Part 4: MOM begins at last to respond to changing circumstances In Part 2 of this series, we described how workers with salary claims often pointed to the stated salaries in their In-Princple Approvals for Work permits ("IPA") [footnote 1] as the basis for their claims. However, the Ministry of Manpower ("MOM") itself took the
For several months in late 2017 and early 2018, we puzzled over a statement by the then-Minister for Manpower Lim Swee Say that in the first half of 2017, only about 600 of foreign workers with salary claims indicated that they wished to find new employment (see footnote 1). We felt that 600 was an
On 20 July 2018, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) posted a note on Facebook (Link) saying they wished to refute two claims that we made in the article Jaynal lost hs case at ECT; was the tribunal’s decision sound? which can be found at this link. This is our response to MOM’s statement ("refutations") First of
In October 2017, we carried a story Fraud committed using ministry letterhead [link] about how a worker was misled about the salary he would be getting before he signed on for a job in Singapore. While, as we explained in that article, we did not know who exactly was the culprit, the fact that a scam
On 19 October 2017, Abedin Md Jaynal spent virtually the whole day in the Employment Claims Tribunal (ECT) arguing his case. By the close of the day, it was over, and he had lost. The magistrate dismissed his salary claim. Jaynal told TWC2 that the magistrate was actually sympathetic to his side of the case,
None of the workers has gotten any real satisfaction. Nada. Worse yet, it was hardly an unusual case; it's becoming all too common for migrant workers to be left high and dry after their employers fail to pay the agreed salaries and the Ministry of Manpower's dispute resolution system either grinds too slowly, or grinds
Marking the first anniversary of the new system for salary disputes, the State Courts issued a media statement on 24 April 2018 providing some statistics about the cases they handled during the first twelve months. From 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2018, the Employment Claims Tribunals (ECT), a unit within the State Courts, saw
Most interns are required to do some research during their period with Transient Workers Count Too. Coupled with their exposure to casework, this is to enable them to gain an in-depth understanding of at least one facet of the many issues migrant workers are faced with. Undergraduate Wang Shimeng interned with us in December 2017
