The following article was published in the Straits Times on 25 Nov 2007.
Foreign workers at void decks leave residents seething
Happy-hour sessions disturb residents, but police say workers are breaking no laws
By Nur Dianah Suhaimi , Shuli Sudderuddin
Nov 25, 2007
IT IS a weekday night at Block 651A in Jurong West Street 61, but it is 'happy hour' for the 40 or so Indian foreign workers hanging out at the void deck.
They sit on the floor, in small groups of three or four with fellow workers from the same village in India, and eat their curry dinners, snack on nuts and nurse bottles of Indian beer or arrack.
But the happy-hour session, which starts at about 8pm and can go on till 2am during weekends, does not always end happily.
On good nights, empty beer bottles and styrofoam food boxes litter the void deck. On bad nights, drunk workers can be found sleeping amid the litter and strong stench of urine.
Early this month, after a particularly noisy Deepavali happy-hour session, a resident in Block 651A wrote to The Straits Times to complain about the problem.
Ms Ng Hui Ying, 32, a cinema manager, said she wrote to the paper because the situation has not improved despite numerous complaints to the MP and the police.
She said: 'The workers drink beer, get rowdy and urinate all over the place. Once, they fought using beer bottles. Sometimes, they pass out at the void deck after drinking too much.'
She and her neighbours have formed an informal vigilante group, which patrols the neighbourhood to 'catch' workers who sleep and urinate at the void deck.
One upset resident who lives on the ground floor of Block 653A admitted that he fought with a foreign worker earlier this year after he caught the foreigner urinating outside his kitchen window.
Mr Lee Chia Poon, 38, a plumber, said his wife, who is a member of the patrol, had alerted him to the worker urinating.
'I ran out and grabbed him and we got into a fist fight. My fist was bleeding and I hit his head so hard that an ambulance came to patch him up.'
He said the foreign worker did not report him to the police because he knew that he was in the wrong.
There are about 10,000 foreign workers staying in dormitories that are just a 10-minute walk away from the block.
Factory worker Rahim Mohamad Nor, 54, said that seeing so many men hanging out at the void deck makes his family 'scared'.
'When they're drunk, they get into fist fights and pee all around. My children are scared to go downstairs.'
The discomfort that he feels is long shared by residents in other HDB estates which have also become gathering points for foreign workers.
Residents in Block 151, Bedok Reservoir Road, which is just across the road from three dormitories housing about 9,000 foreign workers, dub their block 'the foreign workers' club'.
They, too, complain about the foreigners getting drunk and littering.
Housewife Lim Siew Kwan, 32, who has been living in the block for 19 years, said she does not wear any jewellery when she goes out. 'I don't feel safe any more,' she said.
In the Serangoon Road area, residents at Buffalo and Chander roads have put up steel barricades around their blocks to keep foreign workers out.
Residents at Rowell Court, a cluster of 10 blocks near Little India, are following suit. They plan to build a hedge and fence around their blocks.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong touched on the issue in Parliament this month when he called on Singaporeans to be more understanding and said foreign workers do contribute to the economy.
The jump in the number of foreign workers here speaks volumes about the size of their contribution: from 248,000 in 1990 to 756,000 last year. The bulk of them are low-skilled workers here on work permits.
Among Jurong West residents interviewed, the attitude towards foreign workers ranged from one of suspicion to reluctant acceptance. Some accused the foreign workers of stealing shoes left outside flats and molesting women, but none could provide proof.
In their response to Ms Ng's letter, the police said that they did not take any action that night because the foreign workers were not breaking any law.
Shopkeeper Tony Poh, who sells beer to the workers, said Singaporeans tend to overreact. 'If these workers accidentally touch someone, they'd be accused of molestation. But they're generally harmless.'
Foreign workers interviewed by The Sunday Times said not all of them are bad hats who become rowdy or litter.
Mr Shekhar, 24, a construction worker from India, said: 'We just need a place to eat our dinner and have drinks after work. We're not allowed to drink at the dormitories.'
The workers said residents have thrown bags of water and urine at them.
A 28-year-old construction foreman from Tamil Nadu, who has worked here for more than eight years, said he had helped build the flats in Jurong West.
'And now I'm not even allowed to sit at the void deck with my friends?' he asked.
Dr Jayan Jose Thomas, a research fellow at the Institute of South Asian Studies, explained that in India, it is common for men to gather in large groups for drinks after work.
He pointed out that many foreign workers come from large families. 'Over here, they are alone and without their families. So they gather with friends from the same village or state,' he said.
Dr Jayan also said that many Indian cities lack proper infrastructure and public toilets are unheard of in some rural areas. That, he said, could explain the problem of the workers urinating in public places.
Steps are being taken to educate the workers. The police and Residents' Committee members have visited dormitories to inform workers of the appropriate social norms in Singapore.
The National Environment Agency (NEA) has also put up posters to reinforce the message.
The Ministry of Home Affairs recently repealed a regulation forbidding beer drinking in dormitory compounds.
The MP for West Coast GRC, Mr Cedric Foo, has suggested that dormitory operators set up recreation centres where workers can socialise and drink beer.
He has also visited the dormitories to speak to the workers on social norms here.
A spokesman for Blue Star (Jurong West) and Kaki Bukit hostel said it is thinking of setting up a beer garden outside its dormitories.
In the meantime, placing more dustbins and installing portable toilets near the void decks would address the problems of littering and urinating, said shopkeeper Mr Poh.
He said: 'Foreign workers are people too, and they have their own needs and problems. But it's only fair that residents have a safe and clean environment.
'Both points of view must be heard before this misunderstanding can be solved.'
Fisticuffs over worker urinating
'I ran out and grabbed him and we got into a fist fight. My fist was bleeding and I hit his head so hard that an ambulance came to patch him up.'
MR LEE CHIA POON, 38, a plumber, recounting how he got into a tussle with a worker whom his wife caught urinating outside their kitchen window
Request for a place to relax
'We just need a place to eat our dinner and have drinks after work. We're not allowed to drink at the dormitories.'
MR SHEKHAR, 24, a construction worker from India
Consider both points of view
'Foreign workers are people too, and they have their own needs and problems. But it's only fair that residents have a safe and clean environment.'
SHOPKEEPER TONY POH, who sells beer to the workers
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Act 1: How to treat your foreign maid
The following article was published in the Straits Times on 18 Nov 2007.
Act 1: How to treat your foreign maid
By Debbie Yong
Straits Times, 18 November 2007
Young Singaporeans set out to correct stereotypes about foreign workers
ON THE dimly-lit second storey of a Little India shophouse, Singaporean Sha Najak, 25, raised her voice - and a clenched fist - at Indonesian maid Ummairoh, 27.
'You thief! That is my sister's ring, I recognise it,' shouted Ms Sha.
But Ummairoh burst out laughing.
Singaporean Susy Bungsu, 30, and Indonesian maid Nurifah Rasidi, 40, who had been calmly watching the scene from the side, both chipped in: 'You must look more fierce, Sha.'
The four women, along with a third maid Suwarni Kramadirja, 42, and Singaporean students Shaun Teo, 19, and Alex Lee, 23, are part of local youth arts group Migrant Voices and they have been rehearsing from 2pm to 6pm every Sunday for a play.
Their 15-minute production, titled Binded, Blinded And Trapped In Love, will be staged in the open space on Lembu Road outside Mustafa Centre on Dec 16 for International Migrants Day. It depicts three common scenarios between foreign workers and their local employers.
Ms Sha, who is president of Migrant Voices, said: 'There are already existing advocacy groups so we wanted to use the arts to encourage the exchange of artistic and cultural know-
ledge between migrant cultures and Singapore society, especially among youth.'
After recent public discussions over the unwelcoming attitude towards foreign workers here, young Singaporeans are speaking out to try and set things right.
Full-time National Serviceman Vicknesh Varan, 22, joined Migrant Voices recently as he 'wanted to be more involved' after filming an independent documentary on foreign workers in January.
His film, a project that he took on while attending a writing workshop at the Singapore Media Academy, highlights the plight of an Indian construction worker in Singapore.
The worker was suspended from work, denied compensation and even had his salary docked after injuring his back at work in January.
'It was unjust and I wanted to do something to highlight his plight,' said Mr Vicknesh, who communicated with the worker in Tamil.
For many young people, it was while they were doing research for school projects that they learnt to empathise with the plight of foreign workers here.
A first-year accountancy student at Singapore Management University, Grace Tan, 19, visited workers' hostels in Jurong and Kaki Bukit to document their living conditions for a report on unethical issues in the construction industry, for her business, government and society course.
She said: 'I used to be quite afraid of them and held many stereotypes like they were dangerous to be around.
'But I realised they are actually quite gentle and very shy. They wouldn't even speak to me when I tried to approach them!'
Nanyang Technological University student Ziqi Nadia Chan-Zielinski, 24, said: 'I don't think many Singaporeans look down on foreign workers, we just take them for granted.'
She and her classmate Dian Melati, 23, produced a 70-page book titled Foreign Talents for their final-year project. It was filled with colour photos and profiles featuring foreign workers and their talents in sports, acting, writing and music.
She found out that some workers were even degree-holders.
She said: 'It's just basic humanity not to look at people differently just because they do menial tasks. At the end of the day, they are just like you and me, trying to make a living for themselves and their families back home.'
Third-year National University of Singapore sociology student Eugene Zakariah Tan, 23, admitted that he used to view foreign workers as 'others' and turn a blind eye to their existence.
He started viewing things differently three months ago, when he began organising a photography exhibition and a forum with migrant workers' rights groups Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) and the Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (Home) as part of a service-learning project.
His team of 10 undergraduates visited popular foreign worker hang-outs and Home's shelter for foreign workers to take photographs and interview the workers about their lifestyles.
The pictures were put on display for three days at NUS last week.
About 40 students attended the two-hour forum last Friday. They posed many questions to the panellists: TWC2 president John Gee, Home founder president Bridget Lew and two migrant workers.
'Just as we have certain stereotypes about migrant workers, it's a form of stereotyping to say that Singaporeans are prejudiced against them,' Eugene said.
'There are people working to make the lives of migrant workers better here. I'm glad this issue was brought up so this positive side can be presented.'
Mr Gee said: 'The main concern of most young people is not so much integration as seeing that justice is done and fairness prevails.
'But the effort to find out about how migrant workers live and the readiness to be more accepting are perhaps a step towards integrating migrant workers into society over time.'
Act 1: How to treat your foreign maid
By Debbie Yong
Straits Times, 18 November 2007
Young Singaporeans set out to correct stereotypes about foreign workers
ON THE dimly-lit second storey of a Little India shophouse, Singaporean Sha Najak, 25, raised her voice - and a clenched fist - at Indonesian maid Ummairoh, 27.
'You thief! That is my sister's ring, I recognise it,' shouted Ms Sha.
But Ummairoh burst out laughing.
Singaporean Susy Bungsu, 30, and Indonesian maid Nurifah Rasidi, 40, who had been calmly watching the scene from the side, both chipped in: 'You must look more fierce, Sha.'
The four women, along with a third maid Suwarni Kramadirja, 42, and Singaporean students Shaun Teo, 19, and Alex Lee, 23, are part of local youth arts group Migrant Voices and they have been rehearsing from 2pm to 6pm every Sunday for a play.
Their 15-minute production, titled Binded, Blinded And Trapped In Love, will be staged in the open space on Lembu Road outside Mustafa Centre on Dec 16 for International Migrants Day. It depicts three common scenarios between foreign workers and their local employers.
Ms Sha, who is president of Migrant Voices, said: 'There are already existing advocacy groups so we wanted to use the arts to encourage the exchange of artistic and cultural know-
ledge between migrant cultures and Singapore society, especially among youth.'
After recent public discussions over the unwelcoming attitude towards foreign workers here, young Singaporeans are speaking out to try and set things right.
Full-time National Serviceman Vicknesh Varan, 22, joined Migrant Voices recently as he 'wanted to be more involved' after filming an independent documentary on foreign workers in January.
His film, a project that he took on while attending a writing workshop at the Singapore Media Academy, highlights the plight of an Indian construction worker in Singapore.
The worker was suspended from work, denied compensation and even had his salary docked after injuring his back at work in January.
'It was unjust and I wanted to do something to highlight his plight,' said Mr Vicknesh, who communicated with the worker in Tamil.
For many young people, it was while they were doing research for school projects that they learnt to empathise with the plight of foreign workers here.
A first-year accountancy student at Singapore Management University, Grace Tan, 19, visited workers' hostels in Jurong and Kaki Bukit to document their living conditions for a report on unethical issues in the construction industry, for her business, government and society course.
She said: 'I used to be quite afraid of them and held many stereotypes like they were dangerous to be around.
'But I realised they are actually quite gentle and very shy. They wouldn't even speak to me when I tried to approach them!'
Nanyang Technological University student Ziqi Nadia Chan-Zielinski, 24, said: 'I don't think many Singaporeans look down on foreign workers, we just take them for granted.'
She and her classmate Dian Melati, 23, produced a 70-page book titled Foreign Talents for their final-year project. It was filled with colour photos and profiles featuring foreign workers and their talents in sports, acting, writing and music.
She found out that some workers were even degree-holders.
She said: 'It's just basic humanity not to look at people differently just because they do menial tasks. At the end of the day, they are just like you and me, trying to make a living for themselves and their families back home.'
Third-year National University of Singapore sociology student Eugene Zakariah Tan, 23, admitted that he used to view foreign workers as 'others' and turn a blind eye to their existence.
He started viewing things differently three months ago, when he began organising a photography exhibition and a forum with migrant workers' rights groups Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) and the Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (Home) as part of a service-learning project.
His team of 10 undergraduates visited popular foreign worker hang-outs and Home's shelter for foreign workers to take photographs and interview the workers about their lifestyles.
The pictures were put on display for three days at NUS last week.
About 40 students attended the two-hour forum last Friday. They posed many questions to the panellists: TWC2 president John Gee, Home founder president Bridget Lew and two migrant workers.
'Just as we have certain stereotypes about migrant workers, it's a form of stereotyping to say that Singaporeans are prejudiced against them,' Eugene said.
'There are people working to make the lives of migrant workers better here. I'm glad this issue was brought up so this positive side can be presented.'
Mr Gee said: 'The main concern of most young people is not so much integration as seeing that justice is done and fairness prevails.
'But the effort to find out about how migrant workers live and the readiness to be more accepting are perhaps a step towards integrating migrant workers into society over time.'
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Work pass: More bosses caught cheating
The following Sunday Times article was republished by AsiaOne on 7 Oct 2007.
Work pass: More bosses caught cheating
They falsely declare workers' pay to avoid levy or get around quota limit.
Melissa Sim
Sun, Oct 07, 2007
The Sunday Times
WHEN it came to getting around laws on employing foreign workers, the boss of a local manufacturing firm was just too clever by half.
Lau Hwa Ngee claimed a certain worker was earning $2,510 a month when he tried to renew the man's work pass, yet he was really paying the design engineer less than half that amount.
Lau, the owner of Sin Tech Precision, claimed the higher figure as his firm had probably met its limit for S-Pass holders - 15 per cent of a company's workforce, according to new rules. So by passing the man off as a higher-paid worker, he had hoped to get him in on an Employment Pass (EP) instead - meant for those with recognised qualifications.
He also may have wanted to dodge the $50 levy that applies to S-Pass holders but not those on EPs.
Whatever his reason, Lau, like increasing numbers of cheating bosses, failed. The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) uncovered the ruse and slapped him with a $3,000 fine.
Last year, 27 employers were caught cheating but that rose to 52 in the first nine months of this year.
Just last week, publishing firm Starprint was found to have lied about the pay of six foreign workers on pass applications.
It claimed they were earning $1,800 a month - the minimum pay to get an S-Pass, granted to foreigners who hold 'acceptable educational qualifications' - yet they were earning only $800. General manager Lim Meng Eng was fined $15,000 - the maximum amount. Convictions can also bring up to a year in jail.
Singapore National Employers Federation executive director Koh Juan Kiat said the rise in such cases usually coincides with a tightening labour market.
When bosses need more foreign workers but have hit the quota for S-Pass and Work Permit holders, they try the trick that Lau of Sin Tech Precision pulled.
There is no cap on the number of EP holders a company can hire. They should have recognised qualifications with a fixed monthly salary of more than $2,500.
MOM said it was mainly the food and beverage, and manufacturing industries that have been abusing the work-pass system.
Foreigners are, of course, not the only source of labour for these firms.
Mr Koh suggested that firms could turn to the elderly and back-to-work mums - a 'more sustainable way to resolve the labour shortage', he said.
Meanwhile Madam Joyce Low, administrative manager for Jack's Place Holdings, advises F&B outlets to turn to hospitality trainees studying here.
Madam Low said every year, 20 to 30 trainees do six-month attachments with her company.
But employees are not totally blameless.
In the first nine months of this year, 230 EP holders and 183 S-Pass holders were investigated by MOM for offences related to false declaration of salary, submission of forged documents or illegal employment.
There are 110,000 EP and S-Pass holders here.
Mr Koh said employees should know what passes they are on and report their employers if their pay is not within the right bracket.
If any employer, foreign employee or self-employed foreigner knows of false information being submitted on an application but fails to tell MOM, he could be fined up to $5,000 and jailed for six months.
'On one hand, the onus is on employees to raise the issue with MOM,' said Mr Koh.
'On the other hand, owners must be prepared to pay a person for his skills, not just go for more and cheaper workers.'
Work pass: More bosses caught cheating
They falsely declare workers' pay to avoid levy or get around quota limit.
Melissa Sim
Sun, Oct 07, 2007
The Sunday Times
WHEN it came to getting around laws on employing foreign workers, the boss of a local manufacturing firm was just too clever by half.
Lau Hwa Ngee claimed a certain worker was earning $2,510 a month when he tried to renew the man's work pass, yet he was really paying the design engineer less than half that amount.
Lau, the owner of Sin Tech Precision, claimed the higher figure as his firm had probably met its limit for S-Pass holders - 15 per cent of a company's workforce, according to new rules. So by passing the man off as a higher-paid worker, he had hoped to get him in on an Employment Pass (EP) instead - meant for those with recognised qualifications.
He also may have wanted to dodge the $50 levy that applies to S-Pass holders but not those on EPs.
Whatever his reason, Lau, like increasing numbers of cheating bosses, failed. The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) uncovered the ruse and slapped him with a $3,000 fine.
Last year, 27 employers were caught cheating but that rose to 52 in the first nine months of this year.
Just last week, publishing firm Starprint was found to have lied about the pay of six foreign workers on pass applications.
It claimed they were earning $1,800 a month - the minimum pay to get an S-Pass, granted to foreigners who hold 'acceptable educational qualifications' - yet they were earning only $800. General manager Lim Meng Eng was fined $15,000 - the maximum amount. Convictions can also bring up to a year in jail.
Singapore National Employers Federation executive director Koh Juan Kiat said the rise in such cases usually coincides with a tightening labour market.
When bosses need more foreign workers but have hit the quota for S-Pass and Work Permit holders, they try the trick that Lau of Sin Tech Precision pulled.
There is no cap on the number of EP holders a company can hire. They should have recognised qualifications with a fixed monthly salary of more than $2,500.
MOM said it was mainly the food and beverage, and manufacturing industries that have been abusing the work-pass system.
Foreigners are, of course, not the only source of labour for these firms.
Mr Koh suggested that firms could turn to the elderly and back-to-work mums - a 'more sustainable way to resolve the labour shortage', he said.
Meanwhile Madam Joyce Low, administrative manager for Jack's Place Holdings, advises F&B outlets to turn to hospitality trainees studying here.
Madam Low said every year, 20 to 30 trainees do six-month attachments with her company.
But employees are not totally blameless.
In the first nine months of this year, 230 EP holders and 183 S-Pass holders were investigated by MOM for offences related to false declaration of salary, submission of forged documents or illegal employment.
There are 110,000 EP and S-Pass holders here.
Mr Koh said employees should know what passes they are on and report their employers if their pay is not within the right bracket.
If any employer, foreign employee or self-employed foreigner knows of false information being submitted on an application but fails to tell MOM, he could be fined up to $5,000 and jailed for six months.
'On one hand, the onus is on employees to raise the issue with MOM,' said Mr Koh.
'On the other hand, owners must be prepared to pay a person for his skills, not just go for more and cheaper workers.'
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Insurance Law for Foreign Workers Welcomed
The following article was published in the Straits Times on 23 Sep 2007.
Insurance law for foreign workers welcomed
23 September 2007
Straits Times
Welfare groups say compulsory medical coverage prevents employers from shirking their responsibilities
WHEN Bangladeshi construction worker Shahansha Tafazzol, 37, came down with a massive headache and experienced double-vision in April, he did not bargain for his life savings to be wiped out as well.
The treatment - two brain scans, multiple pills and a seven-night hospital stay - resulted in a $1,187 bill which his company refused to pay because his ailment was not work related.
His plight is all too familiar to the Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics (H.O.M.E). It said that every month, at least one foreign worker shows up with medical bills that their bosses have refused to foot.
Another welfare group which helps foreign workers, Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2), said that from December last year to August this year, it received 16 calls on its hotline from workers in similar situations. Last week's news that, from January, employers are required to buy medical insurance for their foreign workers and maids or risk going to jail and being fined, could not have come soon enough for foreign workers.
Foreign construction workers usually work up to 12 hours a day, earning between $16 and $20. When employers refuse to pay for their medical treatment, they end up draining their savings or having to borrow money.
Mr Tafazzol eventually paid his bill in three instalments.
Most maids, however, do not share his plight. Maid agencies said employers usually spend about $120 on medical insurance for their domestic helpers.
Although employers currently do not have to buy medical insurance for foreign workers, they are still obliged to foot their workers' medical bills.
However, not all employers play by the rules.
Mr Vincent Tan, director of Art & Design Renovation Contractor, said that although his company buys medical insurance for its workers, other construction firms are reluctant to do so because of budget constraints.
Also, some do not trust their workers. 'Sometimes, contractors think their workers sustain injuries because they do not follow safety regulations or that the injuries happened when they are working part-time jobs elsewhere,' he said.
Last December, Bangladeshi worker Zahir Raihan, 34, suffered three fractures in his back. He said he was beaten up by a fellow employee at work.
He was warded in hospital for three days and now has to go for monthly specialist checks and physiotherapy sessions. The sessions cost at least $45 each. But his employer, a company which makes signboards, has refused to foot the bill, saying that the accident was not work-related.
Mr Raihan, whose service has since been terminated by his company, is staying at the H.O.M.E shelter in Little India. The Manpower Ministry is looking into his case.
Volunteers said that in many cases, workers are reluctant to report employers who refuse to pay for their medical bills.
Mr John Gee, president of TWC2, said: 'They fear being blacklisted or sent home, so they would rather suffer in silence.'
In the case of Mr Tafazzol, he managed to recover $800 from his employer. He flew home to Bangladesh on Thursday.
'I'll just forget about the remaining $400,' he said. 'I worked for them for six years and I don't want to end things on a bad note.'
'They fear being blacklisted or sent home. So they would rather suffer in silence.' MR JOHN GEE, president of TWC2, on why workers are reluctant to report employers who refuse to pay for their medical bills.
(c) 2007 Singapore Press Holdings Limited
Insurance law for foreign workers welcomed
23 September 2007
Straits Times
Welfare groups say compulsory medical coverage prevents employers from shirking their responsibilities
WHEN Bangladeshi construction worker Shahansha Tafazzol, 37, came down with a massive headache and experienced double-vision in April, he did not bargain for his life savings to be wiped out as well.
The treatment - two brain scans, multiple pills and a seven-night hospital stay - resulted in a $1,187 bill which his company refused to pay because his ailment was not work related.
His plight is all too familiar to the Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics (H.O.M.E). It said that every month, at least one foreign worker shows up with medical bills that their bosses have refused to foot.
Another welfare group which helps foreign workers, Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2), said that from December last year to August this year, it received 16 calls on its hotline from workers in similar situations. Last week's news that, from January, employers are required to buy medical insurance for their foreign workers and maids or risk going to jail and being fined, could not have come soon enough for foreign workers.
Foreign construction workers usually work up to 12 hours a day, earning between $16 and $20. When employers refuse to pay for their medical treatment, they end up draining their savings or having to borrow money.
Mr Tafazzol eventually paid his bill in three instalments.
Most maids, however, do not share his plight. Maid agencies said employers usually spend about $120 on medical insurance for their domestic helpers.
Although employers currently do not have to buy medical insurance for foreign workers, they are still obliged to foot their workers' medical bills.
However, not all employers play by the rules.
Mr Vincent Tan, director of Art & Design Renovation Contractor, said that although his company buys medical insurance for its workers, other construction firms are reluctant to do so because of budget constraints.
Also, some do not trust their workers. 'Sometimes, contractors think their workers sustain injuries because they do not follow safety regulations or that the injuries happened when they are working part-time jobs elsewhere,' he said.
Last December, Bangladeshi worker Zahir Raihan, 34, suffered three fractures in his back. He said he was beaten up by a fellow employee at work.
He was warded in hospital for three days and now has to go for monthly specialist checks and physiotherapy sessions. The sessions cost at least $45 each. But his employer, a company which makes signboards, has refused to foot the bill, saying that the accident was not work-related.
Mr Raihan, whose service has since been terminated by his company, is staying at the H.O.M.E shelter in Little India. The Manpower Ministry is looking into his case.
Volunteers said that in many cases, workers are reluctant to report employers who refuse to pay for their medical bills.
Mr John Gee, president of TWC2, said: 'They fear being blacklisted or sent home, so they would rather suffer in silence.'
In the case of Mr Tafazzol, he managed to recover $800 from his employer. He flew home to Bangladesh on Thursday.
'I'll just forget about the remaining $400,' he said. 'I worked for them for six years and I don't want to end things on a bad note.'
'They fear being blacklisted or sent home. So they would rather suffer in silence.' MR JOHN GEE, president of TWC2, on why workers are reluctant to report employers who refuse to pay for their medical bills.
(c) 2007 Singapore Press Holdings Limited
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Families with disabled dependants get foreign maid levy concession
The following article was published by Channel NewsAsia on 13 Sep 2007.
Families with disabled dependants get foreign maid levy concession
Channel NewsAsia, 13 September 2007
SINGAPORE : Employers of foreign maids, who have a disabled family member, can now apply for the foreign domestic worker levy concession from September 15.
The Manpower Ministry says eligible employers will enjoy a concessionary levy rate of S$170 per month.
This is to help families with disabled members reduce the cost of hiring a full-time caregiver.
Employers are required to pay a foreign domestic worker levy of S$265 every month.
Those who wish to apply for the levy concession need to get a medical assessment on the disabled family member.
The medical certifications should be conducted by appointed assessors.
Applicants will need to bear the cost of the medical assessment. - CNA /ls
Families with disabled dependants get foreign maid levy concession
Channel NewsAsia, 13 September 2007
SINGAPORE : Employers of foreign maids, who have a disabled family member, can now apply for the foreign domestic worker levy concession from September 15.
The Manpower Ministry says eligible employers will enjoy a concessionary levy rate of S$170 per month.
This is to help families with disabled members reduce the cost of hiring a full-time caregiver.
Employers are required to pay a foreign domestic worker levy of S$265 every month.
Those who wish to apply for the levy concession need to get a medical assessment on the disabled family member.
The medical certifications should be conducted by appointed assessors.
Applicants will need to bear the cost of the medical assessment. - CNA /ls
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Sanctuary for unwanted babies, help for mums
The following article was published in the Straits Times on 11 Sep 2007.
Sanctuary for unwanted babies, help for mums
Theresa Tan
Straits Times, 11 September 2007
A FOREIGN maid here had a baby in the toilet of the home where she was working.
It was a baby she did not want - a baby she denied bearing, even though her employer found her still joined to the infant by the umbilical cord.
A charity, Sanctuary House, stepped in after the employer called for help. Its volunteers looked after the baby for about two months in 2005 until mother and child were repatriated.
Sanctuary House also arranged for the baby to be adopted in Indonesia.
But its programme director Noel Tan, 37, stressed that the charity is not a baby drop, a place to leave unwanted babies.
It cares for babies and puts the mothers in touch with support services while they decide whether to keep them or give them up.
Since it was set up two years ago, the group has cared for about 30 babies, many of whom were eventually adopted.
'We help mums buy time, and journey with them to come to an informed decision,' said Mr Tan.
In the past five years, a number of services and groups have sprung up to support mums caught with unwanted pregnancies.
Their common mission: to prevent desperate mums from dumping their newborns.
Newspaper reports have counted an average of half a dozen babies dumped every year in crates, or rubbish bins, at MRT stations, lift lobbies or along Housing Board corridors. Some of the babies are found dead.
The Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) said five abandoned babies, including a stillborn one, were found in 2005. Last year, four turned up, of which three were already dead; so far this year, one baby has been found and it was alive.
The number of abandoned babies found is small when set against the number of terminated pregnancies.
Last year, for example, 12,032 abortions were carried out, with teenagers accounting for 1,391 of them.
But some unwanted babies end up being born because the pregnancies are discovered too late for abortions, social workers say.
In fact, Sanctuary House was started after one of its founders was handed an unwanted baby.
A teenage student had knocked on financial consultant Rose Siow's door in 2004 and asked her to look after the infant for a while.
The young mum never came back.
After three weeks, Ms Siow, herself a mother of two, called the police. The teen mother, a China student, was eventually tracked down and sent home with her baby.
The following year, Ms Siow started Sanctuary House with a few others, including former oil executive Noel Tan, his wife Jenny, and Mr Robert Tan, who runs a travel firm.
About seven in 10 mums referred to Sanctuary House by social workers, doctors and other agencies are single women, including teenagers.
One of them was a 16-year-old student whose mother had committed suicide and whose father was missing.
Dysfunctional family backgrounds have been a common thread among the cases. Mr Tan said many of the single mums were themselves born out of wedlock.
People from a dozen families volunteer by looking after babies while their adoption papers are being processed. This can take a few days to several months.
This arrangement prevents any unnecessary trauma if, for example, the mum changes her mind about giving up the baby, said Mr Tan. One mother changed her mind six times.
Previously, while adoption papers were being processed, the babies were handed over to their adoptive parents, left in hospital or sent home with their biological mothers.
The mother is usually given up to a month to decide and during this time, Sanctuary House may also link her up with other groups offering support.
These include the Babes helpline for teen mums, run by Beyond Social Services, and the National Pregnancy Helpline for all mums who need help and support.
Social worker Chang Ai Ling, who mans the National Pregnancy Helpline, said a 'fair share' of calls come from pregnant married women who do not want their babies.
They may be in financial trouble, have absent husbands or are pregnant with a lover's child, said Madam Chang, from the Tanjong Pagar Family Service Centre, an agency manning the helpline.
Social workers behind the two helplines counsel the women. They also help in other ways, including accompanying pregnant teens to break the news to their parents.
Those who need a place to stay during the pregnancy are referred to shelters such as Rose Villa and the Andrew and Grace Home.
The volunteers at Sanctuary House, on the other hand, are also there to provide 'emergency care' for mums in a difficult spot, such as mums who are ill, in jail or just need someone to care for the child temporarily.
Mr Tan said: 'We are here for them until they find a solution to their problems.'
Sanctuary for unwanted babies, help for mums
Theresa Tan
Straits Times, 11 September 2007
A FOREIGN maid here had a baby in the toilet of the home where she was working.
It was a baby she did not want - a baby she denied bearing, even though her employer found her still joined to the infant by the umbilical cord.
A charity, Sanctuary House, stepped in after the employer called for help. Its volunteers looked after the baby for about two months in 2005 until mother and child were repatriated.
Sanctuary House also arranged for the baby to be adopted in Indonesia.
But its programme director Noel Tan, 37, stressed that the charity is not a baby drop, a place to leave unwanted babies.
It cares for babies and puts the mothers in touch with support services while they decide whether to keep them or give them up.
Since it was set up two years ago, the group has cared for about 30 babies, many of whom were eventually adopted.
'We help mums buy time, and journey with them to come to an informed decision,' said Mr Tan.
In the past five years, a number of services and groups have sprung up to support mums caught with unwanted pregnancies.
Their common mission: to prevent desperate mums from dumping their newborns.
Newspaper reports have counted an average of half a dozen babies dumped every year in crates, or rubbish bins, at MRT stations, lift lobbies or along Housing Board corridors. Some of the babies are found dead.
The Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) said five abandoned babies, including a stillborn one, were found in 2005. Last year, four turned up, of which three were already dead; so far this year, one baby has been found and it was alive.
The number of abandoned babies found is small when set against the number of terminated pregnancies.
Last year, for example, 12,032 abortions were carried out, with teenagers accounting for 1,391 of them.
But some unwanted babies end up being born because the pregnancies are discovered too late for abortions, social workers say.
In fact, Sanctuary House was started after one of its founders was handed an unwanted baby.
A teenage student had knocked on financial consultant Rose Siow's door in 2004 and asked her to look after the infant for a while.
The young mum never came back.
After three weeks, Ms Siow, herself a mother of two, called the police. The teen mother, a China student, was eventually tracked down and sent home with her baby.
The following year, Ms Siow started Sanctuary House with a few others, including former oil executive Noel Tan, his wife Jenny, and Mr Robert Tan, who runs a travel firm.
About seven in 10 mums referred to Sanctuary House by social workers, doctors and other agencies are single women, including teenagers.
One of them was a 16-year-old student whose mother had committed suicide and whose father was missing.
Dysfunctional family backgrounds have been a common thread among the cases. Mr Tan said many of the single mums were themselves born out of wedlock.
People from a dozen families volunteer by looking after babies while their adoption papers are being processed. This can take a few days to several months.
This arrangement prevents any unnecessary trauma if, for example, the mum changes her mind about giving up the baby, said Mr Tan. One mother changed her mind six times.
Previously, while adoption papers were being processed, the babies were handed over to their adoptive parents, left in hospital or sent home with their biological mothers.
The mother is usually given up to a month to decide and during this time, Sanctuary House may also link her up with other groups offering support.
These include the Babes helpline for teen mums, run by Beyond Social Services, and the National Pregnancy Helpline for all mums who need help and support.
Social worker Chang Ai Ling, who mans the National Pregnancy Helpline, said a 'fair share' of calls come from pregnant married women who do not want their babies.
They may be in financial trouble, have absent husbands or are pregnant with a lover's child, said Madam Chang, from the Tanjong Pagar Family Service Centre, an agency manning the helpline.
Social workers behind the two helplines counsel the women. They also help in other ways, including accompanying pregnant teens to break the news to their parents.
Those who need a place to stay during the pregnancy are referred to shelters such as Rose Villa and the Andrew and Grace Home.
The volunteers at Sanctuary House, on the other hand, are also there to provide 'emergency care' for mums in a difficult spot, such as mums who are ill, in jail or just need someone to care for the child temporarily.
Mr Tan said: 'We are here for them until they find a solution to their problems.'
Monday, September 10, 2007
More trucks caught with too many workers aboard
The following article was published in the Straits Times on 10 Sep 2007.
More trucks caught with too many workers aboard
Carolyn Quek
10 September 2007
Straits Times
With a construction boom on, contractors are rushing workers from site to site
FOUR years since the tightening of the rules to enhance the safety of workers being ferried in pickup trucks, the situation seems little better.
Last year, almost 300 trucks were caught with too many workers on board, up from 262 in 2005.
And with already 182 caught at the end of July, the numbers look set to hit a fresh high at year's end.
Between 2005 and this year thus far, eight workers have died in accidents while being ferried.
A Land Transport Authority (LTA) spokesman said: 'While the LTA and the Traffic Police will conduct strict enforcement against goods vehicle owners who violate safety rules, these owners also have a big role to play in proactively taking measures to enhance the safety of their workers carried at the back of vehicles.'
Industry players said that with the current construction boom, companies were taking on more projects than they had resources for - which has put more workers on the roads as contractors rush them from site to site to complete jobs on schedule.
The 145,000 foreign construction workers here are set to be joined by up to 50,000 more, who will stream in over the next few years for the building of mega projects like the integrated resorts.
Mr Raymond Lim, 50, director of Jackly Engineering, said that to be cost-effective, his lorries had to do double duty - transport both materials and workers.
Putting workers on buses made it safer and more comfortable for them, but buses cannot carry materials, said Mr Lim, who has 70 to 80 foreign workers on his payroll.
Another obstacle to using buses for workers: red tape.
Boon Yang Electrical's general manager, Mr Alex Sim, 35, said sensitive worksites required official clearance for vehicles, so hiring buses to transport workers added to the paperwork.
The issue has come under scrutiny since an accident last month in which a foreign worker was killed and his fellow passengers injured when their pickup truck was hit by a car. The truck spun around, flinging out the men who were on the cargo deck, and then turned turtle.
Tragically for the workers, the truck was not even their usual mode of transport, the vehicle's driver, Mr Chan Guang Quan, told The Straits Times yesterday.
They were usually ferried to their worksite in Bishan in buses, but had been deployed to another building project in Changi that day to lend help there.
Mr Chan, 42, said that while some workers were still on medical leave, most were already back at work.
He added: 'We are trying not to think about the accident so that we can move on with life.'
The accident triggered a debate online and letters to the media, decrying the practice of using pickup trucks to ferry workers around. It was tantamount to treating them no better than animals, these people said.
Back in 2002, following similar accidents, this was exactly the sentiment expressed in letters to The Straits Times Forum pages.
One recent letter writer, Mr Paul Staes, likened the ferrying of workers on cargo decks to transporting cattle.
The LTA put in place regulations in 2003 to set up minimum standards of safety and comfort for workers being transported, but there were still five deaths last year.
Four years on, the suggestions from safety experts, volunteer groups and others on improving safety remain similar. They have called for:
Seats along the sides of the vehicle, just like those in army trucks, which can be folded down when not in use;
Side railings that rise higher than the heads of seated passengers; and
Canopies for all lorries and pickups to shield workers from the elements.
All these features can be dismantled and companies have to pay only once to have them fitted.
Transport analyst K. Raguraman of the National University of Singapore said the system - maintenance of the trucks, alternatives and cost - cried out for a 'proper study'.
To be fair, said construction company bosses, some companies do provide good, safe transport.
United Engineering (UE), Lee Metal Group and Straits Construction, for instance, ferry their workers to and from worksites in buses.
But these companies' spokesmen said they could do this because they were relatively large, had big projects and enjoyed economies of scale, unlike smaller contractors.
For now, if making workers' transport safer remains intractable, calls have gone out to at least make it more comfortable.
Ms Braema Mathi, who chairs research and policy of migrant workers' rights group Transient Workers Count Too, has urged companies to build canopies on their pickups and lorries.
She said: 'I do not know how effective the workers can be if they are wet and ill.'
At least one company is going some way towards keeping its vehicles in good shape so they can run safely.
Stacon, which hires a dozen workers, puts $600 a month into maintaining its four lorries.
Its general manager, Mr Eddie Lim, 44, said: 'This money cannot be saved. If we do, there will be more problems in the future.'
Guidelines to ensure safety THE Road Traffic Act bars goods vehicles from being used as a means of private passenger transport, but it allows the owners of such vehicles to transport their workers to and from their place of work.
The Land Transport Authority laid down the following rules in April 2003 to ensure the safety of these workers:
They must be seated no more than 3.2m off the ground and in such a way that they will not fall off.
Each worker must have at least 0.372sqm of floor space, slightly bigger than a full page of this newspaper.
The goods vehicle must stay within a 60kmh speed limit when carrying workers.
It must not carry more workers than it is licensed to.
If goods are also being transported, they must be secured.
Open lorries with a maximum laden weight of 3,500kg or under must have side railings along the sideboards on the cargo deck.
When these rules came into force, the number of cases of overloading fell by almost half - from 508 in 2003 to 262 in 2005. But the number inched up to 293 last year; in the first seven months of this year alone, the figure has already hit 182.
In 2004, the year after the rules took effect, no deaths were reported in accidents involving workers being transported, although 87 of them were hurt. In 2005, two died and 67 were injured, while last year, five died and 76 were injured.
More trucks caught with too many workers aboard
Carolyn Quek
10 September 2007
Straits Times
With a construction boom on, contractors are rushing workers from site to site
FOUR years since the tightening of the rules to enhance the safety of workers being ferried in pickup trucks, the situation seems little better.
Last year, almost 300 trucks were caught with too many workers on board, up from 262 in 2005.
And with already 182 caught at the end of July, the numbers look set to hit a fresh high at year's end.
Between 2005 and this year thus far, eight workers have died in accidents while being ferried.
A Land Transport Authority (LTA) spokesman said: 'While the LTA and the Traffic Police will conduct strict enforcement against goods vehicle owners who violate safety rules, these owners also have a big role to play in proactively taking measures to enhance the safety of their workers carried at the back of vehicles.'
Industry players said that with the current construction boom, companies were taking on more projects than they had resources for - which has put more workers on the roads as contractors rush them from site to site to complete jobs on schedule.
The 145,000 foreign construction workers here are set to be joined by up to 50,000 more, who will stream in over the next few years for the building of mega projects like the integrated resorts.
Mr Raymond Lim, 50, director of Jackly Engineering, said that to be cost-effective, his lorries had to do double duty - transport both materials and workers.
Putting workers on buses made it safer and more comfortable for them, but buses cannot carry materials, said Mr Lim, who has 70 to 80 foreign workers on his payroll.
Another obstacle to using buses for workers: red tape.
Boon Yang Electrical's general manager, Mr Alex Sim, 35, said sensitive worksites required official clearance for vehicles, so hiring buses to transport workers added to the paperwork.
The issue has come under scrutiny since an accident last month in which a foreign worker was killed and his fellow passengers injured when their pickup truck was hit by a car. The truck spun around, flinging out the men who were on the cargo deck, and then turned turtle.
Tragically for the workers, the truck was not even their usual mode of transport, the vehicle's driver, Mr Chan Guang Quan, told The Straits Times yesterday.
They were usually ferried to their worksite in Bishan in buses, but had been deployed to another building project in Changi that day to lend help there.
Mr Chan, 42, said that while some workers were still on medical leave, most were already back at work.
He added: 'We are trying not to think about the accident so that we can move on with life.'
The accident triggered a debate online and letters to the media, decrying the practice of using pickup trucks to ferry workers around. It was tantamount to treating them no better than animals, these people said.
Back in 2002, following similar accidents, this was exactly the sentiment expressed in letters to The Straits Times Forum pages.
One recent letter writer, Mr Paul Staes, likened the ferrying of workers on cargo decks to transporting cattle.
The LTA put in place regulations in 2003 to set up minimum standards of safety and comfort for workers being transported, but there were still five deaths last year.
Four years on, the suggestions from safety experts, volunteer groups and others on improving safety remain similar. They have called for:
Seats along the sides of the vehicle, just like those in army trucks, which can be folded down when not in use;
Side railings that rise higher than the heads of seated passengers; and
Canopies for all lorries and pickups to shield workers from the elements.
All these features can be dismantled and companies have to pay only once to have them fitted.
Transport analyst K. Raguraman of the National University of Singapore said the system - maintenance of the trucks, alternatives and cost - cried out for a 'proper study'.
To be fair, said construction company bosses, some companies do provide good, safe transport.
United Engineering (UE), Lee Metal Group and Straits Construction, for instance, ferry their workers to and from worksites in buses.
But these companies' spokesmen said they could do this because they were relatively large, had big projects and enjoyed economies of scale, unlike smaller contractors.
For now, if making workers' transport safer remains intractable, calls have gone out to at least make it more comfortable.
Ms Braema Mathi, who chairs research and policy of migrant workers' rights group Transient Workers Count Too, has urged companies to build canopies on their pickups and lorries.
She said: 'I do not know how effective the workers can be if they are wet and ill.'
At least one company is going some way towards keeping its vehicles in good shape so they can run safely.
Stacon, which hires a dozen workers, puts $600 a month into maintaining its four lorries.
Its general manager, Mr Eddie Lim, 44, said: 'This money cannot be saved. If we do, there will be more problems in the future.'
Guidelines to ensure safety THE Road Traffic Act bars goods vehicles from being used as a means of private passenger transport, but it allows the owners of such vehicles to transport their workers to and from their place of work.
The Land Transport Authority laid down the following rules in April 2003 to ensure the safety of these workers:
They must be seated no more than 3.2m off the ground and in such a way that they will not fall off.
Each worker must have at least 0.372sqm of floor space, slightly bigger than a full page of this newspaper.
The goods vehicle must stay within a 60kmh speed limit when carrying workers.
It must not carry more workers than it is licensed to.
If goods are also being transported, they must be secured.
Open lorries with a maximum laden weight of 3,500kg or under must have side railings along the sideboards on the cargo deck.
When these rules came into force, the number of cases of overloading fell by almost half - from 508 in 2003 to 262 in 2005. But the number inched up to 293 last year; in the first seven months of this year alone, the figure has already hit 182.
In 2004, the year after the rules took effect, no deaths were reported in accidents involving workers being transported, although 87 of them were hurt. In 2005, two died and 67 were injured, while last year, five died and 76 were injured.
Monday, August 27, 2007
One died, 14 injured after lorry overturns on PIE
The following article was published by CNA on 23 August 2007.
One died, 14 injured after lorry overturns on PIE
23 August 2007
Channel NewsAsia
SINGAPORE: One died and fourteen others were injured when their lorry overturned after colliding with a car along the Pan Island Expressway (PIE) on Thursday.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force said the accident happened at 8.16am in the direction towards Changi near Bedok Reservoir View.
The injured were sent to Changi General Hospital (CGH).
The foreign worker who died was sitting at the back of the lorry.
CGH says 7 of the 14 people have been discharged.
(c) 2007 MediaCorp News Pte Ltd. All Rights Reserved
One died, 14 injured after lorry overturns on PIE
23 August 2007
Channel NewsAsia
SINGAPORE: One died and fourteen others were injured when their lorry overturned after colliding with a car along the Pan Island Expressway (PIE) on Thursday.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force said the accident happened at 8.16am in the direction towards Changi near Bedok Reservoir View.
The injured were sent to Changi General Hospital (CGH).
The foreign worker who died was sitting at the back of the lorry.
CGH says 7 of the 14 people have been discharged.
(c) 2007 MediaCorp News Pte Ltd. All Rights Reserved
Friday, August 10, 2007
Worker Plunges to Death During Repair Works
We jumped slightly to avoid mystery object, then...
By Dawn Chia
10 August 2007
The New Paper
THEY were carrying out repair works in a lift shaft when a mystery object supposedly fell from above.
To avoid it, they ducked, but one of them didn't make it.
Mr Chua Yew Meng, 48, plunged 13 floors to his death at Ocean Building on Collyer Quay.
The incident happened around 5pm on Tuesday.
The police and the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) are investigating.
Another worker, Mr Mohd Zah, 48, escaped with a fractured left leg.
He told Lianhe Wanbao that he had just joined the company a week ago, and lamented his bad luck.
He said he and Mr Chua were standing on top of the lift on the 13th floor doing repair works on the lift.
He added: 'All of a sudden, something fell from above.
'To avoid it, we jumped slightly, but didn't expect to fall into the shaft.'
Mr Mohd Zah didn't know what the falling object was.
He escaped death because another colleague managed to hold on to his left leg, reported Lianhe Wanbao.
Mr Mohd Zah said his company's representatives had visited him in hospital yesterday morning.
Mr Chua's younger brother told reporters that his brother was divorced, and lived with an elder sister in Circuit Road.
He had two daughters who are still in school.
The younger Mr Chua said: 'My brother had always been doing lift repairs, and is a very experienced worker.
'He was with this company for about a year, and we never expected this to happen.'
He and his mother rushed to the scene after the incident.
He said: 'He was very hardworking, and would dash off the moment he was activated.
'He worked very hard to make ends meet.'
One of Mr Chua's neighbours said Mr Chua fell to his death because he tripped over an electric cable.
BUILDING BEING REDEVELOPED
Keppel Land, which owns Ocean Building, said it was working with the authorities.
The commercial building is currently undergoing redevelopment.
A spokesman told The New Paper that the main contractor for the project was Loh Brothers, and they had in turn contracted lift repair works to Yew Tee Lift Engineering, Mr Chua's company.
Another industrial accident happened at Cantonment Road at around 10.45am yesterday.
A worker in his mid-20s was knocked down by a trailer and pronounced dead 10 minutes later.
The Manpower ministry and police are also investigating the incident.
Other lift shaft accidents
Jan 2004:
Foreign worker suffers serious head injuries after falling from lift.
He reportedly lost balance while dismantling lift at Block 449, Tampines Street 42.
Jan 2001:
Lift technician crushed to death while cleaning lift pit at Block 705, Hougang Avenue 2.
Copyright 2007, Singapore Press Holdings Limited
By Dawn Chia
10 August 2007
The New Paper
THEY were carrying out repair works in a lift shaft when a mystery object supposedly fell from above.
To avoid it, they ducked, but one of them didn't make it.
Mr Chua Yew Meng, 48, plunged 13 floors to his death at Ocean Building on Collyer Quay.
The incident happened around 5pm on Tuesday.
The police and the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) are investigating.
Another worker, Mr Mohd Zah, 48, escaped with a fractured left leg.
He told Lianhe Wanbao that he had just joined the company a week ago, and lamented his bad luck.
He said he and Mr Chua were standing on top of the lift on the 13th floor doing repair works on the lift.
He added: 'All of a sudden, something fell from above.
'To avoid it, we jumped slightly, but didn't expect to fall into the shaft.'
Mr Mohd Zah didn't know what the falling object was.
He escaped death because another colleague managed to hold on to his left leg, reported Lianhe Wanbao.
Mr Mohd Zah said his company's representatives had visited him in hospital yesterday morning.
Mr Chua's younger brother told reporters that his brother was divorced, and lived with an elder sister in Circuit Road.
He had two daughters who are still in school.
The younger Mr Chua said: 'My brother had always been doing lift repairs, and is a very experienced worker.
'He was with this company for about a year, and we never expected this to happen.'
He and his mother rushed to the scene after the incident.
He said: 'He was very hardworking, and would dash off the moment he was activated.
'He worked very hard to make ends meet.'
One of Mr Chua's neighbours said Mr Chua fell to his death because he tripped over an electric cable.
BUILDING BEING REDEVELOPED
Keppel Land, which owns Ocean Building, said it was working with the authorities.
The commercial building is currently undergoing redevelopment.
A spokesman told The New Paper that the main contractor for the project was Loh Brothers, and they had in turn contracted lift repair works to Yew Tee Lift Engineering, Mr Chua's company.
Another industrial accident happened at Cantonment Road at around 10.45am yesterday.
A worker in his mid-20s was knocked down by a trailer and pronounced dead 10 minutes later.
The Manpower ministry and police are also investigating the incident.
Other lift shaft accidents
Jan 2004:
Foreign worker suffers serious head injuries after falling from lift.
He reportedly lost balance while dismantling lift at Block 449, Tampines Street 42.
Jan 2001:
Lift technician crushed to death while cleaning lift pit at Block 705, Hougang Avenue 2.
Copyright 2007, Singapore Press Holdings Limited
Saturday, July 28, 2007
S'pore's dirty secret
The following article was published in the Straits Times on 28 July 2007.
S'pore's dirty secret
Straits Times, 28 July 2007
They keep offices, shopping centres and the roads clean. But their wages look shabby compared to the rest of boomtown Singapore. SUE-ANN CHIA finds out why the pay of cleaners and labourers declined over the past decade
EVERY DAY, Madam Aishah Mohamed Yunos, 30, toils at four blocks in a Bukit Panjang housing estate, wiping walls and lifts and sweeping and mopping floors.
The neighbourhood is spick and span. But the job pays crumbs.
At least that is what Madam Aishah feels when she pockets her monthly wages of $400. If that's not lousy enough, she has not had a pay rise in two years on the job.
'There's nothing else I can do,' she says with a careless shrug. She left school at Primary 6.
Her story, if she sticks to cleaning work, could soon mirror that of another cleaner's, Madam P. Devi, 60.
Nine years ago, she earned $500 a month cleaning offices. Today, she earns $440 cleaning at a mall in Holland Village.
'I have enough to eat,' she says, by way of prefacing how she has no right to be unhappy because she is illiterate. She and her retiree security guard husband, 69, who gets a pension, are supporting two children still in school.
The two women, across two generations, are in the beleaguered brigade of Singapore workers whose pay packets have slackened even as other workers have marched ahead in an expanding economy.
In the last 10 years, the starting salaries of all occupational groups rose - except one.
That group: cleaners and labourers. Their median monthly starting pay fell 30 per cent between 1996 and 2006 - from $860 to $600.
The Government's latest wage report says the group's median pay was being dragged down by a sizeable number of this category of workers languishing in extremely low-paying jobs.
At the bottom of the heap: office cleaners and aircraft loaders. They start with a monthly pay of $500 and $550 respectively.
In 1996, newbie cleaners made $550 while newbie aircraft loaders made $650.
While aircraft loaders' pay went up with experience, office cleaners had no such gains. Their median monthly salary fell from $708 in 1996 to $657 last year.
Twin forces thwarting rise in wages
WHAT accounts for their shrinking wages?
Labour economists blame two forces: competition from low-skilled foreign workers and the growing trend of outsourcing.
'Salaries are unlikely to rise as long as low-skilled local workers compete with low-skilled foreign labour who are often paid less,' says Associate Professor Hui Weng Tat, vice-dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.
His view that foreign workers depress the wages of local workers has been aired before by others, including Mr Lim Swee Say when he was deputy labour chief.
In an interview last year, Mr Lim, who is now the labour chief, said he suspected the easy entry of cheap foreign workers in some sectors has reduced the incentive for employers to improve work processes and raise productivity. It is easier and cheaper to hire cheap, than to invest in better work processes.
But he made clear he was not opposed to foreign workers, saying that they contributed to the economy.
Economist Lim Chong Yah, who headed the National Wages Council for 29 years until 2001, also last year warned policymakers to be careful about allowing 'too free a flow' of 'very low value-added labour, very low-wage labour'.
The other issue to contend with is outsourcing. As firms cut costs and headcount, many outsource non-core functions like cleaning.
Instead of being on the more stable payroll of these companies, cleaners are now hired at a much lower pay by cleaning agencies which then assign them to different workplaces.
Cleaning agencies, in their fierce battle to win contracts, slash the price of their bids. The losers: the cleaners who end up with even lower pay.
Prof Hui notes that outsourcing also encourages service buyers such as building owners to switch to cheaper cleaning contracts. This means some cleaners may continue in the same job under a different employer - often wearing just differently coloured uniforms - while others are forced to seek new employment.
'This perpetuates the low pay of such workers who do not benefit from any seniority-based component in their pay but are constantly treated as new employees,' he says.
Part-timers, retirees depress wage figures
FIGURES from five cleaning companies surveyed by Insight indicate that cleaners' pay may be creeping up.
Five to 10 years ago, a cleaner would be offered around $580 to $600 a month. Today, he would get about $100 more, says Mr Kevin Loh, the boss of Campaign Cleaning Services.
Mr Joey Yeung, executive manager of cleaning company SQ1 Development, addsthat those who work in far-flung places like Tuas can get even more, about $900.
If so, why do the national figures show them making so little?
Labour economist Shandre Thangavelu suspects the wages are depressed by part-time workers like retirees agreeing to work for a lot less.
Madam Wang Xiu Qin, 67, is among them. She retired five years ago as a waitress but went back to work two years later to beat boredom at home.
She has since been cleaning office toilets four hours, six days a week. She is pleased with her pay of $350 a month.
But there are many others who struggle to survive.
Madam Sharon Kong, 50, earns $300 a month keeping an office clean. She works three hours a day, six days a week.
'I earn just enough to buy food from the market to cook and feed the family,' says the mother of two sons, aged 22 and 25.
Her factory worker husband earns about $1,000 a month and one of her sons help with other family expenses.
Can she get a better job?
Not a chance, as 'I only have primary education,' she says.
Tackling issue through productivity boost
THE plight of low-wage workers - with stagnant or shrinking pay packets - is an issue the Government and labour movement have been grappling with for some time.
Three years ago, the Job Recreation Programme (JRP) was set up to boost the productivity and pay of low-skilled jobs in several sectors, from cleaning to construction.
Last year, Workfare, an income supplement for low-wage workers, was introduced and is now a permanent feature for workers aged above 35 and whose income is $1,500 and below.
Labour chief Lim Swee Say tells Insight: 'The downward pressure on the wages of low-wage workers will continue to be there for some time as there is no shortage of low-cost, low-skilled workers in the world.'
The cause may be global, but the effect is truly local. The biggest worry is the widening income gap between high- and low-end workers.
Different countries look for different solutions - from a minimum wage policy and closing the door on low-skilled foreign workers to paying foreign local workers the same wages.
But Mr Lim calls these 'easy solutions' that do not necessarily work.
He wants Singapore to focus on raising productivity.'When their productivity goes up, their pay will also go up without eroding business competitiveness.'
Some success has been achieved through JRP, which has boosted the salaries of security guards, landscape technicians and bus captains.
Mr Lim concedes that 'there is still a long way to go' in improving the pay of every low-skilled worker.
One major criticism of the programme is that it spreads itself too thin in trying to reach too many sectors.
Still, Mr Ang Hin Kee, director of NTUC's Employability Enhancement Department, believes it has made a difference to the cleaning sector.
'JRP pilot projects have demonstrated that workers in the cleaning industry can earn higher wages through re-skilling and job re-design,' he says.
He notes how 75 conservancy cleaners who went for the programme found their wages going up from $750 a month to about $1,000. They got a new title to boot: building custodians.
The new perks come with added responsibilities of weeding, checking and rectifying defects in drains and replacing light bulbs in HDB blocks.
Another recent success was at three major hospitals which revised their cleaning contracts.
Previously, their housekeepers just cleaned the wards. Now, 15 of them act as team leaders to inspect ward cleanliness and prepare simple reports.
Their monthly pay rose from $800 to $1,050. Their job title was also spruced up. The housekeeper is now the facility services specialist.
But these are small-scale efforts. The JRP has yet to cover the large army of cleaners who clean commercial properties such as offices, shopping centres and condominiums. There are about 22,000 of them.
It will do so by year's end, says Mr Ang.
The biggest hurdle in pushing the cleaners' brigade is posed by sceptical companies. They want to see a cleaner environment first before they will pay cleaning companies more for better-trained workers.
This causes a vicious cycle as cleaning companies do not pay more and the lowly paid worker sees no incentive to do more.
There seems to be no way out.
Mr Lim advocates staying the course with JRP, as skills re-development is the only way for 'more low-wage workers to be part of the race to the top'.
But the brigade may also have thinning ranks of Singaporeans in time, as the workforce becomes better educated and move on to better work while cleaning jobs are revamped to attract better pay.
For now, though, the problem cannot be wiped clean.
S'pore's dirty secret
Straits Times, 28 July 2007
They keep offices, shopping centres and the roads clean. But their wages look shabby compared to the rest of boomtown Singapore. SUE-ANN CHIA finds out why the pay of cleaners and labourers declined over the past decade
EVERY DAY, Madam Aishah Mohamed Yunos, 30, toils at four blocks in a Bukit Panjang housing estate, wiping walls and lifts and sweeping and mopping floors.
The neighbourhood is spick and span. But the job pays crumbs.
At least that is what Madam Aishah feels when she pockets her monthly wages of $400. If that's not lousy enough, she has not had a pay rise in two years on the job.
'There's nothing else I can do,' she says with a careless shrug. She left school at Primary 6.
Her story, if she sticks to cleaning work, could soon mirror that of another cleaner's, Madam P. Devi, 60.
Nine years ago, she earned $500 a month cleaning offices. Today, she earns $440 cleaning at a mall in Holland Village.
'I have enough to eat,' she says, by way of prefacing how she has no right to be unhappy because she is illiterate. She and her retiree security guard husband, 69, who gets a pension, are supporting two children still in school.
The two women, across two generations, are in the beleaguered brigade of Singapore workers whose pay packets have slackened even as other workers have marched ahead in an expanding economy.
In the last 10 years, the starting salaries of all occupational groups rose - except one.
That group: cleaners and labourers. Their median monthly starting pay fell 30 per cent between 1996 and 2006 - from $860 to $600.
The Government's latest wage report says the group's median pay was being dragged down by a sizeable number of this category of workers languishing in extremely low-paying jobs.
At the bottom of the heap: office cleaners and aircraft loaders. They start with a monthly pay of $500 and $550 respectively.
In 1996, newbie cleaners made $550 while newbie aircraft loaders made $650.
While aircraft loaders' pay went up with experience, office cleaners had no such gains. Their median monthly salary fell from $708 in 1996 to $657 last year.
Twin forces thwarting rise in wages
WHAT accounts for their shrinking wages?
Labour economists blame two forces: competition from low-skilled foreign workers and the growing trend of outsourcing.
'Salaries are unlikely to rise as long as low-skilled local workers compete with low-skilled foreign labour who are often paid less,' says Associate Professor Hui Weng Tat, vice-dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.
His view that foreign workers depress the wages of local workers has been aired before by others, including Mr Lim Swee Say when he was deputy labour chief.
In an interview last year, Mr Lim, who is now the labour chief, said he suspected the easy entry of cheap foreign workers in some sectors has reduced the incentive for employers to improve work processes and raise productivity. It is easier and cheaper to hire cheap, than to invest in better work processes.
But he made clear he was not opposed to foreign workers, saying that they contributed to the economy.
Economist Lim Chong Yah, who headed the National Wages Council for 29 years until 2001, also last year warned policymakers to be careful about allowing 'too free a flow' of 'very low value-added labour, very low-wage labour'.
The other issue to contend with is outsourcing. As firms cut costs and headcount, many outsource non-core functions like cleaning.
Instead of being on the more stable payroll of these companies, cleaners are now hired at a much lower pay by cleaning agencies which then assign them to different workplaces.
Cleaning agencies, in their fierce battle to win contracts, slash the price of their bids. The losers: the cleaners who end up with even lower pay.
Prof Hui notes that outsourcing also encourages service buyers such as building owners to switch to cheaper cleaning contracts. This means some cleaners may continue in the same job under a different employer - often wearing just differently coloured uniforms - while others are forced to seek new employment.
'This perpetuates the low pay of such workers who do not benefit from any seniority-based component in their pay but are constantly treated as new employees,' he says.
Part-timers, retirees depress wage figures
FIGURES from five cleaning companies surveyed by Insight indicate that cleaners' pay may be creeping up.
Five to 10 years ago, a cleaner would be offered around $580 to $600 a month. Today, he would get about $100 more, says Mr Kevin Loh, the boss of Campaign Cleaning Services.
Mr Joey Yeung, executive manager of cleaning company SQ1 Development, addsthat those who work in far-flung places like Tuas can get even more, about $900.
If so, why do the national figures show them making so little?
Labour economist Shandre Thangavelu suspects the wages are depressed by part-time workers like retirees agreeing to work for a lot less.
Madam Wang Xiu Qin, 67, is among them. She retired five years ago as a waitress but went back to work two years later to beat boredom at home.
She has since been cleaning office toilets four hours, six days a week. She is pleased with her pay of $350 a month.
But there are many others who struggle to survive.
Madam Sharon Kong, 50, earns $300 a month keeping an office clean. She works three hours a day, six days a week.
'I earn just enough to buy food from the market to cook and feed the family,' says the mother of two sons, aged 22 and 25.
Her factory worker husband earns about $1,000 a month and one of her sons help with other family expenses.
Can she get a better job?
Not a chance, as 'I only have primary education,' she says.
Tackling issue through productivity boost
THE plight of low-wage workers - with stagnant or shrinking pay packets - is an issue the Government and labour movement have been grappling with for some time.
Three years ago, the Job Recreation Programme (JRP) was set up to boost the productivity and pay of low-skilled jobs in several sectors, from cleaning to construction.
Last year, Workfare, an income supplement for low-wage workers, was introduced and is now a permanent feature for workers aged above 35 and whose income is $1,500 and below.
Labour chief Lim Swee Say tells Insight: 'The downward pressure on the wages of low-wage workers will continue to be there for some time as there is no shortage of low-cost, low-skilled workers in the world.'
The cause may be global, but the effect is truly local. The biggest worry is the widening income gap between high- and low-end workers.
Different countries look for different solutions - from a minimum wage policy and closing the door on low-skilled foreign workers to paying foreign local workers the same wages.
But Mr Lim calls these 'easy solutions' that do not necessarily work.
He wants Singapore to focus on raising productivity.'When their productivity goes up, their pay will also go up without eroding business competitiveness.'
Some success has been achieved through JRP, which has boosted the salaries of security guards, landscape technicians and bus captains.
Mr Lim concedes that 'there is still a long way to go' in improving the pay of every low-skilled worker.
One major criticism of the programme is that it spreads itself too thin in trying to reach too many sectors.
Still, Mr Ang Hin Kee, director of NTUC's Employability Enhancement Department, believes it has made a difference to the cleaning sector.
'JRP pilot projects have demonstrated that workers in the cleaning industry can earn higher wages through re-skilling and job re-design,' he says.
He notes how 75 conservancy cleaners who went for the programme found their wages going up from $750 a month to about $1,000. They got a new title to boot: building custodians.
The new perks come with added responsibilities of weeding, checking and rectifying defects in drains and replacing light bulbs in HDB blocks.
Another recent success was at three major hospitals which revised their cleaning contracts.
Previously, their housekeepers just cleaned the wards. Now, 15 of them act as team leaders to inspect ward cleanliness and prepare simple reports.
Their monthly pay rose from $800 to $1,050. Their job title was also spruced up. The housekeeper is now the facility services specialist.
But these are small-scale efforts. The JRP has yet to cover the large army of cleaners who clean commercial properties such as offices, shopping centres and condominiums. There are about 22,000 of them.
It will do so by year's end, says Mr Ang.
The biggest hurdle in pushing the cleaners' brigade is posed by sceptical companies. They want to see a cleaner environment first before they will pay cleaning companies more for better-trained workers.
This causes a vicious cycle as cleaning companies do not pay more and the lowly paid worker sees no incentive to do more.
There seems to be no way out.
Mr Lim advocates staying the course with JRP, as skills re-development is the only way for 'more low-wage workers to be part of the race to the top'.
But the brigade may also have thinning ranks of Singaporeans in time, as the workforce becomes better educated and move on to better work while cleaning jobs are revamped to attract better pay.
For now, though, the problem cannot be wiped clean.
Monday, June 18, 2007
Maid levy relief for disabled: Applications to open earlier
The following article was published in the Straits Times on 18 July 2007.
Maid levy relief for disabled: Applications to open earlier
Straits Times, 18 July 2007
FAMILIES with disabled members seeking a concession on the foreign maid levy can now apply for it earlier.
Instead of waiting till Nov 1, they can do it from Sept 15, said Community Development, Youth and Sports Minister Vivian Balakrishnan.
At the moment, only families with young children and elderly folk aged 65 and older receive the $95 concession, which reduces their levy from $265 a month to $170.
It was announced in February that the concession will also be given to the disabled who need help in daily activities such as bathing and eating.
In his written reply on Monday, Dr Balakrishnan did not explain why the application date was pushed forward.
He was giving an update on efforts to help the disabled to Ms Denise Phua (Jalan Besar GRC) and Dr Fatimah Lateef (Marine Parade GRC).
He also said that 10 companies have pledged to employ 41 people with disabilities since changes were introduced to a government fund on May 1.
Nineteen of them are already at work.
The Open Door Fund can now, among other things, give companies subsidies of up to $100,000 a project, when they redesign their jobs or workplaces to make them more disabled-friendly.
Maid levy relief for disabled: Applications to open earlier
Straits Times, 18 July 2007
FAMILIES with disabled members seeking a concession on the foreign maid levy can now apply for it earlier.
Instead of waiting till Nov 1, they can do it from Sept 15, said Community Development, Youth and Sports Minister Vivian Balakrishnan.
At the moment, only families with young children and elderly folk aged 65 and older receive the $95 concession, which reduces their levy from $265 a month to $170.
It was announced in February that the concession will also be given to the disabled who need help in daily activities such as bathing and eating.
In his written reply on Monday, Dr Balakrishnan did not explain why the application date was pushed forward.
He was giving an update on efforts to help the disabled to Ms Denise Phua (Jalan Besar GRC) and Dr Fatimah Lateef (Marine Parade GRC).
He also said that 10 companies have pledged to employ 41 people with disabilities since changes were introduced to a government fund on May 1.
Nineteen of them are already at work.
The Open Door Fund can now, among other things, give companies subsidies of up to $100,000 a project, when they redesign their jobs or workplaces to make them more disabled-friendly.
Thursday, June 7, 2007
MOM slaps demerit points on 39 job agencies
The following article was published by the Straits Times on 7 June 2006.
MOM slaps demerit points on 39 job agencies
By T. Rajan
Straits Times, 7 June 2006
Most flouted rule against bringing in foreign workers below 23 years old
JUST four months into a new system to help employers tell good from bad foreign-worker employment agencies, some 39 have already chalked up demerit points.
Most of these agencies appear to have flouted the rule against bringing in workers younger than the legal employment age of 23.
Two agencies have been slapped with nine demerit points each for bringing in underage maids and for filling in false or wrong information in their official documents.
They are Jolly Agency at the Singapore Shopping Centre and JA Manpower in Sim Lim Tower.
They stand to lose their licences if they fall afoul of the rules one more time and accumulate a total of 12 demerit points within a year. That is when the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) will revoke an agency's licence or bar its renewal.
Of the remaining 37 agencies, six have received six demerit points each while 31 have accumulated three demerit points each.
But Mr Yeo Guat Kwang, president of the Consumer Association of Singapore (Case), which accredits employment agencies, told The Straits Times yesterday that the initial spike in errant agencies should not set off alarm bells. He said the demerit system, introduced in February, was still new and some agencies might not be clear about how it worked.
'The 39 agencies which received demerit points are a small fraction of the almost 400 agencies that operate here. But we will have to monitor the situation,' he said.
The MOM launched the demerit points system in February this year to penalise employment agencies which flout licensing conditions and laws governing the employment of foreign workers.
The MOM said that the offences included helping foreign workers engage in illegal employment, providing false information in applications and sending female foreign workers to work in 'immoral places'.
Most of the 12 employment agencies interviewed said they had been slapped with demerit points for bringing in underage foreign domestic workers. They claimed they did so unknowingly.
A staff of Jolly Agency, which was penalised with nine demerit points, said the passports, birth certificates and airline tickets of foreign domestic workers, issued in Indonesia, all stated they were 23 years old and above.
Other agencies also said the demerit system was too harsh as it penalised them for innocent mistakes, such as getting details on application forms wrong.
But Madam Leong Seet Mui, 35, who employs a foreign maid, disagreed.
'I don't think the system is too strict. In fact, I think the rules governing these agencies are too lax,'' she said.
She welcomed the demerit points system.
Mr Yeo, who also chairs the Government Parliamentary Committee for Manpower, said the system 'sends out a clear message to all players in the industry that they will have to take the necessary measures if they want to stay in business'.
The list of 39 agencies and the demerit points issued to them can be viewed at MOM's website at
www.mom.gov.sg/FMMD/EADirectory .
MOM slaps demerit points on 39 job agencies
By T. Rajan
Straits Times, 7 June 2006
Most flouted rule against bringing in foreign workers below 23 years old
JUST four months into a new system to help employers tell good from bad foreign-worker employment agencies, some 39 have already chalked up demerit points.
Most of these agencies appear to have flouted the rule against bringing in workers younger than the legal employment age of 23.
Two agencies have been slapped with nine demerit points each for bringing in underage maids and for filling in false or wrong information in their official documents.
They are Jolly Agency at the Singapore Shopping Centre and JA Manpower in Sim Lim Tower.
They stand to lose their licences if they fall afoul of the rules one more time and accumulate a total of 12 demerit points within a year. That is when the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) will revoke an agency's licence or bar its renewal.
Of the remaining 37 agencies, six have received six demerit points each while 31 have accumulated three demerit points each.
But Mr Yeo Guat Kwang, president of the Consumer Association of Singapore (Case), which accredits employment agencies, told The Straits Times yesterday that the initial spike in errant agencies should not set off alarm bells. He said the demerit system, introduced in February, was still new and some agencies might not be clear about how it worked.
'The 39 agencies which received demerit points are a small fraction of the almost 400 agencies that operate here. But we will have to monitor the situation,' he said.
The MOM launched the demerit points system in February this year to penalise employment agencies which flout licensing conditions and laws governing the employment of foreign workers.
The MOM said that the offences included helping foreign workers engage in illegal employment, providing false information in applications and sending female foreign workers to work in 'immoral places'.
Most of the 12 employment agencies interviewed said they had been slapped with demerit points for bringing in underage foreign domestic workers. They claimed they did so unknowingly.
A staff of Jolly Agency, which was penalised with nine demerit points, said the passports, birth certificates and airline tickets of foreign domestic workers, issued in Indonesia, all stated they were 23 years old and above.
Other agencies also said the demerit system was too harsh as it penalised them for innocent mistakes, such as getting details on application forms wrong.
But Madam Leong Seet Mui, 35, who employs a foreign maid, disagreed.
'I don't think the system is too strict. In fact, I think the rules governing these agencies are too lax,'' she said.
She welcomed the demerit points system.
Mr Yeo, who also chairs the Government Parliamentary Committee for Manpower, said the system 'sends out a clear message to all players in the industry that they will have to take the necessary measures if they want to stay in business'.
The list of 39 agencies and the demerit points issued to them can be viewed at MOM's website at
www.mom.gov.sg/FMMD/EADirectory .
Sunday, May 6, 2007
3rd worker dies from severe burns
The following article was published in the Straits Times on 6 May 2007.
3rd worker dies from severe burns
By SELINA LUM
The Straits Times
06/05/2007
JURONG ISLAND FIRE
Bangladeshi was one of two injured at refinery blaze; two other workers died in the accident, both Singaporeans
A THIRD man has died from the early morning blaze at ExxonMobil's oil refinery on Jurong Island on Thursday.
Mr Prabir Braja, 30, who suffered 70 per cent burns to his body in the fire, died from his injuries at the burns unit of the Singapore General Hospital just before noon yesterday.
The Bangladeshi was one of two workers who were injured in the industrial fire at the Pulau Ayer Chawan refinery, one of the worst industrial accidents in the last two years.
Two others – Singaporeans Tan Kong Lam, 54, and Ng Swee Min, 48 – were burnt to death as they were removing metal plates from a pipe, in a process called de-binding, at about 1.15am.
The other injured worker, Mr Hannan Abdul Jalil, also a 30-year-old Bangladeshi, suffered 15 per cent burns to his leg and is recovering in hospital after a skin graft.
All four were employees of Mun Siong Engineering and had started work at 8pm on Wednesday night. They were to have finished work at 7am on Thursday.
Mr Tan and Mr Ng were on an elevated platform about 5m above the ground when flames shot up from the distillation unit, which processes crude to make petroleum products. Both men are believed to have died almost instantly.
Firemen took 30 minutes to bring the raging blaze under control.
Following the fire, ExxonMobil shut down one of the two crude distillation units at the refinery.
Mr Vincent Quek, managing director of Mun Siong, told The Sunday Times that Mr Prabir's family in Bangladesh has been informed of his death.
Mr Quek said it was "very difficult" for the dead man's family to come to Singapore.
"We are doing our best to help them, either by sending the body back as soon as possible or having him cremated and his ashes sent back," he said.
3rd worker dies from severe burns
By SELINA LUM
The Straits Times
06/05/2007
JURONG ISLAND FIRE
Bangladeshi was one of two injured at refinery blaze; two other workers died in the accident, both Singaporeans
A THIRD man has died from the early morning blaze at ExxonMobil's oil refinery on Jurong Island on Thursday.
Mr Prabir Braja, 30, who suffered 70 per cent burns to his body in the fire, died from his injuries at the burns unit of the Singapore General Hospital just before noon yesterday.
The Bangladeshi was one of two workers who were injured in the industrial fire at the Pulau Ayer Chawan refinery, one of the worst industrial accidents in the last two years.
Two others – Singaporeans Tan Kong Lam, 54, and Ng Swee Min, 48 – were burnt to death as they were removing metal plates from a pipe, in a process called de-binding, at about 1.15am.
The other injured worker, Mr Hannan Abdul Jalil, also a 30-year-old Bangladeshi, suffered 15 per cent burns to his leg and is recovering in hospital after a skin graft.
All four were employees of Mun Siong Engineering and had started work at 8pm on Wednesday night. They were to have finished work at 7am on Thursday.
Mr Tan and Mr Ng were on an elevated platform about 5m above the ground when flames shot up from the distillation unit, which processes crude to make petroleum products. Both men are believed to have died almost instantly.
Firemen took 30 minutes to bring the raging blaze under control.
Following the fire, ExxonMobil shut down one of the two crude distillation units at the refinery.
Mr Vincent Quek, managing director of Mun Siong, told The Sunday Times that Mr Prabir's family in Bangladesh has been informed of his death.
Mr Quek said it was "very difficult" for the dead man's family to come to Singapore.
"We are doing our best to help them, either by sending the body back as soon as possible or having him cremated and his ashes sent back," he said.
Saturday, May 5, 2007
Jurong Island Fire - Victims Families Hoping for Answers
The following article was published in the Straits Times on 5 May 2007.
DOUBLE WAKES
By KHUSHWANT SINGH, CAROLYN QUEK, TRACY SUA
The Straits Times
05/05/2007
JURONG ISLAND FIRE
Families of 2 victims hoping for answers in meeting with firm
THE families of the two men who died in the ExxonMobil fire on Thursday are hoping they will find out how the accident happened when they meet the men's employers today.
They also intend to conduct prayers at the accident site.
Mr Tan Kong Lam, 54, and Mr Ng Swee Min, 48, were burnt to death at the Pulau Ayer Chawan refinery on Jurong Island as they were removing metal plates from a pipe in a process called de-blinding at about 1.15am.
The blaze also injured two pipe fitters, Mr Hannan Abdul Jalil and Mr Prabir Rajah, both 30-year-old Bangladeshis.
Mr Prabir suffered 70 per cent burns to his body and remains in a critical condition while Mr Hannan, who suffered 15 per cent burns to his leg is recovering after a skin graft yesterday. Both are warded in the burns unit of the Singapore General Hospital (SGH).
All are employees of Mun Siong Engineering and had started work at 8pm. Mr Tan and Mr Ng were on an elevated platform about 5m above the ground when flames shot up from the distillation plant, which refines crude oil into petroleum products. The men are believed to have died instantly.
Operations at the affected plant have been suspended. It was producing 115,000 barrels a day, one-fifth of ExxonMobil's daily output of 605,000 barrels.
ExxonMobil's communications manager Eva Ho said the unit will remain shut until it is safe to restart it.
ExxonMobil told The Straits Times that investigations are underway and that it did not want to speculate on what had occurred.
Mr Ng's body was burnt completely black. The family of Mr Tan said that although their father's face was not affected, much of his body had been charred.
Youngest son Derrick, 20, in his final year of an information technology diploma course at a polytechnic, said that his father was well aware of the perils of his job.
"He actually had a friend make preparations for his funeral about two or three years ago and also handed me namecards of people to call if something happened to him," Derrick said.
Mr Ng Hoot Yu, 80, is also trying to come to terms with his son's death. They shared a two-room rental flat in Henderson Road and the father had advised his son many times to change jobs as he felt working in a refinery was dangerous.
"I feel very heartbroken and lost. This son of mine used to give me about $50 a week. Now that he's gone, I don't know what to do," the elderly man said.
His son, a bachelor, was the third among five siblings.
Mr Ng Swee Min's oldest brother, a chef, said: "He was a simple guy. After work, he would just be at home, watching television or reading the newspapers.
"And sometimes he would play mahjong with friends."
ExxonMobil, the world's largest oil company, is presently drawing on its inventory but traders are expecting prices to rise if the plant's closure is prolonged as it would mean a 10 per cent shortfall in Singapore's total refining output.
In a separate incident, a worker was badly injured in a fire at the NSL OilChem Services in Tanjong Kling Road in Jurong, about six hours after the ExxonMobil blaze. The Indian national remains in a critical condition at SGH.
DOUBLE WAKES
By KHUSHWANT SINGH, CAROLYN QUEK, TRACY SUA
The Straits Times
05/05/2007
JURONG ISLAND FIRE
Families of 2 victims hoping for answers in meeting with firm
THE families of the two men who died in the ExxonMobil fire on Thursday are hoping they will find out how the accident happened when they meet the men's employers today.
They also intend to conduct prayers at the accident site.
Mr Tan Kong Lam, 54, and Mr Ng Swee Min, 48, were burnt to death at the Pulau Ayer Chawan refinery on Jurong Island as they were removing metal plates from a pipe in a process called de-blinding at about 1.15am.
The blaze also injured two pipe fitters, Mr Hannan Abdul Jalil and Mr Prabir Rajah, both 30-year-old Bangladeshis.
Mr Prabir suffered 70 per cent burns to his body and remains in a critical condition while Mr Hannan, who suffered 15 per cent burns to his leg is recovering after a skin graft yesterday. Both are warded in the burns unit of the Singapore General Hospital (SGH).
All are employees of Mun Siong Engineering and had started work at 8pm. Mr Tan and Mr Ng were on an elevated platform about 5m above the ground when flames shot up from the distillation plant, which refines crude oil into petroleum products. The men are believed to have died instantly.
Operations at the affected plant have been suspended. It was producing 115,000 barrels a day, one-fifth of ExxonMobil's daily output of 605,000 barrels.
ExxonMobil's communications manager Eva Ho said the unit will remain shut until it is safe to restart it.
ExxonMobil told The Straits Times that investigations are underway and that it did not want to speculate on what had occurred.
Mr Ng's body was burnt completely black. The family of Mr Tan said that although their father's face was not affected, much of his body had been charred.
Youngest son Derrick, 20, in his final year of an information technology diploma course at a polytechnic, said that his father was well aware of the perils of his job.
"He actually had a friend make preparations for his funeral about two or three years ago and also handed me namecards of people to call if something happened to him," Derrick said.
Mr Ng Hoot Yu, 80, is also trying to come to terms with his son's death. They shared a two-room rental flat in Henderson Road and the father had advised his son many times to change jobs as he felt working in a refinery was dangerous.
"I feel very heartbroken and lost. This son of mine used to give me about $50 a week. Now that he's gone, I don't know what to do," the elderly man said.
His son, a bachelor, was the third among five siblings.
Mr Ng Swee Min's oldest brother, a chef, said: "He was a simple guy. After work, he would just be at home, watching television or reading the newspapers.
"And sometimes he would play mahjong with friends."
ExxonMobil, the world's largest oil company, is presently drawing on its inventory but traders are expecting prices to rise if the plant's closure is prolonged as it would mean a 10 per cent shortfall in Singapore's total refining output.
In a separate incident, a worker was badly injured in a fire at the NSL OilChem Services in Tanjong Kling Road in Jurong, about six hours after the ExxonMobil blaze. The Indian national remains in a critical condition at SGH.
Friday, May 4, 2007
JURONG ISLAND FIRE: 2 DEAD 2 INJURED
The following article was published in The New Paper on 4 May 2007.
Why didn't you listen to me, my son?
By Andre Yeo
The New Paper
04/05/2007
JURONG ISLAND FIRE: 2 DEAD 2 INJURED
Dead man's dad wanted him to quit
PLEASE change your job, the 80-year-old man pleaded with his son.
But Mr Ng Hoot Yu's son would not listen.
If he had, Mr Ng Swee Min, 48, would be alive today.
He was one of two men killed in a fire at ExxonMobil's refinery at Pulau Ayer Chawan on Jurong Island yesterday morning. Two others, both foreign workers, were injured.
The four men worked for Mun Siong Engineering Pte Ltd, which was contracted by ExxonMobil to carry out maintenance work on Jurong Island.
The father said he knew his son's job involved risks and had told him several times to consider a career switch. But his advice went unheeded.
Speaking in Mandarin, he said: "I told him to be a taxi driver or a bus driver because it's safer. But he wouldn't listen. He said he could earn more as a contractor."
His son earned about $1,500 a month, said Mr Ng.
Swee Min had been working for more than 10 years as a contractor on Jurong Island, said his family members.
CALL
The bachelor lived with his dad in a one-room rental flat in Henderson Road. The accident happened at about 1.15am and the father got the call after 5am yesterday.
He said: "His colleague called and said my son had burned to death. I just cried and could not sleep after that."
Swee Min was a quiet man who loved to watch the English Premier League, his brother Swee Ngian, 52, said.
Mr Ng said his son was the third of his four children and would give him $50 every week. The other children live elsewhere. Their mother died many years ago.
Swee Min loved to bet on football and horses. The father said he had told him repeatedly to stop but he wouldn't.
Mr Ng said: "He did not marry because he enjoyed his freedom."
He said his son slept in the living room as it was near the TV and he could watch football any time he wanted to.
Mr Ng slept in the only bedroom. It was cluttered with clothes and furniture when The New Paper visited the flat yesterday.
GIVING HIS CLOTHES AWAY
He said he does not know whether to continue living in the flat.
Swee Min's sister, who declined to be named, said once they found out he had died, they packed all his clothes into plastic bags.
She said: "We're going to give them away. There's no point keeping them now."
Swee Ngian, also a contractor on Jurong Island, said there were risks involved in their jobs.
He said: "It has its dangers as there's oil involved. All it takes is a spark and there will be a huge blaze."
A Ministry of Manpower spokesman said the workers were carrying out de-blinding work when the accident happened.
Mun Siong's managing director, Mr Vincent Quek, 41, told The New Paper last night that he had known the deceased for many years. He considered Swee Min a close friend.
He said: "They were certified workers and I had worked with Ng before. I have lost a good friend. I'm still trying to deal with it."
Besides Swee Min, Mr Tan Kong Lam, 56, was also killed.
Mr Tan lived in Boon Lay with his wife and two sons, aged 20 and 27. One of his sons said his father received a call from his boss on Wednesday evening at home, asking whether he could report for work that night. He immediately agreed.
His wife Madam Lu Qi Ping, a factory cafeteria assistant, described her husband as an easy-going and sociable person.
She broke down when his colleague handed over his haversack. His funeral will be held on Monday.
The bodies will be released to their families today.
A Singapore General Hospital spokesman said one of the foreign workers, a Bangladeshi, suffered 70 per cent burns and is in a critical condition. He is warded at the intensive care unit.
The Indian worker who suffered 15 per cent burns is in a high dependency ward.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force is investigating the cause of the fire.
Why didn't you listen to me, my son?
By Andre Yeo
The New Paper
04/05/2007
JURONG ISLAND FIRE: 2 DEAD 2 INJURED
Dead man's dad wanted him to quit
PLEASE change your job, the 80-year-old man pleaded with his son.
But Mr Ng Hoot Yu's son would not listen.
If he had, Mr Ng Swee Min, 48, would be alive today.
He was one of two men killed in a fire at ExxonMobil's refinery at Pulau Ayer Chawan on Jurong Island yesterday morning. Two others, both foreign workers, were injured.
The four men worked for Mun Siong Engineering Pte Ltd, which was contracted by ExxonMobil to carry out maintenance work on Jurong Island.
The father said he knew his son's job involved risks and had told him several times to consider a career switch. But his advice went unheeded.
Speaking in Mandarin, he said: "I told him to be a taxi driver or a bus driver because it's safer. But he wouldn't listen. He said he could earn more as a contractor."
His son earned about $1,500 a month, said Mr Ng.
Swee Min had been working for more than 10 years as a contractor on Jurong Island, said his family members.
CALL
The bachelor lived with his dad in a one-room rental flat in Henderson Road. The accident happened at about 1.15am and the father got the call after 5am yesterday.
He said: "His colleague called and said my son had burned to death. I just cried and could not sleep after that."
Swee Min was a quiet man who loved to watch the English Premier League, his brother Swee Ngian, 52, said.
Mr Ng said his son was the third of his four children and would give him $50 every week. The other children live elsewhere. Their mother died many years ago.
Swee Min loved to bet on football and horses. The father said he had told him repeatedly to stop but he wouldn't.
Mr Ng said: "He did not marry because he enjoyed his freedom."
He said his son slept in the living room as it was near the TV and he could watch football any time he wanted to.
Mr Ng slept in the only bedroom. It was cluttered with clothes and furniture when The New Paper visited the flat yesterday.
GIVING HIS CLOTHES AWAY
He said he does not know whether to continue living in the flat.
Swee Min's sister, who declined to be named, said once they found out he had died, they packed all his clothes into plastic bags.
She said: "We're going to give them away. There's no point keeping them now."
Swee Ngian, also a contractor on Jurong Island, said there were risks involved in their jobs.
He said: "It has its dangers as there's oil involved. All it takes is a spark and there will be a huge blaze."
A Ministry of Manpower spokesman said the workers were carrying out de-blinding work when the accident happened.
Mun Siong's managing director, Mr Vincent Quek, 41, told The New Paper last night that he had known the deceased for many years. He considered Swee Min a close friend.
He said: "They were certified workers and I had worked with Ng before. I have lost a good friend. I'm still trying to deal with it."
Besides Swee Min, Mr Tan Kong Lam, 56, was also killed.
Mr Tan lived in Boon Lay with his wife and two sons, aged 20 and 27. One of his sons said his father received a call from his boss on Wednesday evening at home, asking whether he could report for work that night. He immediately agreed.
His wife Madam Lu Qi Ping, a factory cafeteria assistant, described her husband as an easy-going and sociable person.
She broke down when his colleague handed over his haversack. His funeral will be held on Monday.
The bodies will be released to their families today.
A Singapore General Hospital spokesman said one of the foreign workers, a Bangladeshi, suffered 70 per cent burns and is in a critical condition. He is warded at the intensive care unit.
The Indian worker who suffered 15 per cent burns is in a high dependency ward.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force is investigating the cause of the fire.
Two killed, two hurt in Jurong Island blaze
The following article was published in the Straits Times on 4 May 2007.
Two killed, two hurt in Jurong Island blaze
By TANYA FONG & SUJIN THOMAS
The Straits Times
04/05/2007
EARLY MORNING TRAGEDY
TWO MEN died and three others were injured in two separate industrial fires yesterday morning.
The first blaze, at 1.15am at the ExxonMobil Singapore oil refinery on Jurong Island, claimed two lives. Two others were injured: One is in critical condition, with 70 per cent burns to his body.
The two workers killed were Singaporeans Tan Kong Lam, 54, and Ng Swee Min, 48, both pipe-fitters. They were carrying out maintenance work on a crude distillation unit at the time of the tragedy.
The Manpower Ministry has issued a partial stop-work order at the site.
The second fire, hours later, occurred at a Jurong oil and chemical plant and resulted in one man suffering 70 per cent burns.
In the Jurong Island fire, Mr Tan and Mr Ng were on an elevated platform about 5m above ground when flames shot up from the distillation unit, which refines crude into petroleum products. The men are believed to have died instantly.
Firemen took 30 minutes to bring the raging blaze under control, said a Singapore Civil Defence Force spokesman.
Two Bangladeshi co-workers who were nearby, Mr Hannan Abdul Jalil and Mr Prabir Rajah, both 30, suffered burns and are being treated at the Burns Unit of the Singapore General Hospital.
Mr Prabir suffered 70 per cent burns to his body and is in critical condition. Mr Hannan suffered 15 per cent burns to his leg.
The four men, all employees of Mun Siong Engineering, began their shift at 8pm on Wednesday night and were to have finished work at 7am yesterday.
Mr Ng's father, Mr Ng Hoot Yu, 80, told The Straits Times he heard the tragic news at 4am yesterday.
"My son's supervisor called and said my son was on a platform when the fire suddenly erupted. The flames leapt up and engulfed him, killing him instantly.
"The caller said it was because there was an oil leak at the bottom of the unit," he said in Mandarin.
ExxonMobil's communications manager, Miss Eva Ho, said investigations are underway.
Yesterday, ExxonMobil Singapore's refinery manager Mr Steve Blume apologised for the accident.
The company said the Jurong Island refinery had clocked three million hours of work without a loss in work-time due to accidents in the first four months of this year.
In the second fire, which took place six hours later, a waste oil tank at NSL OilChem Services in Tanjong Kling Road caught fire at 7.05am.
Firemen put out the fire within 20 minutes. The injured man, an Indian national in his 20s, is in intensive care at SGH.
The SCDF is investigating the two fires.
Two killed, two hurt in Jurong Island blaze
By TANYA FONG & SUJIN THOMAS
The Straits Times
04/05/2007
EARLY MORNING TRAGEDY
TWO MEN died and three others were injured in two separate industrial fires yesterday morning.
The first blaze, at 1.15am at the ExxonMobil Singapore oil refinery on Jurong Island, claimed two lives. Two others were injured: One is in critical condition, with 70 per cent burns to his body.
The two workers killed were Singaporeans Tan Kong Lam, 54, and Ng Swee Min, 48, both pipe-fitters. They were carrying out maintenance work on a crude distillation unit at the time of the tragedy.
The Manpower Ministry has issued a partial stop-work order at the site.
The second fire, hours later, occurred at a Jurong oil and chemical plant and resulted in one man suffering 70 per cent burns.
In the Jurong Island fire, Mr Tan and Mr Ng were on an elevated platform about 5m above ground when flames shot up from the distillation unit, which refines crude into petroleum products. The men are believed to have died instantly.
Firemen took 30 minutes to bring the raging blaze under control, said a Singapore Civil Defence Force spokesman.
Two Bangladeshi co-workers who were nearby, Mr Hannan Abdul Jalil and Mr Prabir Rajah, both 30, suffered burns and are being treated at the Burns Unit of the Singapore General Hospital.
Mr Prabir suffered 70 per cent burns to his body and is in critical condition. Mr Hannan suffered 15 per cent burns to his leg.
The four men, all employees of Mun Siong Engineering, began their shift at 8pm on Wednesday night and were to have finished work at 7am yesterday.
Mr Ng's father, Mr Ng Hoot Yu, 80, told The Straits Times he heard the tragic news at 4am yesterday.
"My son's supervisor called and said my son was on a platform when the fire suddenly erupted. The flames leapt up and engulfed him, killing him instantly.
"The caller said it was because there was an oil leak at the bottom of the unit," he said in Mandarin.
ExxonMobil's communications manager, Miss Eva Ho, said investigations are underway.
Yesterday, ExxonMobil Singapore's refinery manager Mr Steve Blume apologised for the accident.
The company said the Jurong Island refinery had clocked three million hours of work without a loss in work-time due to accidents in the first four months of this year.
In the second fire, which took place six hours later, a waste oil tank at NSL OilChem Services in Tanjong Kling Road caught fire at 7.05am.
Firemen put out the fire within 20 minutes. The injured man, an Indian national in his 20s, is in intensive care at SGH.
The SCDF is investigating the two fires.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Couple barred from hiring new maid
The following article was published in The New Paper on 13 March 2007.
Couple barred from hiring new maid
Mindy Tan
The New Paper, 13 March 2007
WHAT happens when an employer is accused of wrongdoing by a foreign maid?
The employer is barred from hiring another maid pending a Manpower Ministry (MOM) investigation into the maid's complaint.
This can upset the employer's home routine, as Mrs Jessica Chon, a sales manager in her 40s, has learnt.
Her maid alleges she had been verbally abused, but Mrs Chon insisted that she was innocent.
Instead, she claimed her maid, 28, had taken off with money from her daughter's piggy bank.
The maid had apparently packed a haversack and walked out of the Chons' HDB executive maisonette on 11 Jan, just as their 12-year-old daughter, Cheryl, was returning from school.
The Chons immediately made a police report.
An MOM officer informed them the next day that the maid was in a shelter run by the Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (Home).
Their attempts to locate her there failed. (See report on facing page.)
The maid claimed her employer had verbally abused her, an MOM spokesman said. She also alleged that she had been made to work illegally at her employer's business premises.
MOM said it cannot comment further as the case is still under investigation.
The Chons told The New Paper that they were called to MOM for a meeting three days after their maid left.
They said MOM told them the maid's work permit had been cancelled, and they should stop paying the $200 monthly foreign worker levy, for which they had a Giro arrangement.
Mrs Chon and her husband, Mr Patrick Chon, 48, a businessman, said they also had to hand the maid's passport, outstanding salary and other belongings to MOM. The maid's salary was $350.
They want another maid to look after their flat and their daughter but are in a spot because they can't employ a replacement.
BARRED
The MOM spokesman said all complaints by maids are dealt with objectively.
The maid's employer will not be allowed to employ a new maid, pending the outcome of MOM's investigation to establish if there had been serious breaches such as physical abuses, ill-treatment, non-payment of salaries or illegal deployment.
This is a precautionary measure to prevent another maid from being subject to the same abuse while investigations are ongoing.
Similarly, when a maid is under investigation for complaints against her, she will not be placed with another employer while investigations are ongoing, the spokesman said.
The Chons say they have appealed to their MP, Hong Kah GRC MP Yeo Cheow Tong at a meet-the-people's session.
A spokesman for the MP confirmed that Mrs Chon had seen Mr Yeo several times and that he was making an appeal on her behalf.
Couple barred from hiring new maid
Mindy Tan
The New Paper, 13 March 2007
WHAT happens when an employer is accused of wrongdoing by a foreign maid?
The employer is barred from hiring another maid pending a Manpower Ministry (MOM) investigation into the maid's complaint.
This can upset the employer's home routine, as Mrs Jessica Chon, a sales manager in her 40s, has learnt.
Her maid alleges she had been verbally abused, but Mrs Chon insisted that she was innocent.
Instead, she claimed her maid, 28, had taken off with money from her daughter's piggy bank.
The maid had apparently packed a haversack and walked out of the Chons' HDB executive maisonette on 11 Jan, just as their 12-year-old daughter, Cheryl, was returning from school.
The Chons immediately made a police report.
An MOM officer informed them the next day that the maid was in a shelter run by the Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (Home).
Their attempts to locate her there failed. (See report on facing page.)
The maid claimed her employer had verbally abused her, an MOM spokesman said. She also alleged that she had been made to work illegally at her employer's business premises.
MOM said it cannot comment further as the case is still under investigation.
The Chons told The New Paper that they were called to MOM for a meeting three days after their maid left.
They said MOM told them the maid's work permit had been cancelled, and they should stop paying the $200 monthly foreign worker levy, for which they had a Giro arrangement.
Mrs Chon and her husband, Mr Patrick Chon, 48, a businessman, said they also had to hand the maid's passport, outstanding salary and other belongings to MOM. The maid's salary was $350.
They want another maid to look after their flat and their daughter but are in a spot because they can't employ a replacement.
BARRED
The MOM spokesman said all complaints by maids are dealt with objectively.
The maid's employer will not be allowed to employ a new maid, pending the outcome of MOM's investigation to establish if there had been serious breaches such as physical abuses, ill-treatment, non-payment of salaries or illegal deployment.
This is a precautionary measure to prevent another maid from being subject to the same abuse while investigations are ongoing.
Similarly, when a maid is under investigation for complaints against her, she will not be placed with another employer while investigations are ongoing, the spokesman said.
The Chons say they have appealed to their MP, Hong Kah GRC MP Yeo Cheow Tong at a meet-the-people's session.
A spokesman for the MP confirmed that Mrs Chon had seen Mr Yeo several times and that he was making an appeal on her behalf.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Recognise 'care work' as work for Workfare
The following article was published in the Straits Times on 28 Feb 2007.
Recognise 'care work' as work for Workfare
Straits Times, 28 February 2007
'I WISH to ask the House to reflect on whether the Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) scheme will, inadvertently encourage more and more older people to live on their own? Let me explain.
When an elderly couple live with the adult child he/she is expected to help out with caring for the grandchildren.
On top of grandparenting duties, the elderly couple may have health problems, or mental stress due to inability to discipline the young kids.
In some households, the adult children may not even give any pocket money to the older people and assume that since they co-reside, they should contribute by babysitting.
Conflicts may propel the elderly couple to find peace in a rental flat away from the friction of inter-generational ties.
So why do I say that WIS may inadvertently push more elderly to strike out on a path of independent living? Well, if they manage to get some work, for example at a hawker stall or cleaning job, they can benefit from WIS.
My question is, why should a family member continue to care for an older spouse or a grandchild if social policies actually encourage working for someone outside the family?
We need to address the key question here: Is 'care work' to be recognised as work?
If Singapore is to continue to witness families that are strong and healthy, it has to recognise 'care work' seriously.
Statistics for Singapore are not available currently, but we can assume that many thousands of dollars are saved when altruistic family members assume the responsibility of care for the sick and disabled.
In the bottom 20 per cent of the economic ladder, family caregivers are not benefiting from any of the incentives such as aged parent tax relief, waiver of foreign maid levy, or grandparent caregiver tax relief.
If, ideologically, we recognise that 'care work' is a form of work, it would not be difficult to create a sub-category under informal workers in the WIS, that supplements their income in the same way as the self-employed.
The non-working primary caregivers, above the age of 35 years, in poor families need some form of safety net that offers them social security and dignity when they are old.
Including them in the WIS scheme will be a concrete gesture (not just rhetoric) on the part of the Government that 'filial piety' as well as 'family caregiving' is a value that is recognised and treasured.'
Recognise 'care work' as work for Workfare
Straits Times, 28 February 2007
'I WISH to ask the House to reflect on whether the Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) scheme will, inadvertently encourage more and more older people to live on their own? Let me explain.
When an elderly couple live with the adult child he/she is expected to help out with caring for the grandchildren.
On top of grandparenting duties, the elderly couple may have health problems, or mental stress due to inability to discipline the young kids.
In some households, the adult children may not even give any pocket money to the older people and assume that since they co-reside, they should contribute by babysitting.
Conflicts may propel the elderly couple to find peace in a rental flat away from the friction of inter-generational ties.
So why do I say that WIS may inadvertently push more elderly to strike out on a path of independent living? Well, if they manage to get some work, for example at a hawker stall or cleaning job, they can benefit from WIS.
My question is, why should a family member continue to care for an older spouse or a grandchild if social policies actually encourage working for someone outside the family?
We need to address the key question here: Is 'care work' to be recognised as work?
If Singapore is to continue to witness families that are strong and healthy, it has to recognise 'care work' seriously.
Statistics for Singapore are not available currently, but we can assume that many thousands of dollars are saved when altruistic family members assume the responsibility of care for the sick and disabled.
In the bottom 20 per cent of the economic ladder, family caregivers are not benefiting from any of the incentives such as aged parent tax relief, waiver of foreign maid levy, or grandparent caregiver tax relief.
If, ideologically, we recognise that 'care work' is a form of work, it would not be difficult to create a sub-category under informal workers in the WIS, that supplements their income in the same way as the self-employed.
The non-working primary caregivers, above the age of 35 years, in poor families need some form of safety net that offers them social security and dignity when they are old.
Including them in the WIS scheme will be a concrete gesture (not just rhetoric) on the part of the Government that 'filial piety' as well as 'family caregiving' is a value that is recognised and treasured.'
Friday, February 16, 2007
Maid levy cut by $30 a month for all
The following article was published in the Straits Times on 14 Feb 2007.
Maid levy cut by $30 a month for all
Straits Times, 16 February 2007
Those hiring domestic help for disabled family members will pay concession rate
GOOD news on two fronts for those with foreign maids in yesterday's Budget.
First, the monthly $295 levy payable to the Government will be cut for all households by $30, to $265, starting from July.
And second, households which employ a maid to help with the care of a disabled family member will from Nov 1 qualify for the $200 concessional rate for the levy.
Previously, the special rate applied only to those with young children and elderly parents. Concessions to the foreign maid levy will be extended to disabled employers and those with disabled family members from Nov 1.
Maid employers have long argued that the $295 monthly levy means they will have to pay lower wages to maids.
The levy charges begin a day after the maid arrives in Singapore. For first-time foreign domestic workers, the levy will begin on the fourth day after she arrives.
In announcing the levy changes, Second Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said many households across Singapore would benefit significantly.
'This will benefit one in every six households in Singapore, which currently employs a foreign maid. It will be particularly helpful for families which need a maid to help take care of dependants,' he said.
The changes to the maid levy will cost the Government a total of $75 million a year in lost revenue. However, it was welcome news for many families with foreign domestic help.
Homemaker Theresa Ng, 40, said: 'The payment is usually made by Giro so we don't really get to see it, not like a cash rebate where the benefit is immediate.'
But the mother of three said that in the long term, it would 'get to a point where the benefits become significant'.
Others such as Madam M.L. Cheng, 50, warmly welcomed the news that the concessional levy is being extended beyond those households with young children and elderly parents.
She hired a foreign maid after her father died to help look after her 48-year-old brother, who is crippled and suffers from epilepsy.
'The $95 a month will help as the bulk of my expenses comes from medication and supplements,' she said. 'For families who are not so well-off and need the extra cash, it will definitely help them cope better.'
However, for Miss Vivian Goh, who suffers from muscular atrophy but is unable to afford the cost of hiring a maid, the levy remains steep even after the cut.
'My mother is not working and we depend on charity and an income of between $200 and $300 a month. I think even with the concession, we still can't afford to hire a helper,' she said.
Mr Tharman said details on the qualifying criteria for the changes will be announced by the Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, later.
Maid levy cut by $30 a month for all
Straits Times, 16 February 2007
Those hiring domestic help for disabled family members will pay concession rate
GOOD news on two fronts for those with foreign maids in yesterday's Budget.
First, the monthly $295 levy payable to the Government will be cut for all households by $30, to $265, starting from July.
And second, households which employ a maid to help with the care of a disabled family member will from Nov 1 qualify for the $200 concessional rate for the levy.
Previously, the special rate applied only to those with young children and elderly parents. Concessions to the foreign maid levy will be extended to disabled employers and those with disabled family members from Nov 1.
Maid employers have long argued that the $295 monthly levy means they will have to pay lower wages to maids.
The levy charges begin a day after the maid arrives in Singapore. For first-time foreign domestic workers, the levy will begin on the fourth day after she arrives.
In announcing the levy changes, Second Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said many households across Singapore would benefit significantly.
'This will benefit one in every six households in Singapore, which currently employs a foreign maid. It will be particularly helpful for families which need a maid to help take care of dependants,' he said.
The changes to the maid levy will cost the Government a total of $75 million a year in lost revenue. However, it was welcome news for many families with foreign domestic help.
Homemaker Theresa Ng, 40, said: 'The payment is usually made by Giro so we don't really get to see it, not like a cash rebate where the benefit is immediate.'
But the mother of three said that in the long term, it would 'get to a point where the benefits become significant'.
Others such as Madam M.L. Cheng, 50, warmly welcomed the news that the concessional levy is being extended beyond those households with young children and elderly parents.
She hired a foreign maid after her father died to help look after her 48-year-old brother, who is crippled and suffers from epilepsy.
'The $95 a month will help as the bulk of my expenses comes from medication and supplements,' she said. 'For families who are not so well-off and need the extra cash, it will definitely help them cope better.'
However, for Miss Vivian Goh, who suffers from muscular atrophy but is unable to afford the cost of hiring a maid, the levy remains steep even after the cut.
'My mother is not working and we depend on charity and an income of between $200 and $300 a month. I think even with the concession, we still can't afford to hire a helper,' she said.
Mr Tharman said details on the qualifying criteria for the changes will be announced by the Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, later.
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Lawyers using 'pushy tactics' to get workplace injury clients
Lawyers using 'pushy tactics' to get workplace injury clients
Lorna Tan, Finance Correspondent
Straits Times, 20 January 2007
Insurers unhappy such claims are on the rise and affecting business
GENERAL insurers are seeing red over 'ambulance-chasing' lawyers urging construction workers to sue their bosses under common law rather than claiming under the Workmen Compensation Act.
Lawyers are so keen to get the business that they turn up at popular recreational spots for foreign workers, such as Little India, to look for 'victims' of workplace accidents.
Insurers say the practice is resulting in claims that are at least 50 per cent higher than normal, and plunging the already unprofitable business of insuring building firms further into the red.
However, lawyers claim they are merely helping workers, mainly foreigners, understand their rights and reap better compensation for workplace injuries.
Workers can go for a potentially hefty payout under common law but if that fails in court they can turn to the Compensation Act. Under the Act, however, they have only one year from the time of the injury to file a claim.
It is a potentially huge market. There are about 240,600 construction employees here, of whom 135,000 are foreign. According to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) website, there were more than 1,100 construction-related accidents every year from 1996 to 2005.
Lawyers who go 'Sunday shopping' around Little India - a favoured hunting ground for Bangladeshis - or Golden Mile complex where Thais congregate, openly ask workers if they or their colleagues have work-related injuries.
Sources claim that some lawyers even pay a fee to 'informants' who provide leads.
This practice, if true, is illegal as touting for work and paying commissions to non-lawyers to obtain business are not permitted.
Once a victim has been found, lawyers may offer to waive legal expenses until damages are awarded but will take a cut - usually 20 to 30 per cent - from the eventual payout.
Employers are required to provide compensation insurance which workers can claim if injured.
Under the Workmen Compensation Act, employees doing manual work or those earning less than $1,600 a month are entitled to compensation if injured.
Compensation ranges from small sums for medical expenses for minor injuries to a maximum of $147,000 for permanent incapacity, such as the loss of limbs. If a worker dies, his dependants can be paid up to $111,000.
Yet some workers employing legal help have been able to claim substantially more by suing under common law.
One example is a building worker in his 40s whose foot was severed near the ankle in a worksite accident. He also suffered spine and shoulder injuries.
He received a payout of $180,000 under common law, more than double the $85,000 he would have received under the Act, said insurance cooperative NTUC Income.
Payouts are potentially higher under common law because it allows damages to be paid for a worker's 'suffering and pain' while the Workmen Compensation Act does not. There are also no specified limits to payouts under common law.
An insurer, who declined to be named, said: 'These ambulance chasers go to the workers and create a demand for their services. The manner in which they generate business is not right.'
Insurers are also concerned that such tactics could lead to self-inflicted injuries or exaggerated claims.
But lawyers dismiss the criticism, saying they play 'a critical role in informing foreign workers of their rights and assisting them with remedies'.
A lawyer, who declined to be named, pointed out that to win a case under common law, negligence on the part of the employer or the main contractor has to be proven.
This is not necessary under the Workmen Compensation Act, where the payout will be awarded if there is a work-related injury, regardless of whose fault it is.
'Rather than pointing fingers at us, insurers should encourage their clients (construction firms) to make their workplaces safer. Workers can't sue if they can't prove negligence,' said the lawyer.
General Insurance Association (GIA) president Derek Teo said the rising number of injured workers turning to lawyers has been one of the contributing factors to insurers suffering a loss from writing workmen compensation insurance since 2001.
The other factor is underpricing of premiums by the insurers, due to stiff competition.
For every $1 in premiums collected by insurers, they are paying out 86.2 cents in claims. In the year to last September, insurers faced an underwriting loss of $17.4 million, up from $15 million in 2005 for workmen compensation.
GIA does not track the breakdown in claims under common law and the Workmen Compensation Act.
'We will work with employers, especially the construction sector, to enhance their work safety programme,' said Mr Teo.
GIA and MOM are in talks with the Law Society to facilitate the resolution of claims by foreign workers.
QUESTIONABLE PRACTICES
'These ambulance chasers go to the workers and create a demand for their services. The manner in which they generate business is not right.'
AN INSURER, on lawyers who go to recreational spots for foreign workers to look for 'victims' of workplace accidents
NEGLIGENCE STILL KEY
'Rather than pointing fingers at us, insurers should encourage their clients (construction firms) to make their workplaces safer. Workers can't sue if they can't prove negligence.'A LAWYER, referring to suits under common law
Lorna Tan, Finance Correspondent
Straits Times, 20 January 2007
Insurers unhappy such claims are on the rise and affecting business
GENERAL insurers are seeing red over 'ambulance-chasing' lawyers urging construction workers to sue their bosses under common law rather than claiming under the Workmen Compensation Act.
Lawyers are so keen to get the business that they turn up at popular recreational spots for foreign workers, such as Little India, to look for 'victims' of workplace accidents.
Insurers say the practice is resulting in claims that are at least 50 per cent higher than normal, and plunging the already unprofitable business of insuring building firms further into the red.
However, lawyers claim they are merely helping workers, mainly foreigners, understand their rights and reap better compensation for workplace injuries.
Workers can go for a potentially hefty payout under common law but if that fails in court they can turn to the Compensation Act. Under the Act, however, they have only one year from the time of the injury to file a claim.
It is a potentially huge market. There are about 240,600 construction employees here, of whom 135,000 are foreign. According to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) website, there were more than 1,100 construction-related accidents every year from 1996 to 2005.
Lawyers who go 'Sunday shopping' around Little India - a favoured hunting ground for Bangladeshis - or Golden Mile complex where Thais congregate, openly ask workers if they or their colleagues have work-related injuries.
Sources claim that some lawyers even pay a fee to 'informants' who provide leads.
This practice, if true, is illegal as touting for work and paying commissions to non-lawyers to obtain business are not permitted.
Once a victim has been found, lawyers may offer to waive legal expenses until damages are awarded but will take a cut - usually 20 to 30 per cent - from the eventual payout.
Employers are required to provide compensation insurance which workers can claim if injured.
Under the Workmen Compensation Act, employees doing manual work or those earning less than $1,600 a month are entitled to compensation if injured.
Compensation ranges from small sums for medical expenses for minor injuries to a maximum of $147,000 for permanent incapacity, such as the loss of limbs. If a worker dies, his dependants can be paid up to $111,000.
Yet some workers employing legal help have been able to claim substantially more by suing under common law.
One example is a building worker in his 40s whose foot was severed near the ankle in a worksite accident. He also suffered spine and shoulder injuries.
He received a payout of $180,000 under common law, more than double the $85,000 he would have received under the Act, said insurance cooperative NTUC Income.
Payouts are potentially higher under common law because it allows damages to be paid for a worker's 'suffering and pain' while the Workmen Compensation Act does not. There are also no specified limits to payouts under common law.
An insurer, who declined to be named, said: 'These ambulance chasers go to the workers and create a demand for their services. The manner in which they generate business is not right.'
Insurers are also concerned that such tactics could lead to self-inflicted injuries or exaggerated claims.
But lawyers dismiss the criticism, saying they play 'a critical role in informing foreign workers of their rights and assisting them with remedies'.
A lawyer, who declined to be named, pointed out that to win a case under common law, negligence on the part of the employer or the main contractor has to be proven.
This is not necessary under the Workmen Compensation Act, where the payout will be awarded if there is a work-related injury, regardless of whose fault it is.
'Rather than pointing fingers at us, insurers should encourage their clients (construction firms) to make their workplaces safer. Workers can't sue if they can't prove negligence,' said the lawyer.
General Insurance Association (GIA) president Derek Teo said the rising number of injured workers turning to lawyers has been one of the contributing factors to insurers suffering a loss from writing workmen compensation insurance since 2001.
The other factor is underpricing of premiums by the insurers, due to stiff competition.
For every $1 in premiums collected by insurers, they are paying out 86.2 cents in claims. In the year to last September, insurers faced an underwriting loss of $17.4 million, up from $15 million in 2005 for workmen compensation.
GIA does not track the breakdown in claims under common law and the Workmen Compensation Act.
'We will work with employers, especially the construction sector, to enhance their work safety programme,' said Mr Teo.
GIA and MOM are in talks with the Law Society to facilitate the resolution of claims by foreign workers.
QUESTIONABLE PRACTICES
'These ambulance chasers go to the workers and create a demand for their services. The manner in which they generate business is not right.'
AN INSURER, on lawyers who go to recreational spots for foreign workers to look for 'victims' of workplace accidents
NEGLIGENCE STILL KEY
'Rather than pointing fingers at us, insurers should encourage their clients (construction firms) to make their workplaces safer. Workers can't sue if they can't prove negligence.'A LAWYER, referring to suits under common law
Monday, January 15, 2007
Housing standards vary for foreign workers in Singapore
The following article was first published in The Straits Times on 15 January 2007.
Home for them is...
Bu Arlina Arshad
The Straits Times
15 January 2007
Housing standards vary for the 420,000 foreign workers, excluding maids, living here, ranging from luxury dorms with high-tech security systems to illegal kampung sheds on Pulau Ubin. Arlina Arshad looks at their different living conditions.
An overcrowded house with one bathroom on Ubin
A WOODEN zinc-roofed house on Pulau Ubin was housing 25 foreign workers when The Straits Times visited it last month.
A dozen Thai, Indian and Bangladeshi workers were in the compound eating their dinner of rice with vegetables.
Others were enjoying a cigarette, drinking beer, or calling their loved ones back home.
The men, who work on the Chek Jawa coastal boardwalk, invited The Straits Times to take a look around.
Yellow boots crowded the entrance, and muddy tracks were all over the vinyl floor of the house, which had damp clothes and mosquito nets hanging haphazardly from beams.
Eighteen double-decker beds and two single beds lined two walls.
Crowded, you say? The place used to house twice the number of workers, a worker who has since moved out said.
Modern conveniences are not part of the picture. Water has to be drawn from a well and pump-filtered. Bugs are a part of the deal.
Only one toilet and a bathroom serve them all.
An old school building with rubbish all around
The aroma of curry wafted through the canteen-cum-kitchen of Ama Keng Hostel in Lim Chu Kang.
More than 30 foreign workers were whipping up dinner on portable stoves in a dining and cooking area as big as a basketball court.
They did not seem to notice the dirty puddles on the floor, or the cabbage leaves and egg shells strewn around.
Early last month, when The Straits Times visited the school- turned-hostel - which is on the Manpower Ministry's list of approved workers' dormitories - two mongrels were feasting on food scraps.
The building's window panes were old and yellow. Damp clothes hung haphazardly on beams in the rooms. To 750 foreign workers, mainly from the marine industry, this was their home.
Getting into the hostel was easy. Visitors, mostly workers from nearby hostels, patronise the hostel's provision shop for beer and tidbits.
It appeared women visitors are a usual sight too. Workers would not say who these women are, but offered the tip that to enter the premises all you had to do was to saunter into the shop and 'pretend to buy things'. A man near the security post did not bat an eyelid when this reporter strolled in with a worker.
Hostel manager Eric Yeoh blamed workers for the dirty conditions. The place is scrubbed with high-pressure water hoses in the evening and cleaners do the job during the day, he said. 'Some workers don't use the toilets...and throw their rubbish all over the place.'
A run-down factory with many problems
In a secluded corner of Kim Chuan Drive stands a run-down workers' quarters.
At SGF Dormitory, blue canvas sheets pass for window curtains. Shower stalls are covered with green slime.
Mosquitoes have been found breeding there thrice between 2005 and last year.
That last transgression brought the dormitory operator composition fines of between $200 and $2,000.
The National Environment Agency checked the three- year-old place again last November and declared it to be in 'satisfactory condition'.
But a month later, SGF was in trouble again, this time with the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), which had been tipped off by The Straits Times: The dorm did not have a Fire Safety Certification; it had illegally converted the first-storey kitchen- cum-dining area into sleeping quarters; it was storing LPG gas without a licence.
For the three offences, they were issued with three notices of Fire Safety Offence, amounting to $1,500.
Last November, The Straits Times saw workers hosing themselves down in the open in a dimly-lit backyard because no bathroom had been provided for them on the first floor.
And with only four hoses available there, some workers were waking up at 4am to shower - or going without it.
In the sleeping quarters, double-decker beds were placed so close that only a narrow space was left between bunks.
Beds were found in the first-floor units, which were supposed to be cooking areas.
When The Straits Times revisited the dorm last week, few improvements were seen.
Dorm director Seah Kim Tek, 58, insisted he has addressed some of the authorities' concerns.
He claimed that: he had written to the Urban Redevelopment Authority for approval to convert the first floor's kitchen-cum-dining area into sleeping quarters; he had told the fuel supplier to get a licence for storing LPG tanks; he had also told the dorms' tenants to have no more than 60 workers in each of the 10 three-storey units.
But The Straits Times counted 100 beds in one unit. Mr Seah said: 'I only rent them the space. The tenants bought and arranged the beds themselves. They are stubborn and problematic. I am going to tell them to get out by the Chinese New Year.'
When asked if he was going to provide shower stalls and toilets for workers on the first floor, now that it was going to become sleeping quarters, he said: 'They shower at their construction site and then come here. Or they can go upstairs and shower.'
He was referring to the four shower stalls and six toilets on the upper floors.
Asked why workers were cooking in their sleeping quarters, he said, exasperated: 'I told them not to, but they still do it. What do you expect me to do? They refuse to cooperate!'
When asked why the toilet walls are green with slime although he had four cleaners and why canvas sheets were being used to keep out the rain, he replied: 'I can put air-con, provide fans, put up windows, but why do up the place so nicely? The tenants are not going to pay so much, and the workers are going to spoil the things.'
He reckons he has paid about $4,000 in fines since the dorm opened. Meanwhile, he is getting another more fire-safe design plan drawn up for submission to the SCDF.
He blamed his cleaning contractor for not fumigating the place regularly, government officials for 'digging out a mosquito larva hiding behind the brick', and his cooking-gas supplier for putting LPG tanks on the premises.
The workers were not spared in his blame game. He said they had filthy habits and were always squeezing in more people than allowed.
He said: 'These tenants beg you and dump all their sick and accident cases here. Then 'temporary' cases become permanent. I tell them: 'Only 40 to 50 workers a unit, no more, tolong!' '
He was forthcoming about another 'sin' - that, until late last year, the dorm had no water supply for fighting fires.
He said: 'I plan to curi (steal) water from the PUB pipe because PUB didn't want to supply. But there's no fire so, no need to steal. I am an honest man, I won't hide anything from you.'
A spartan shack with no beds initially
For two months, four men slept on thin mattresses laid on the cardboard-lined floor, in a Pulau Ubin kampung house the size of two Housing Board bedrooms.
Centipedes crawled in twice.
When the Malaysians asked their employer, Ban Chuan Trading and Engineering, for beds, they were told there was no money for that.
One worker was aghast. He said in Malay: 'I have worked in so many places in Malaysia, and there have always been proper beds and taps. This place is the worst.'
He and his three roommates are cleaners at the Outward Bound School.
Since they started work there, three of them have had falls or injuries requiring medical attention.
One of them said: 'Our boss told us that he would pay for only the first medical treatment. If we meet with more accidents, we will have to foot the bill.'
The men's lodgings are free, but they have to take a 30-minute bicycle ride to work. The bicycles were given to them.
The men were told that their food would be paid for, but have so far been paying for their own meals.
Their biggest grouse: that their employer was holding on to their passports.
When The Straits Times contacted Ban Chuan, its project manager, Mr Anand Sanmugam, said he did not know the men did not have beds. But by Dec 16, after The Straits Times' check, beds had been sent over.
As for the promise of free food, Mr Sanmugam said it was not in Ban Chuan's employment contract.
He also said the company was holding the men's passports for 'safety', but that he would return their passports on Dec 22. As of last Thursday, this had not happened.
Mr Sanmugam also denied that the company had refused to pay for the men's subsequent medical bills
A secure, well-equipped dorm with cable TV
Foreign workers staying at a Jurong dormitory must tap their access pass or have the veins in their hands scanned by electronic sensor gates before they are allowed into their dormitory.
A security guard stands at the gates of 58, Penjuru Place to keep strangers out. A full-time management officer looks after daily operations.
The 6,000-or-so marine and manufacturing workers who live at the Penjuru Dormitory 1 are lucky compared to their peers living in sub-standard lodgings elsewhere.
There is a well-stocked minimart, a canteen selling Indian and Bangladeshi food, a multi-purpose hall and meeting rooms for employers and their workers. There is also a fitness park.
Each of the 384 units is equipped with its own kitchen, two toilets and a laundry area. Cable television is also available.
Up to 18 men can live in each unit. Each has a locker for his belongings.
Located near shipyards, petrochemical industries and factories, the dorm is the latest of four dorms run by Mini Environment Service. Penjuru Dormitory 2, coming up next door, will house another 6,000 workers by the middle of this year.
Employers pay $110 a month for each worker they place there. Workers, however, pay for their own food and utilities.
Mr Haja Najbudhin, 27, from India, for example, spends $300 of his $800 monthly pay on utilities and food.
MES executive director Lakshmanan S. said the workers have to abide by house rules, which means no gambling and drinking, among other things.
What workers' dormitories should have
Guidelines for standalone dormitories, according to the Code of Practice on Environmental Health:
• If the dormitory does not provide a separate space for cupboards or lockers, the minimum room space should be 4 sq m per person. Otherwise, it is 3 sq m per person.
• The room must be adequately ventilated and lit.
• Adequate number of toilets and sanitary fittings shall be provided. For construction sites with living quarters, a water closet, wash basin, urinal, bench and hanger must be provided for every 15 men or fewer.
Guidelines for workers' dormitories within industrial buildings and warehouses, according to the Urban Redevelopment Authority:
• The workers' quarters shall not exceed 40 per cent of the gross floor area of the building.
• The number of workers must comply with technical requirements of other agencies, including the National Environment Agency and Fire Safety & Shelter Department. The total number of workers shall not exceed 500.
• Dormitories should be located away from residential estates.
Space crunch
- The Straits Times, 15 January 2007
Industry wonders where to house 50,000 foreign workers heading here
Wave of 50,000 foreign workers will sweep into Singapore in the next few years as major construction projects get under way - but housing those now here is already a big headache.
Many of the 420,000 work permit holders here, excluding maids, are being put up in illegal lodgings, often with sub-standard facilities.The Manpower Ministry (MOM) website lists 31 commercially-run workers' dormitories and 34 lessees of temporary workers' quarters scattered across the island.
These are 'off-site' quarters, which mean a daily commute for what the industry players estimate to be 120,000 residents they house. Standards and living conditions vary at these approved quarters - described by the industry as the best.
The snag: Many are full and have long waiting lists.
As many as half the workers are housed in on-site quarters. A small-scale Singapore Contractors Association Limited (SCAL) survey of 230 construction companies housing 12,000 workers found that half of these workers were in on-site lodgings.
While these quarters do not need planning approval by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), the stand-alone, off-site ones are bound by the Code of Practice on Environmental Health.
The code requires each worker to have at least 4sqm of space if no lockers are provided, and 3sqm with lockers. The room also has to be adequately airy and lit.
The URA bars foreign workers from occupying private apartments and landed residential properties, but dormitory operators reckon a quarter of work permit holders here are flouting this rule.
Dormitory operators and employers want to see more space freed up, so that more dormitories - with proper facilities - can be constructed ahead of the surge of foreign workers heading here for work on major projects, such as the integrated resorts.
The industry also wants dormitories to be better equipped, and for more stringent checks to ensure minimum standards in hygiene and safety.
A third item on the industry's wish list: a single government agency to oversee foreign worker housing.
As it stands now, different aspects of the issue come under the URA, MOM, the Building and Construction Authority, the Singapore Civil Defence Force, and the National Environment Agency (NEA).
The industry has grounds for concern. One stems from the Housing Board's ban last November on flat owners renting their flats to non-Malaysian construction workers.
At around the same time, the URA relaxed the rules to let foreign construction and factory workers stay in dormitories converted from warehouses, which were previously meant only for employees who worked in those buildings.
The problem was that the URA move did not ease the space crunch.
Industry experts said the URA was merely making illegal quarters for those not working in the building legal, rather than increasing housing options.
Mr Foo Kok Kiong, president of the Building Construction and Timber Industries Employees' Union, said $200 per worker was a 'reasonable' amount for employers to foot. It should cover room, food and utilities.
But he noted that some employers - especially those hiring fewer than 100 workers - were spending only $50 a worker.
He said: 'Employers rent a room from dormitory operators for $1,000 and squeeze in as many people as possible. Most dorm operators don't care and, so far, we have not heard of anyone being penalised for this.'
A Straits Times check with five dormitories, including two approved by the authorities, found many wanting. (See accompanying stories.)
For the moment, not a single industry player - be it a government agency, construction firm, union leader or dormitory operator - knows exactly how many illegal dormitories exist or where they are.
Employers who house workers in illegal quarters say they do it because of the lack of dormitories.
The space crunch gets so bad sometimes that tumpang cases are common, said Mr Foo, referring to the employers' practice of paying another employer to house their workers.
If caught using private apartments as a dormitory, an employer can be fined up to $200,000 under the Planning Act. Fines of $8,000 to $10,000 are more usual, industry players told The Straits Times.
The NEA also does some policing. It checked 53 dormitories last year and issued 14 $200 summonses for mosquito-breeding.
The Ministry of National Development is now identifying sites suitable for building dormitories and preparing them for public tender.
Home for them is...
Bu Arlina Arshad
The Straits Times
15 January 2007
Housing standards vary for the 420,000 foreign workers, excluding maids, living here, ranging from luxury dorms with high-tech security systems to illegal kampung sheds on Pulau Ubin. Arlina Arshad looks at their different living conditions.
An overcrowded house with one bathroom on Ubin
A WOODEN zinc-roofed house on Pulau Ubin was housing 25 foreign workers when The Straits Times visited it last month.
A dozen Thai, Indian and Bangladeshi workers were in the compound eating their dinner of rice with vegetables.
Others were enjoying a cigarette, drinking beer, or calling their loved ones back home.
The men, who work on the Chek Jawa coastal boardwalk, invited The Straits Times to take a look around.
Yellow boots crowded the entrance, and muddy tracks were all over the vinyl floor of the house, which had damp clothes and mosquito nets hanging haphazardly from beams.
Eighteen double-decker beds and two single beds lined two walls.
Crowded, you say? The place used to house twice the number of workers, a worker who has since moved out said.
Modern conveniences are not part of the picture. Water has to be drawn from a well and pump-filtered. Bugs are a part of the deal.
Only one toilet and a bathroom serve them all.
An old school building with rubbish all around
The aroma of curry wafted through the canteen-cum-kitchen of Ama Keng Hostel in Lim Chu Kang.
More than 30 foreign workers were whipping up dinner on portable stoves in a dining and cooking area as big as a basketball court.
They did not seem to notice the dirty puddles on the floor, or the cabbage leaves and egg shells strewn around.
Early last month, when The Straits Times visited the school- turned-hostel - which is on the Manpower Ministry's list of approved workers' dormitories - two mongrels were feasting on food scraps.
The building's window panes were old and yellow. Damp clothes hung haphazardly on beams in the rooms. To 750 foreign workers, mainly from the marine industry, this was their home.
Getting into the hostel was easy. Visitors, mostly workers from nearby hostels, patronise the hostel's provision shop for beer and tidbits.
It appeared women visitors are a usual sight too. Workers would not say who these women are, but offered the tip that to enter the premises all you had to do was to saunter into the shop and 'pretend to buy things'. A man near the security post did not bat an eyelid when this reporter strolled in with a worker.
Hostel manager Eric Yeoh blamed workers for the dirty conditions. The place is scrubbed with high-pressure water hoses in the evening and cleaners do the job during the day, he said. 'Some workers don't use the toilets...and throw their rubbish all over the place.'
A run-down factory with many problems
In a secluded corner of Kim Chuan Drive stands a run-down workers' quarters.
At SGF Dormitory, blue canvas sheets pass for window curtains. Shower stalls are covered with green slime.
Mosquitoes have been found breeding there thrice between 2005 and last year.
That last transgression brought the dormitory operator composition fines of between $200 and $2,000.
The National Environment Agency checked the three- year-old place again last November and declared it to be in 'satisfactory condition'.
But a month later, SGF was in trouble again, this time with the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), which had been tipped off by The Straits Times: The dorm did not have a Fire Safety Certification; it had illegally converted the first-storey kitchen- cum-dining area into sleeping quarters; it was storing LPG gas without a licence.
For the three offences, they were issued with three notices of Fire Safety Offence, amounting to $1,500.
Last November, The Straits Times saw workers hosing themselves down in the open in a dimly-lit backyard because no bathroom had been provided for them on the first floor.
And with only four hoses available there, some workers were waking up at 4am to shower - or going without it.
In the sleeping quarters, double-decker beds were placed so close that only a narrow space was left between bunks.
Beds were found in the first-floor units, which were supposed to be cooking areas.
When The Straits Times revisited the dorm last week, few improvements were seen.
Dorm director Seah Kim Tek, 58, insisted he has addressed some of the authorities' concerns.
He claimed that: he had written to the Urban Redevelopment Authority for approval to convert the first floor's kitchen-cum-dining area into sleeping quarters; he had told the fuel supplier to get a licence for storing LPG tanks; he had also told the dorms' tenants to have no more than 60 workers in each of the 10 three-storey units.
But The Straits Times counted 100 beds in one unit. Mr Seah said: 'I only rent them the space. The tenants bought and arranged the beds themselves. They are stubborn and problematic. I am going to tell them to get out by the Chinese New Year.'
When asked if he was going to provide shower stalls and toilets for workers on the first floor, now that it was going to become sleeping quarters, he said: 'They shower at their construction site and then come here. Or they can go upstairs and shower.'
He was referring to the four shower stalls and six toilets on the upper floors.
Asked why workers were cooking in their sleeping quarters, he said, exasperated: 'I told them not to, but they still do it. What do you expect me to do? They refuse to cooperate!'
When asked why the toilet walls are green with slime although he had four cleaners and why canvas sheets were being used to keep out the rain, he replied: 'I can put air-con, provide fans, put up windows, but why do up the place so nicely? The tenants are not going to pay so much, and the workers are going to spoil the things.'
He reckons he has paid about $4,000 in fines since the dorm opened. Meanwhile, he is getting another more fire-safe design plan drawn up for submission to the SCDF.
He blamed his cleaning contractor for not fumigating the place regularly, government officials for 'digging out a mosquito larva hiding behind the brick', and his cooking-gas supplier for putting LPG tanks on the premises.
The workers were not spared in his blame game. He said they had filthy habits and were always squeezing in more people than allowed.
He said: 'These tenants beg you and dump all their sick and accident cases here. Then 'temporary' cases become permanent. I tell them: 'Only 40 to 50 workers a unit, no more, tolong!' '
He was forthcoming about another 'sin' - that, until late last year, the dorm had no water supply for fighting fires.
He said: 'I plan to curi (steal) water from the PUB pipe because PUB didn't want to supply. But there's no fire so, no need to steal. I am an honest man, I won't hide anything from you.'
A spartan shack with no beds initially
For two months, four men slept on thin mattresses laid on the cardboard-lined floor, in a Pulau Ubin kampung house the size of two Housing Board bedrooms.
Centipedes crawled in twice.
When the Malaysians asked their employer, Ban Chuan Trading and Engineering, for beds, they were told there was no money for that.
One worker was aghast. He said in Malay: 'I have worked in so many places in Malaysia, and there have always been proper beds and taps. This place is the worst.'
He and his three roommates are cleaners at the Outward Bound School.
Since they started work there, three of them have had falls or injuries requiring medical attention.
One of them said: 'Our boss told us that he would pay for only the first medical treatment. If we meet with more accidents, we will have to foot the bill.'
The men's lodgings are free, but they have to take a 30-minute bicycle ride to work. The bicycles were given to them.
The men were told that their food would be paid for, but have so far been paying for their own meals.
Their biggest grouse: that their employer was holding on to their passports.
When The Straits Times contacted Ban Chuan, its project manager, Mr Anand Sanmugam, said he did not know the men did not have beds. But by Dec 16, after The Straits Times' check, beds had been sent over.
As for the promise of free food, Mr Sanmugam said it was not in Ban Chuan's employment contract.
He also said the company was holding the men's passports for 'safety', but that he would return their passports on Dec 22. As of last Thursday, this had not happened.
Mr Sanmugam also denied that the company had refused to pay for the men's subsequent medical bills
A secure, well-equipped dorm with cable TV
Foreign workers staying at a Jurong dormitory must tap their access pass or have the veins in their hands scanned by electronic sensor gates before they are allowed into their dormitory.
A security guard stands at the gates of 58, Penjuru Place to keep strangers out. A full-time management officer looks after daily operations.
The 6,000-or-so marine and manufacturing workers who live at the Penjuru Dormitory 1 are lucky compared to their peers living in sub-standard lodgings elsewhere.
There is a well-stocked minimart, a canteen selling Indian and Bangladeshi food, a multi-purpose hall and meeting rooms for employers and their workers. There is also a fitness park.
Each of the 384 units is equipped with its own kitchen, two toilets and a laundry area. Cable television is also available.
Up to 18 men can live in each unit. Each has a locker for his belongings.
Located near shipyards, petrochemical industries and factories, the dorm is the latest of four dorms run by Mini Environment Service. Penjuru Dormitory 2, coming up next door, will house another 6,000 workers by the middle of this year.
Employers pay $110 a month for each worker they place there. Workers, however, pay for their own food and utilities.
Mr Haja Najbudhin, 27, from India, for example, spends $300 of his $800 monthly pay on utilities and food.
MES executive director Lakshmanan S. said the workers have to abide by house rules, which means no gambling and drinking, among other things.
What workers' dormitories should have
Guidelines for standalone dormitories, according to the Code of Practice on Environmental Health:
• If the dormitory does not provide a separate space for cupboards or lockers, the minimum room space should be 4 sq m per person. Otherwise, it is 3 sq m per person.
• The room must be adequately ventilated and lit.
• Adequate number of toilets and sanitary fittings shall be provided. For construction sites with living quarters, a water closet, wash basin, urinal, bench and hanger must be provided for every 15 men or fewer.
Guidelines for workers' dormitories within industrial buildings and warehouses, according to the Urban Redevelopment Authority:
• The workers' quarters shall not exceed 40 per cent of the gross floor area of the building.
• The number of workers must comply with technical requirements of other agencies, including the National Environment Agency and Fire Safety & Shelter Department. The total number of workers shall not exceed 500.
• Dormitories should be located away from residential estates.
Space crunch
- The Straits Times, 15 January 2007
Industry wonders where to house 50,000 foreign workers heading here
Wave of 50,000 foreign workers will sweep into Singapore in the next few years as major construction projects get under way - but housing those now here is already a big headache.
Many of the 420,000 work permit holders here, excluding maids, are being put up in illegal lodgings, often with sub-standard facilities.The Manpower Ministry (MOM) website lists 31 commercially-run workers' dormitories and 34 lessees of temporary workers' quarters scattered across the island.
These are 'off-site' quarters, which mean a daily commute for what the industry players estimate to be 120,000 residents they house. Standards and living conditions vary at these approved quarters - described by the industry as the best.
The snag: Many are full and have long waiting lists.
As many as half the workers are housed in on-site quarters. A small-scale Singapore Contractors Association Limited (SCAL) survey of 230 construction companies housing 12,000 workers found that half of these workers were in on-site lodgings.
While these quarters do not need planning approval by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), the stand-alone, off-site ones are bound by the Code of Practice on Environmental Health.
The code requires each worker to have at least 4sqm of space if no lockers are provided, and 3sqm with lockers. The room also has to be adequately airy and lit.
The URA bars foreign workers from occupying private apartments and landed residential properties, but dormitory operators reckon a quarter of work permit holders here are flouting this rule.
Dormitory operators and employers want to see more space freed up, so that more dormitories - with proper facilities - can be constructed ahead of the surge of foreign workers heading here for work on major projects, such as the integrated resorts.
The industry also wants dormitories to be better equipped, and for more stringent checks to ensure minimum standards in hygiene and safety.
A third item on the industry's wish list: a single government agency to oversee foreign worker housing.
As it stands now, different aspects of the issue come under the URA, MOM, the Building and Construction Authority, the Singapore Civil Defence Force, and the National Environment Agency (NEA).
The industry has grounds for concern. One stems from the Housing Board's ban last November on flat owners renting their flats to non-Malaysian construction workers.
At around the same time, the URA relaxed the rules to let foreign construction and factory workers stay in dormitories converted from warehouses, which were previously meant only for employees who worked in those buildings.
The problem was that the URA move did not ease the space crunch.
Industry experts said the URA was merely making illegal quarters for those not working in the building legal, rather than increasing housing options.
Mr Foo Kok Kiong, president of the Building Construction and Timber Industries Employees' Union, said $200 per worker was a 'reasonable' amount for employers to foot. It should cover room, food and utilities.
But he noted that some employers - especially those hiring fewer than 100 workers - were spending only $50 a worker.
He said: 'Employers rent a room from dormitory operators for $1,000 and squeeze in as many people as possible. Most dorm operators don't care and, so far, we have not heard of anyone being penalised for this.'
A Straits Times check with five dormitories, including two approved by the authorities, found many wanting. (See accompanying stories.)
For the moment, not a single industry player - be it a government agency, construction firm, union leader or dormitory operator - knows exactly how many illegal dormitories exist or where they are.
Employers who house workers in illegal quarters say they do it because of the lack of dormitories.
The space crunch gets so bad sometimes that tumpang cases are common, said Mr Foo, referring to the employers' practice of paying another employer to house their workers.
If caught using private apartments as a dormitory, an employer can be fined up to $200,000 under the Planning Act. Fines of $8,000 to $10,000 are more usual, industry players told The Straits Times.
The NEA also does some policing. It checked 53 dormitories last year and issued 14 $200 summonses for mosquito-breeding.
The Ministry of National Development is now identifying sites suitable for building dormitories and preparing them for public tender.
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