluchamy Duraisamy is a happy worker. On or around 4 August 2014, he (more or less) won his case at the Labour Court. He is extremely grateful to TWC2. It might have turned out very differently without us. Durai had to go to the Labour Court eight times to get his overtime pay, leaving the
Alleged mistreatment by employers have led to riots in Malaysia by foreign workers, various news sources are reporting. Most serious was what happened on Tuesday night (26 August 2014) in the Malaysian state of Johor. As reported by Malaysian newspaper The Star: Some 800 workers of a factory here set fire to the building Tuesday
Further to the feature on poor accommodation for foreign workers in the Straits Times 19 August 2014 mentioned earlier in Cost implications of government policies crucial to question fo foreign worker accommodation, TWC2 vice-president Alex Au's letter to the Forum editor was published on Monday 25 August 2014: Salary non-payment a big issue for migrant
With additional reporting by Mohd Ridhwan Saju kept reminding his boss for the rest of his May 2014 salary. He had received only $300 compared to something over $1,000 he considered was rightly due. He had put in a lot of overtime work in May. "Ah Soon, he say later, later," reports Saju of his
With additional reporting by Debbie Fordyce Part 1 described how Mollah Jahangir lost his job as soon as he asked his employer to pay for medical treatment. This, even though he had loyally worked for the company for eight years. And even though he continued working for five months since the start of 2014 when
