The following article was publisned in The New Paper on 31 Dec 2008.
As we say goodbye to a not-so-great '08... Nine questions for '09
The New Paper
31/12/2008
The calendar says the year ends today. But some issues do not follow the calendar. These social issues are likely to be repeated from tomorrow unless we heed the lessons that made '08 not so great
1. Can we be more gracious?
Acts of ungraciousness not only made headlines, but were frowned on by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
He appealed for greater kindness and graciousness during his National Day Rally speech in August.
The New Paper also featured several instances of ugly behaviour from Singaporeans.
Like the drinks stall supervisor who mocked an elderly customer (left) for saying "please".
And the verbally abusive uncle who openly puffed on a pipe in an LRT carriage, the man who hogged a bus seat with bags of food, and another senior citizen who spat gum on a woman commuter's hair just for laughs.
Has graciousness gone down the drain in some cases? Will we see a kinder and more gracious society in 2009?
2. Can we treat our foreign workers better?
Unpaid wages and the poor living conditions of foreign workers made the news.
By far the worst case of abuse involved a group of foreign workers who were crammed into a bedbug-infested dormitory in MacPherson.
There was also the quandary of some foreign workers who were stuck here because they had to help the Manpower Ministry with investigations.
And who can forget the uproar by Serangoon Garden residents over plans to build a dorm for foreign workers nearby?
Ridiculous suggestions by Singaporeans included offshore facilities and separate roads for foreign workers.
And let's not forget about domestic helpers.
The Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics told The New Paper in July that maid abuse is still prevalent and deviant maid abusers are still surfacing.
First-world country? Perhaps.
The question is, can the rogues shed this uncivilised mentality in 2009?
3. Can we get tough on rogue landlords?
They agree to rent their flats or rooms, but disappear after collecting deposits or advance rent, leaving you poorer and without a roof over your head.
This year, The New Paper ran at least five reports on such cheating landlords.
One of the largest real estate agencies here said it has been seeing more such cases.
The cynics say we can expect more of such cases in '09 because there will more desperate tricks in the downturn.
To prevent being duped, can you be less gullible?
4. Will investors ever get their savings back?
After the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September, nearly 10,000 retail investors here who sank $500million into structured products linked to the US investment bank lost their money.
Many are retirees who may lose their life savings.
And many claim to have been mis-sold the products.
Eight town councils weren't spared; they had about $16million invested in the troubled products. Is there hope of their getting even a fraction of their money back?
5. Will timeshare victims ever learn?
In the last two months, The New Paper ran a series of reports about victims who did not seem to have learnt from the publicity given to others.
We are talking about timeshare customers.
The Consumers Association of Singapore said complaints against timeshare companies had been its No 1 problem for the last five years.
The Government has strengthened the Consumer Protection Fair Trading Act to better protect consumers.
But given that this problem has been around for years, can more be done?
6. Will there be more welfare shoppers?
They get help from various social service agencies. They refuse to help themselves by getting jobs, choosing instead to rely on charity.
The numbers aren't large, but social workers say it is a problem that has not improved over the past few years.
The ComCare database, which allows social workers to access data of needy families, helps sieve out welfare shoppers. But the system is not foolproof. Will the downturn see the emergence of more welfare shoppers?
7. Can Duxton Road be rid of vice?
In February, MP Christopher de Souza lamented in Parliament that vice had invaded the HDB heartlands. He had seen women he felt were prostitutes around Duxton Road, he said.
Nightspot owners argued that his remarks were unfair and had affected their business. In a report in The New Paper last month, the Tanjong Pagar Business Association blamed renegade pubs for flouting the laws.
The police conducted 24 anti-vice raids in the first nine months of the year and 414people were arrested, mainly women.
Can Duxton Road (right) acquire a respectable image?
8. Can Paralympians receive the same rewards as Olympians?
Picture this disparity: $1million for an Olympic individual gold medal, $100,000 for a Paralympic gold.
Why the huge difference? Olympians get higher rewards because the level of competition at the Olympics is higher, the base of the competition within the Olympics is a lot broader, and the cash awards given to the Olympians and Paralympians are not government-funded but come from the private sector.
But are we discriminating against our disabled athletes? Is it time to change our mindset towards disability?
9. Can our young be less reckless online?
They have no qualms putting footage of their sex romps or naked pictures on the Internet. There seems to be a trend of more young people becoming online exhibitionists.
Then there's the problem of underage sex, some of it beginning in chatrooms.
This month, a 17-year-old boy was put on 12 months' probation for having sex with an 11-year-old girl. They had met on social networking site Friendster, and had sex in her flat and at a HDB staircase landing.
Counsellors said that while the numbers are small, sex among pre-teens is on the rise because of the Internet.
How do we stem such online hanky panky?
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Bangladeshi Worker Found Dead in Dorm
The following article appeared in TODAY on 29 Dec 08.
Worker dead, 10 others hospitalised
Monday • December 29, 2008
By Leong Wee Keat
A FOREIGN worker was found dead at a dormitory yesterday, near where less than two weeks ago, 179 workers had been abandoned.
Fellow workers saidMr Md Kamaluddin, who was in his late 20s, had skipped dinner on Saturday and missed yesterday’s lunch.
They told Today that the Bangladeshi national, who had been living :at 468 Tagore Industrial Avenue, was sick with chicken pox for the past week. Singapore Civil Defence Force paramedics, who pronounced Mr Kamaluddin dead at 1.38pm yesterday, also found rashes on his body.
Ten other Bangladeshi workers with similar symptoms — running fevers and with rashes on their body — were taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital in four ambulances. They were picked up from two dormitories: The one where Mr Kamaluddin stayed, and from nearby 440 Tagore Industrial Avenue.
Yesterday’s incident is the latest saga involving foreign workers in the industrial area. On Dec 15, 179 workers were abandoned by their sub contractor at nearby Tagore Lane.
The dead man lived on the first level of the dormitory, which is roughly the size of two basketball courts. Between 700 and 800 workers live in the two-storey structure.
Workers claimed yesterday that calls made to their employer, Gates Offshore director Paul Lee, about the ill workers had fallen on deaf ears.
When contacted, Mr Lee denied the workers’ allegations. He said he had spent $8,000 on medical fees when there was a recent outbreak of chicken pox. He also said a dormitory supervisor goes on morning rounds to check if any worker is unwell.
As for Mr Kamaluddin, Mr Lee said his supervisors told him that the deceased had gone for a run early yesterday morning and was not suffering from chicken pox.
“I have 700 to 800 workers in the dormitory,” he said. “It is not unusual if someone dies a natural death.”
Mr Kamaluddin’s exact cause of death will only be known later in an autopsy report.
Mr Ashiqn Rahmun, who slept in a bed next to him, said the dead man went to bed early on Saturday night without any dinner. He also said that Mr Kamaluddin, who forked out $8,000 to come to Singapore, had been here for two months, but had not been given any work.
Some workers also claimed that they have not been given sufficient food to eat.
They said only two packets of food — containing rice and servings of curry vegetable and fish — were provided to each worker yesterday.
Mr Lee denied these allegations, and said he spends about $60,000 on food each month for the workers.
Meanwhile, about 150 workers living some 200 metres away at 440 Tagore Industrial Avenue went hungry for almost a day over the weekend.
On Friday, the workers had refused to leave their dormitory after being handed over by a sub-contractor to their employer, Tipper Corporation. The workers wanted pay owed to them by their sub-contractor to be settled first before they moved to new lodgings at Kranji.
The workers claimed that no food was provided on Friday night, Saturday morning and afternoon. Meals, they said, resumed only on Saturday night and two packets of food were given to each of them yesterday.
In a statement to Today, a Ministry of Manpower (MOM) spokesperson said that besides being alerted to the death, it has “also received complaints from about 200 foreign workers staying at the dormitory concerning salary arrears”.
MOM said it is investigating the case and added that employers are “responsible for the upkeep, maintenance and well-being of their foreign workers. They have to bear the costs of the foreign workers’ upkeep and maintenance. This includes the provision of medical treatment. In addition, the employer must provide safe working conditions and acceptable accommodation for the foreign worker”.
It also said that those who fail to pay their workers salaries or provide for their upkeep and maintenance are liable to be charged.
Copyright MediaCorp Press Ltd. All rights reserved.
Worker dead, 10 others hospitalised
Monday • December 29, 2008
By Leong Wee Keat
A FOREIGN worker was found dead at a dormitory yesterday, near where less than two weeks ago, 179 workers had been abandoned.
Fellow workers saidMr Md Kamaluddin, who was in his late 20s, had skipped dinner on Saturday and missed yesterday’s lunch.
They told Today that the Bangladeshi national, who had been living :at 468 Tagore Industrial Avenue, was sick with chicken pox for the past week. Singapore Civil Defence Force paramedics, who pronounced Mr Kamaluddin dead at 1.38pm yesterday, also found rashes on his body.
Ten other Bangladeshi workers with similar symptoms — running fevers and with rashes on their body — were taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital in four ambulances. They were picked up from two dormitories: The one where Mr Kamaluddin stayed, and from nearby 440 Tagore Industrial Avenue.
Yesterday’s incident is the latest saga involving foreign workers in the industrial area. On Dec 15, 179 workers were abandoned by their sub contractor at nearby Tagore Lane.
The dead man lived on the first level of the dormitory, which is roughly the size of two basketball courts. Between 700 and 800 workers live in the two-storey structure.
Workers claimed yesterday that calls made to their employer, Gates Offshore director Paul Lee, about the ill workers had fallen on deaf ears.
When contacted, Mr Lee denied the workers’ allegations. He said he had spent $8,000 on medical fees when there was a recent outbreak of chicken pox. He also said a dormitory supervisor goes on morning rounds to check if any worker is unwell.
As for Mr Kamaluddin, Mr Lee said his supervisors told him that the deceased had gone for a run early yesterday morning and was not suffering from chicken pox.
“I have 700 to 800 workers in the dormitory,” he said. “It is not unusual if someone dies a natural death.”
Mr Kamaluddin’s exact cause of death will only be known later in an autopsy report.
Mr Ashiqn Rahmun, who slept in a bed next to him, said the dead man went to bed early on Saturday night without any dinner. He also said that Mr Kamaluddin, who forked out $8,000 to come to Singapore, had been here for two months, but had not been given any work.
Some workers also claimed that they have not been given sufficient food to eat.
They said only two packets of food — containing rice and servings of curry vegetable and fish — were provided to each worker yesterday.
Mr Lee denied these allegations, and said he spends about $60,000 on food each month for the workers.
Meanwhile, about 150 workers living some 200 metres away at 440 Tagore Industrial Avenue went hungry for almost a day over the weekend.
On Friday, the workers had refused to leave their dormitory after being handed over by a sub-contractor to their employer, Tipper Corporation. The workers wanted pay owed to them by their sub-contractor to be settled first before they moved to new lodgings at Kranji.
The workers claimed that no food was provided on Friday night, Saturday morning and afternoon. Meals, they said, resumed only on Saturday night and two packets of food were given to each of them yesterday.
In a statement to Today, a Ministry of Manpower (MOM) spokesperson said that besides being alerted to the death, it has “also received complaints from about 200 foreign workers staying at the dormitory concerning salary arrears”.
MOM said it is investigating the case and added that employers are “responsible for the upkeep, maintenance and well-being of their foreign workers. They have to bear the costs of the foreign workers’ upkeep and maintenance. This includes the provision of medical treatment. In addition, the employer must provide safe working conditions and acceptable accommodation for the foreign worker”.
It also said that those who fail to pay their workers salaries or provide for their upkeep and maintenance are liable to be charged.
Copyright MediaCorp Press Ltd. All rights reserved.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Bangladeshi worker found dead with rash
The following article was published in The Straits Times on 29 Dec 2008.
Bangladeshi worker found dead with rash
By SUJIN THOMAS
The Straits Times, Home, B2
29/12/2008
A BANGLADESHI worker, believed to have been covered in a rash, was found dead in his dormitory yesterday.
A Tan Tock Seng Hospital spokesman told The Straits Times 10 other workers had been warded for observation at the Communicable Disease Centre.
They have been diagnosed with chicken pox and their condition is stable.
Police and medical officers, arriving at Mohd Kamaluddin's room at the Tagore Industrial Estate, near Upper Thomson Road, pronounced him dead at noon.
The 28-year-old is understood to have arrived in Singapore two months ago, and stayed in a dormitory with about 400 other workers.
Bangladeshi worker found dead with rash
By SUJIN THOMAS
The Straits Times, Home, B2
29/12/2008
A BANGLADESHI worker, believed to have been covered in a rash, was found dead in his dormitory yesterday.
A Tan Tock Seng Hospital spokesman told The Straits Times 10 other workers had been warded for observation at the Communicable Disease Centre.
They have been diagnosed with chicken pox and their condition is stable.
Police and medical officers, arriving at Mohd Kamaluddin's room at the Tagore Industrial Estate, near Upper Thomson Road, pronounced him dead at noon.
The 28-year-old is understood to have arrived in Singapore two months ago, and stayed in a dormitory with about 400 other workers.
Firm told to pay salaries in 2 weeks
The following article appeared in the Straits Times on 23 Dec 2008.
Firm told to pay salaries in 2 weeks
By Melissa Sim
Straits Times
23 December 2008
Tipper Corp promises to pay in full but it may lose workers over illegal deployment
THE 180 Bangladeshi workers who were abandoned at their Tagore Lane living quarters may soon be paid.
Employer Tipper Corp told The Straits Times it has received instructions from the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) to pay the workers within the next two weeks.
A spokesman for the company said it 'is bound to pay the salaries' and it will pay the full outstanding amount.
The saga of the 180 Bangladeshi workers started 12 days ago, when they were told by one of the two subcontractors who hired them that there was no more work and they would not be paid their salaries. The subcontractors then abandoned the workers.
Last Wednesday, meal deliveries stopped and the electricity and water were cut off. Since then, their employer Tipper Corp has provided the workers with food and moved them to a workers' dormitory in Kranji.
However, the workers are still waiting for their salaries that they claim have not been paid.
Tipper Corp said it cannot pay the salaries at the moment, as it does not have the workers' time sheets and payment records.
At a meeting between MOM, Tipper Corp, and subcontractors S1 Engineering and UPNB, held yesterday, Tipper Corp asked for the passports, time sheets and all documents relating to the 180 workers, and another 420 workers who were subcontracted to the two companies.
Tipper Corp said it is expecting to receive all the documents this Friday.
Meanwhile, the company is also at risk of losing its workers.
According to the company spokesman, MOM said the workers would either be repatriated or transferred to other employers.
The ministry has said that it is investigating Tipper Corp for the illegal deployment of foreign workers, as well as for the failure to pay the workers their salaries.
Work pass applications by Tipper Corp will also no longer be accepted by MOM.
(c) 2008 Singapore Press Holdings Limited
Firm told to pay salaries in 2 weeks
By Melissa Sim
Straits Times
23 December 2008
Tipper Corp promises to pay in full but it may lose workers over illegal deployment
THE 180 Bangladeshi workers who were abandoned at their Tagore Lane living quarters may soon be paid.
Employer Tipper Corp told The Straits Times it has received instructions from the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) to pay the workers within the next two weeks.
A spokesman for the company said it 'is bound to pay the salaries' and it will pay the full outstanding amount.
The saga of the 180 Bangladeshi workers started 12 days ago, when they were told by one of the two subcontractors who hired them that there was no more work and they would not be paid their salaries. The subcontractors then abandoned the workers.
Last Wednesday, meal deliveries stopped and the electricity and water were cut off. Since then, their employer Tipper Corp has provided the workers with food and moved them to a workers' dormitory in Kranji.
However, the workers are still waiting for their salaries that they claim have not been paid.
Tipper Corp said it cannot pay the salaries at the moment, as it does not have the workers' time sheets and payment records.
At a meeting between MOM, Tipper Corp, and subcontractors S1 Engineering and UPNB, held yesterday, Tipper Corp asked for the passports, time sheets and all documents relating to the 180 workers, and another 420 workers who were subcontracted to the two companies.
Tipper Corp said it is expecting to receive all the documents this Friday.
Meanwhile, the company is also at risk of losing its workers.
According to the company spokesman, MOM said the workers would either be repatriated or transferred to other employers.
The ministry has said that it is investigating Tipper Corp for the illegal deployment of foreign workers, as well as for the failure to pay the workers their salaries.
Work pass applications by Tipper Corp will also no longer be accepted by MOM.
(c) 2008 Singapore Press Holdings Limited
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Special Report: Woes of Foreign Workers
The following article appeared in the Straits Times on 28 Dec 2008.
30 years on and still there are complaints of... No wages, no work, poor living conditions
By NUR DIANAH SUHAIMI
The Straits Times
28/12/2008
[special report: woes of foreign workers]
30 years on and still there are complaints of... No wages, no work, poor living conditions
Advocacy groups fear foreign worker abuse may get worse, call for stiffer action
It has been more than 30 years since Singapore first opened its doors to foreign unskilled workers.
Sadly, despite the generally good record of employers over the decades, there are cases of exploitation and abuse of foreign workers.
Just two weeks ago, 180 Bangladeshi workers found themselves in the lurch. Their employer, Tipper Corporation, later found out that their wages had not been paid by the sub-contractors.
With the recession likely to worsen, and more companies getting into the red or even keeling over, migrant worker advocacy groups fear that the abuse may get worse.
The most common complaints – non-payment of wages and poor living conditions – may spike.
Ms Braema Mathi, founder and former president of one such advocacy group, Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2), said: "This problem has been with us for so many years. Whenever things go wrong, we keep making the workers pay the price because they are weak and powerless.
"We want workers to come here to build our HDB flats, roads, the IRs and look after our kids. But we are not putting in enough time and money to investigate the malpractices against them."
How easy is it for workers to be exploited? Where are the loopholes in the system?
Social workers said in Singapore, welfare provisions and minimum standards of employment are quite comprehensive. But enforcing these laws may be a tougher nut to crack.
For example, it is difficult for workers to prove non-payment of salary in the Labour Court: They are often unable to produce documentary proof such as job contracts, salary vouchers or time cards.
Said Dr Noorashikin Abdul Rahman, TWC2's chairman of direct services: "Our experience tells us that employers do not always furnish these documentary proofs in their human resources operations. Workers often do not have access to these documents as these are not given to them by employers."
Aggrieved workers also find it hard to pursue claims as they often do not know who their main employers are. It is common for employers to get their workers from sub-contractors.
The workers know only "the person who picks them up from the airport and manages their day-to-day welfare and payment of wages", DrNoorashikin said.
As may have happened to the 180 Bangladeshis, sub-contractors might wash their hands off them in bad times.
It is also believed that some employers, instead of directly hiring foreign workers themselves, use middlemen, and receive kickbacks, despite the authorities making kickbacks illegal since July.
One result of this illegal practice is oversupply as employers, seduced by the kickbacks, take on excess workers.
Said Mr Jolovan Wham, executive director of the Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (Home): "It is difficult to prove money changed hands because there are no receipts or invoices for such illegal transactions."
Employers found guilty can be fined up to $5,000, given six months' jail, or both, and barred from hiring foreign workers.
Observers also believe a major problem for foreign workers' woes starts at the source: the agents, who profit through high fees.
Agents' fees range from $8,000 to $10,000, depending on where the workers are from and how desperate they are to get jobs. The agents may even feed them false promises of high salaries here.
To raise the money, many would-be workers, mostly peasants, sell their land and borrow from illegal moneylenders – in the belief that they can pay off their debts within months of working here.
Many get a rude shock here. Those with jobs may have a long way to go to repay their debts; others with no jobs or who work illegally are eventually repatriated, with their debts mostly unpaid.
Said Mr Mohd Monir Hossain Abdul Jabbar, 34, a Bangladeshi worker here: "Back home, we always hear of men who are sent home from Singapore without any money and later beaten to death by moneylenders. But we always think this will not happen to us."
Social workers point to Singapore's work permit system, which holds foreign workers hostage to employers' whims, as a factor.
The workers are often too scared to complain to the authorities for fear of being sent home.
Ms Mathi said the work permit system makes it possible for dishonest employers to send their workers home without paying their wages.
"Some get security agencies to escort their workers to the airport to ensure that they board the plane. Why do the companies need to do that unless they have unfulfilled contracts?" she asked.
She urged the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) to conduct exit interviews or record their statements at the airport, before the workers return to their home countries.
"This is not foolproof but at least we would have done our part," she said.
In October, Acting Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong told Parliament MOM was working with employment agents to see how the system here can be improved further.
He said his ministry has taken measures to ensure employers who hire foreign workers have work for them and pay them on time. For example, companies must show documentary proof of ongoing projects before getting work permits.
In the first nine months of this year, MOM fined nine employers for non-payment of salaries. Two of the cases involved foreign workers.
Workers who have not been paid their salaries or have other employment issues can lodge a complaint with MOM. "Their complaints will be thoroughly investigated," said a ministry spokesman.
But the overwhelming number of complaints here seem to suggest that many cases go unresolved.
The Bangladesh High Commission received more than 1,000 complaints in the first nine months of this year. Since September, TWC2 has registered about 200 complaints of non-payment of salaries from foreign workers.
Advocacy group Home has been getting salary-related complaints from foreign workers on an almost daily basis since July.
Social workers hope to see a re-look at the structural issues, including the tendering system for projects, marine and construction sector sub-contracting, and the interim permit approval process.
Dr Noorashikin said resorting to stiffer laws and penalties will just be inadequate stop-gap measures.
She urged MOM to work closely with the workers' home countries to weed out rogue middlemen and recruiters.
Ms Mathi agreed, adding: "To what extent has recruiting foreign workers been improved in the decades that Singapore has been dealing with them? It is high time we make this a responsible business."
Unpaid worker fears for well-being of family
When hiring agents came to his village in Madripur, a six-hour bus ride from Dhaka, they promised 29-year-old Riponksan Musharraf Khan a $1,000-a-month job in Singapore. That was a year ago.
Convinced by their promises and with dreams of becoming rich, the Bangladeshi road cleaner sold his land and his wife's jewellery and borrowed $5,000 from moneylenders to raise the $9,000 agent's fee.
His monthly pay of $650 at the time was barely enough to support his wife, two young children and elderly mother, as well as two younger siblings who were still at school.
He came to Singapore in February and was paid $700 a month as a pipe-fitter at Tipper Corp. The pay was less than he had been promised, but he was convinced that if he worked hard, it would go up.
After the fourth month, however, he did not even receive his pay. Each time he asked for it, the subcontractor told him he would have to wait.
Mr Khan has been waiting for seven months. He is now penniless and has not sent any money home for six months.
His family members are living off the charity of neighbours, and have already had their electricity supply cut off. Each month, debt collectors harass them to settle the loan he took out to come to Singapore.
It has been three months since he last telephoned home because he has no money to make calls.
'I don't know whether my wife and children are eating, whether my mother is well, or whether my siblings are still at school. I pray that Allah is taking care of them,' said Mr Khan.
Employer Tipper Corp told The Straits Times last Monday that the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) had given the company two weeks to pay its workers.
But the company said it cannot pay the salaries at the moment, as it did not have the workers' time sheets and payment records.
According to the company's spokesman, MOM has said the workers will either be repatriated or transferred to other employers.
Each day, Mr Khan prays he will receive his seven months' outstanding pay and can continue working here. He plans to renew his contract when it ends in February 2010 so that he can settle his loan back home.
He cries himself to sleep at night, worrying about being repatriated without his pay.
'I will die if I go home now. I have no money to pay my debtors. They will beat me up, hurt my family and burn my house. I'm very scared,' he said.
Promises made, promises broken
Since he arrived in Singapore three months ago, 21-year-old Bangladeshi Mohd Ruhul Amin has not worked a single day.
He has not been registered as a worker with the immigration authorities here and still does not have a work permit, without which he cannot work.
He said his employer, Tipper Corp, had been ignoring his pleas to apply for one.
The only thing that proves he is here for a job is his in-principle approval for a work permit, a piece of paper he carefully folds and keeps in his empty wallet.
This interim document, however, expired last week, making Mr Mohd Ruhul an overstayer.
Said the former baker: 'I don't dare go out. If the police ask for my work permit, I will have nothing to show, and they will send me home.'
Mr Mohd Ruhul said there were nine others like him who were promised jobs at Tipper but had yet to get their work permits.
Like the others who came here to find work, he had made many sacrifices to raise the $9,000 in agent fees.
He said he sold off his bakery business and took a $4,000 loan from moneylenders, even though they charged a monthly interest of $300.
He agreed to the terms of the loan because the agents promised him a job in Singapore, which they said would pay him more than $1,000 a month - three times what he earned as a village baker.
After asking for his parents' blessings, the second of three sons left his village in Narangonj, about an hour's bus ride from Dhaka.
When he reached Singapore, however, he found himself cooped up in a workers' dormitory with no job and no pay.
He was puzzled to discover that there were other Tipper employees who had not been paid or given work for many months.
'If the company does not need workers and cannot pay any salary, why did they bring in new workers like me?' he asked through a Bengali translator.
His biggest worry now is repatriation.
'If they send me home now, the moneylenders will kill me because I don't have any money to pay them,' he said, shaking his head.
Caught between a rock and a hard place
'If they send me home now, the moneylenders will kill me because I don't have any money to pay them.' MR MOHD RUHUL AMIN, 21, a Bangladeshi who came to Singapore three months ago hoping for a job that would pay him $1,000 a month. That job never came, and he now finds himself saddled with a debt of $4,000 plus interest.
30 years on and still there are complaints of... No wages, no work, poor living conditions
By NUR DIANAH SUHAIMI
The Straits Times
28/12/2008
[special report: woes of foreign workers]
30 years on and still there are complaints of... No wages, no work, poor living conditions
Advocacy groups fear foreign worker abuse may get worse, call for stiffer action
It has been more than 30 years since Singapore first opened its doors to foreign unskilled workers.
Sadly, despite the generally good record of employers over the decades, there are cases of exploitation and abuse of foreign workers.
Just two weeks ago, 180 Bangladeshi workers found themselves in the lurch. Their employer, Tipper Corporation, later found out that their wages had not been paid by the sub-contractors.
With the recession likely to worsen, and more companies getting into the red or even keeling over, migrant worker advocacy groups fear that the abuse may get worse.
The most common complaints – non-payment of wages and poor living conditions – may spike.
Ms Braema Mathi, founder and former president of one such advocacy group, Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2), said: "This problem has been with us for so many years. Whenever things go wrong, we keep making the workers pay the price because they are weak and powerless.
"We want workers to come here to build our HDB flats, roads, the IRs and look after our kids. But we are not putting in enough time and money to investigate the malpractices against them."
How easy is it for workers to be exploited? Where are the loopholes in the system?
Social workers said in Singapore, welfare provisions and minimum standards of employment are quite comprehensive. But enforcing these laws may be a tougher nut to crack.
For example, it is difficult for workers to prove non-payment of salary in the Labour Court: They are often unable to produce documentary proof such as job contracts, salary vouchers or time cards.
Said Dr Noorashikin Abdul Rahman, TWC2's chairman of direct services: "Our experience tells us that employers do not always furnish these documentary proofs in their human resources operations. Workers often do not have access to these documents as these are not given to them by employers."
Aggrieved workers also find it hard to pursue claims as they often do not know who their main employers are. It is common for employers to get their workers from sub-contractors.
The workers know only "the person who picks them up from the airport and manages their day-to-day welfare and payment of wages", DrNoorashikin said.
As may have happened to the 180 Bangladeshis, sub-contractors might wash their hands off them in bad times.
It is also believed that some employers, instead of directly hiring foreign workers themselves, use middlemen, and receive kickbacks, despite the authorities making kickbacks illegal since July.
One result of this illegal practice is oversupply as employers, seduced by the kickbacks, take on excess workers.
Said Mr Jolovan Wham, executive director of the Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (Home): "It is difficult to prove money changed hands because there are no receipts or invoices for such illegal transactions."
Employers found guilty can be fined up to $5,000, given six months' jail, or both, and barred from hiring foreign workers.
Observers also believe a major problem for foreign workers' woes starts at the source: the agents, who profit through high fees.
Agents' fees range from $8,000 to $10,000, depending on where the workers are from and how desperate they are to get jobs. The agents may even feed them false promises of high salaries here.
To raise the money, many would-be workers, mostly peasants, sell their land and borrow from illegal moneylenders – in the belief that they can pay off their debts within months of working here.
Many get a rude shock here. Those with jobs may have a long way to go to repay their debts; others with no jobs or who work illegally are eventually repatriated, with their debts mostly unpaid.
Said Mr Mohd Monir Hossain Abdul Jabbar, 34, a Bangladeshi worker here: "Back home, we always hear of men who are sent home from Singapore without any money and later beaten to death by moneylenders. But we always think this will not happen to us."
Social workers point to Singapore's work permit system, which holds foreign workers hostage to employers' whims, as a factor.
The workers are often too scared to complain to the authorities for fear of being sent home.
Ms Mathi said the work permit system makes it possible for dishonest employers to send their workers home without paying their wages.
"Some get security agencies to escort their workers to the airport to ensure that they board the plane. Why do the companies need to do that unless they have unfulfilled contracts?" she asked.
She urged the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) to conduct exit interviews or record their statements at the airport, before the workers return to their home countries.
"This is not foolproof but at least we would have done our part," she said.
In October, Acting Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong told Parliament MOM was working with employment agents to see how the system here can be improved further.
He said his ministry has taken measures to ensure employers who hire foreign workers have work for them and pay them on time. For example, companies must show documentary proof of ongoing projects before getting work permits.
In the first nine months of this year, MOM fined nine employers for non-payment of salaries. Two of the cases involved foreign workers.
Workers who have not been paid their salaries or have other employment issues can lodge a complaint with MOM. "Their complaints will be thoroughly investigated," said a ministry spokesman.
But the overwhelming number of complaints here seem to suggest that many cases go unresolved.
The Bangladesh High Commission received more than 1,000 complaints in the first nine months of this year. Since September, TWC2 has registered about 200 complaints of non-payment of salaries from foreign workers.
Advocacy group Home has been getting salary-related complaints from foreign workers on an almost daily basis since July.
Social workers hope to see a re-look at the structural issues, including the tendering system for projects, marine and construction sector sub-contracting, and the interim permit approval process.
Dr Noorashikin said resorting to stiffer laws and penalties will just be inadequate stop-gap measures.
She urged MOM to work closely with the workers' home countries to weed out rogue middlemen and recruiters.
Ms Mathi agreed, adding: "To what extent has recruiting foreign workers been improved in the decades that Singapore has been dealing with them? It is high time we make this a responsible business."
Unpaid worker fears for well-being of family
When hiring agents came to his village in Madripur, a six-hour bus ride from Dhaka, they promised 29-year-old Riponksan Musharraf Khan a $1,000-a-month job in Singapore. That was a year ago.
Convinced by their promises and with dreams of becoming rich, the Bangladeshi road cleaner sold his land and his wife's jewellery and borrowed $5,000 from moneylenders to raise the $9,000 agent's fee.
His monthly pay of $650 at the time was barely enough to support his wife, two young children and elderly mother, as well as two younger siblings who were still at school.
He came to Singapore in February and was paid $700 a month as a pipe-fitter at Tipper Corp. The pay was less than he had been promised, but he was convinced that if he worked hard, it would go up.
After the fourth month, however, he did not even receive his pay. Each time he asked for it, the subcontractor told him he would have to wait.
Mr Khan has been waiting for seven months. He is now penniless and has not sent any money home for six months.
His family members are living off the charity of neighbours, and have already had their electricity supply cut off. Each month, debt collectors harass them to settle the loan he took out to come to Singapore.
It has been three months since he last telephoned home because he has no money to make calls.
'I don't know whether my wife and children are eating, whether my mother is well, or whether my siblings are still at school. I pray that Allah is taking care of them,' said Mr Khan.
Employer Tipper Corp told The Straits Times last Monday that the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) had given the company two weeks to pay its workers.
But the company said it cannot pay the salaries at the moment, as it did not have the workers' time sheets and payment records.
According to the company's spokesman, MOM has said the workers will either be repatriated or transferred to other employers.
Each day, Mr Khan prays he will receive his seven months' outstanding pay and can continue working here. He plans to renew his contract when it ends in February 2010 so that he can settle his loan back home.
He cries himself to sleep at night, worrying about being repatriated without his pay.
'I will die if I go home now. I have no money to pay my debtors. They will beat me up, hurt my family and burn my house. I'm very scared,' he said.
Promises made, promises broken
Since he arrived in Singapore three months ago, 21-year-old Bangladeshi Mohd Ruhul Amin has not worked a single day.
He has not been registered as a worker with the immigration authorities here and still does not have a work permit, without which he cannot work.
He said his employer, Tipper Corp, had been ignoring his pleas to apply for one.
The only thing that proves he is here for a job is his in-principle approval for a work permit, a piece of paper he carefully folds and keeps in his empty wallet.
This interim document, however, expired last week, making Mr Mohd Ruhul an overstayer.
Said the former baker: 'I don't dare go out. If the police ask for my work permit, I will have nothing to show, and they will send me home.'
Mr Mohd Ruhul said there were nine others like him who were promised jobs at Tipper but had yet to get their work permits.
Like the others who came here to find work, he had made many sacrifices to raise the $9,000 in agent fees.
He said he sold off his bakery business and took a $4,000 loan from moneylenders, even though they charged a monthly interest of $300.
He agreed to the terms of the loan because the agents promised him a job in Singapore, which they said would pay him more than $1,000 a month - three times what he earned as a village baker.
After asking for his parents' blessings, the second of three sons left his village in Narangonj, about an hour's bus ride from Dhaka.
When he reached Singapore, however, he found himself cooped up in a workers' dormitory with no job and no pay.
He was puzzled to discover that there were other Tipper employees who had not been paid or given work for many months.
'If the company does not need workers and cannot pay any salary, why did they bring in new workers like me?' he asked through a Bengali translator.
His biggest worry now is repatriation.
'If they send me home now, the moneylenders will kill me because I don't have any money to pay them,' he said, shaking his head.
Caught between a rock and a hard place
'If they send me home now, the moneylenders will kill me because I don't have any money to pay them.' MR MOHD RUHUL AMIN, 21, a Bangladeshi who came to Singapore three months ago hoping for a job that would pay him $1,000 a month. That job never came, and he now finds himself saddled with a debt of $4,000 plus interest.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Workers move out after wage pledge
The following article appeared in the Straits Times on 21 Dec 08.
Workers move out after wage pledge
By Nur Dianah Suhaimi
21 December 2008
Straits Times
Tagore Lane stand-off resolved after Tipper Corp promises to pay salaries owed to them
It was a classic stand-off. The 180 foreign workers, having being let down by the subcontractors, wanted to see the money owed to them.
Tipper Corporation, the marine company that had used the subcontractors, having now taken over and secured new living quarters, insisted that the men vacate the old premises in Tagore Lane.
Then the boss stepped in, promising the men, all Bangladeshis, they would get their money 'by hook or by crook'.
Yesterday's stand-off was then resolved, as the men - who had not been paid their salaries for up to three months by the subcontractors - agreed to go to their new dormitory in Kranji.
Tipper Corp said the landlord had given the men till yesterday to move out.
The mess started a week ago when one of the two subcontractors who hired the men told them there was no more work, and they would not be paid.
Last Wednesday, meal deliveries stopped and the electricity and water supplies were cut off.
Yesterday's stand-off began at 3pm when two buses were sent to Tagore Lane to transport the workers to Kranji.
But the workers' bags were not packed and laundry was still hanging on clothes lines.
The buses waited.
At about 3.30pm, several Tipper Corp directors turned up but failed to persuade the men to move.
Then, Tipper Corp's director Loke Siew Fai gave this order: 'Tipper is a responsible company. The workers will get their money by hook or by crook.'
One worker, Mr Md Monir Hossain Abdul Jabbar, 34, later said: 'He has given us his word. I hope he keeps his promise and pays us.'
Said Mr S.M. Mojiburrahman, 38: 'Before this, the subcontractor made many promises but we never got our salaries.
'We don't know if this time round, Tipper is going to stick to its promise.'
Still, within minutes, the men had their bags packed and boarded the buses.
By 5pm, the last of the workers had left the Tagore Lane living quarters.
Before yesterday, earlier talks between Tipper Corp and the workers had resulted in a stalemate.
Mr Loke told them last Thursday he would find them jobs but made no promises on the outstanding salaries. He said his company would meet the subcontractors and officials from the Manpower Ministry tomorrow to determine how much each worker is owed.
(c) 2008 Singapore Press Holdings Limited
Workers move out after wage pledge
By Nur Dianah Suhaimi
21 December 2008
Straits Times
Tagore Lane stand-off resolved after Tipper Corp promises to pay salaries owed to them
It was a classic stand-off. The 180 foreign workers, having being let down by the subcontractors, wanted to see the money owed to them.
Tipper Corporation, the marine company that had used the subcontractors, having now taken over and secured new living quarters, insisted that the men vacate the old premises in Tagore Lane.
Then the boss stepped in, promising the men, all Bangladeshis, they would get their money 'by hook or by crook'.
Yesterday's stand-off was then resolved, as the men - who had not been paid their salaries for up to three months by the subcontractors - agreed to go to their new dormitory in Kranji.
Tipper Corp said the landlord had given the men till yesterday to move out.
The mess started a week ago when one of the two subcontractors who hired the men told them there was no more work, and they would not be paid.
Last Wednesday, meal deliveries stopped and the electricity and water supplies were cut off.
Yesterday's stand-off began at 3pm when two buses were sent to Tagore Lane to transport the workers to Kranji.
But the workers' bags were not packed and laundry was still hanging on clothes lines.
The buses waited.
At about 3.30pm, several Tipper Corp directors turned up but failed to persuade the men to move.
Then, Tipper Corp's director Loke Siew Fai gave this order: 'Tipper is a responsible company. The workers will get their money by hook or by crook.'
One worker, Mr Md Monir Hossain Abdul Jabbar, 34, later said: 'He has given us his word. I hope he keeps his promise and pays us.'
Said Mr S.M. Mojiburrahman, 38: 'Before this, the subcontractor made many promises but we never got our salaries.
'We don't know if this time round, Tipper is going to stick to its promise.'
Still, within minutes, the men had their bags packed and boarded the buses.
By 5pm, the last of the workers had left the Tagore Lane living quarters.
Before yesterday, earlier talks between Tipper Corp and the workers had resulted in a stalemate.
Mr Loke told them last Thursday he would find them jobs but made no promises on the outstanding salaries. He said his company would meet the subcontractors and officials from the Manpower Ministry tomorrow to determine how much each worker is owed.
(c) 2008 Singapore Press Holdings Limited
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Self-contained Town for Foreign Workers?
The following article appeared in the Straits Times on 21 Dec 08.
Town of their own for foreign workers?
By Mavis Toh
21 December 2008
Straits Times
Shopping malls, canteens, cinemas, remittance centres and even beer gardens.
If this plan for a housing estate by a Singapore company is approved, these facilities are what the residents - foreign workers - stand to enjoy.
Mini Environment Services (MES) wants to build an estate to house 25,000 workers. It now has 19,500 living in four dormitories in Kaki Bukit, Penjuru Road and Kian Teck Lane.
The estate will come with void decks and sky gardens, like in HDB estates, to provide meeting points.
In September, Foreign Minister George Yeo said the Ministry of National Development is 'seriously considering how to create townships for foreign workers which are sustainable and self-contained'.
This followed the Serangoon Gardens saga where many residents were unhappy with a plan to convert a school in the area to house up to 600 workers.
The proposal was approved in October but with new measures put in place to tackle issues such as traffic congestion.
The spike in the number of foreign workers - last year, it rose by 102,000 to 577,000 - has created a housing shortage.
MES director Shaik Mohamed said the firm submitted its plan to the Government in October.
The Ministry of National Development (MND), Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) told The Sunday Times that MES has shared its concepts with them.
They added, however, that it is 'not seeking approval with respect to any specific parcel of land allocated for housing'.
MES, set up in 1976, is partnering Surbana International and Certis Cisco in this project.
Surbana, formerly known as HDB Corp, has developed the designs while Certis Cisco will look into the security issues.
MES estimates that it will be pumping $200 million into the project and hopes to secure land for it in Jurong.
It believes the current downturn is the best time to start work since the cost of building materials has fallen.
'We foresee the economy bouncing back in two or three years. And that's a nice time-frame for the development to be completed,' said Mr Shaik.
MES has designed two such communities in Abu Dhabi and Doha.
The facility in Doha, valued at between 3.5 billion Qatar riyals (S$1.4 billion) and 4 billion Qatar riyals, comes with a motel, polyclinic and canteen. It will house 50,000 workers once it is ready in three years' time and MES will run it as facility manager.
With the Singapore project, MES hopes to set a new standard for other industry players to follow.
Despite the amenities, it will still charge the current rent of between $150 and $180 per worker per month.
Though it might take a longer time to recoup the investment, MES said it is in it for the long haul.
'We're sacrificing a good portion of land for recreation; workers need their own place too. If our clients are healthy, we will benefit as well,' said Mr Shaik.
Earlier this month, the Government announced plans to release 10 sites islandwide for temporary foreign-worker dormitories to house 20,000 people.
MES, however, said it might be a wiser move to gather workers near a big development rather than scatter them across the island, which would raise transport costs.
'Hopefully, the proposal will come through and we can complete the project in 21/2 years,' said Mr Shaik.
MND, MOM and MTI said they will consider various development models in evaluating proposals for new dorms, taking into account supply, demand and socio-economic considerations.
(c) 2008 Singapore Press Holdings Limited
Town of their own for foreign workers?
By Mavis Toh
21 December 2008
Straits Times
Shopping malls, canteens, cinemas, remittance centres and even beer gardens.
If this plan for a housing estate by a Singapore company is approved, these facilities are what the residents - foreign workers - stand to enjoy.
Mini Environment Services (MES) wants to build an estate to house 25,000 workers. It now has 19,500 living in four dormitories in Kaki Bukit, Penjuru Road and Kian Teck Lane.
The estate will come with void decks and sky gardens, like in HDB estates, to provide meeting points.
In September, Foreign Minister George Yeo said the Ministry of National Development is 'seriously considering how to create townships for foreign workers which are sustainable and self-contained'.
This followed the Serangoon Gardens saga where many residents were unhappy with a plan to convert a school in the area to house up to 600 workers.
The proposal was approved in October but with new measures put in place to tackle issues such as traffic congestion.
The spike in the number of foreign workers - last year, it rose by 102,000 to 577,000 - has created a housing shortage.
MES director Shaik Mohamed said the firm submitted its plan to the Government in October.
The Ministry of National Development (MND), Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) told The Sunday Times that MES has shared its concepts with them.
They added, however, that it is 'not seeking approval with respect to any specific parcel of land allocated for housing'.
MES, set up in 1976, is partnering Surbana International and Certis Cisco in this project.
Surbana, formerly known as HDB Corp, has developed the designs while Certis Cisco will look into the security issues.
MES estimates that it will be pumping $200 million into the project and hopes to secure land for it in Jurong.
It believes the current downturn is the best time to start work since the cost of building materials has fallen.
'We foresee the economy bouncing back in two or three years. And that's a nice time-frame for the development to be completed,' said Mr Shaik.
MES has designed two such communities in Abu Dhabi and Doha.
The facility in Doha, valued at between 3.5 billion Qatar riyals (S$1.4 billion) and 4 billion Qatar riyals, comes with a motel, polyclinic and canteen. It will house 50,000 workers once it is ready in three years' time and MES will run it as facility manager.
With the Singapore project, MES hopes to set a new standard for other industry players to follow.
Despite the amenities, it will still charge the current rent of between $150 and $180 per worker per month.
Though it might take a longer time to recoup the investment, MES said it is in it for the long haul.
'We're sacrificing a good portion of land for recreation; workers need their own place too. If our clients are healthy, we will benefit as well,' said Mr Shaik.
Earlier this month, the Government announced plans to release 10 sites islandwide for temporary foreign-worker dormitories to house 20,000 people.
MES, however, said it might be a wiser move to gather workers near a big development rather than scatter them across the island, which would raise transport costs.
'Hopefully, the proposal will come through and we can complete the project in 21/2 years,' said Mr Shaik.
MND, MOM and MTI said they will consider various development models in evaluating proposals for new dorms, taking into account supply, demand and socio-economic considerations.
(c) 2008 Singapore Press Holdings Limited
10 new sites for foreign worker dorms
The following article appeared in the Straits Times on 21 Dec 08.
New dorms: Legwork pays off for 2 MPs
By Shuli Sudderuddin
21 December 2008
Straits Times
Nobody likes surprises.
Hence, lessons learnt from the Serangoon Gardens saga - where plans to house foreign workers temporarily in a former school came as a shock to residents - have come in handy for at least two MPs who found they had to handle a similar situation.
The Government recently announced 10 new sites for such housing and at least two, in Queenstown and Hougang, are within walking distance of residential areas.
For MPs Baey Yam Keng and Fatimah Lateef, their work to get residents used to the idea before the announcement has paid off.
They were informed by the Ministry of National Development (MND) before it made the announcement. They then worked with grassroots bodies on how best to integrate the workers in the community.
So when Mr Baey, a Tanjong Pagar GRC MP, met some 30 Queenstown residents at a dialogue in the Queenstown Public Library yesterday to discuss the dorm issue - a former polyclinic in Margaret Drive has been earmarked for the purpose - the mood was certainly not testy.
In Serangoon Gardens, some 1,600 residents signed a petition in September to voice their disapproval of the dorm idea and angry letters were published in the newspapers.
At the Queenstown dialogue, the participants actually seemed more interested in the issue of town councils making investments.
Town councils made the news recently when eight of them were revealed to have about $16 million exposed to toxic products such as those linked to the failed Lehman Brothers investment bank.
Mr Baey said the Tanjong Pagar Town Council lost less than $1 million in such investments but made over $17 million in other investments.
On the dorm issue, he said the site will house 150 construction workers from China, all employed by a single contractor. They would be monitored via access passes and a 24-hour security officer.
Among the few questions posed to him, one came from designer Don Lim, 32, who suggested that a committee be formed to act as a bridge between workers and residents.
Mr Baey assured residents that there would be a liaison officer both for the residents and workers.
'I hope residents will understand that they are here to work and not cause problems. We hope to foster interaction and even have some ideas like a dormitory open house so residents can visit,' he said.
Another site in Hougang Avenue 3 is adjacent to Tai Keng Gardens, a private estate with 1,200 households. This site will house up to 3,000 workers.
Dr Fatimah Lateef, the MP for the area, said she has not received any major complaint so far.
Once she was informed by MND before it made the announcement, she had met the neighbourhood committee and surveyed the site several times.
She said: 'The entry point in Hougang Avenue 3 will not cross into Tai Keng Gardens. I've also launched a programme that will teach workers about communication and etiquette.'
Meanwhile, an MND spokesman said the tender for an operator to run the Serangoon Gardens dormitory closed last Friday.
The key provisions in response to issues raised by residents, such as sealing off the existing entrance in Burghley Drive and security measures, were incorporated in the tender document, she said.
Work is scheduled to be completed in about a year's time.
Building ties
'I hope residents will understand that they are here to work and not cause problems. We hope to foster interaction and even have some ideas like a dormitory open house so residents can visit.' TANJONG PAGAR GRC MP BAEY YAM KENG, discussing the issue of a dormitory for foreign workers
(c) 2008 Singapore Press Holdings Limited
New dorms: Legwork pays off for 2 MPs
By Shuli Sudderuddin
21 December 2008
Straits Times
Nobody likes surprises.
Hence, lessons learnt from the Serangoon Gardens saga - where plans to house foreign workers temporarily in a former school came as a shock to residents - have come in handy for at least two MPs who found they had to handle a similar situation.
The Government recently announced 10 new sites for such housing and at least two, in Queenstown and Hougang, are within walking distance of residential areas.
For MPs Baey Yam Keng and Fatimah Lateef, their work to get residents used to the idea before the announcement has paid off.
They were informed by the Ministry of National Development (MND) before it made the announcement. They then worked with grassroots bodies on how best to integrate the workers in the community.
So when Mr Baey, a Tanjong Pagar GRC MP, met some 30 Queenstown residents at a dialogue in the Queenstown Public Library yesterday to discuss the dorm issue - a former polyclinic in Margaret Drive has been earmarked for the purpose - the mood was certainly not testy.
In Serangoon Gardens, some 1,600 residents signed a petition in September to voice their disapproval of the dorm idea and angry letters were published in the newspapers.
At the Queenstown dialogue, the participants actually seemed more interested in the issue of town councils making investments.
Town councils made the news recently when eight of them were revealed to have about $16 million exposed to toxic products such as those linked to the failed Lehman Brothers investment bank.
Mr Baey said the Tanjong Pagar Town Council lost less than $1 million in such investments but made over $17 million in other investments.
On the dorm issue, he said the site will house 150 construction workers from China, all employed by a single contractor. They would be monitored via access passes and a 24-hour security officer.
Among the few questions posed to him, one came from designer Don Lim, 32, who suggested that a committee be formed to act as a bridge between workers and residents.
Mr Baey assured residents that there would be a liaison officer both for the residents and workers.
'I hope residents will understand that they are here to work and not cause problems. We hope to foster interaction and even have some ideas like a dormitory open house so residents can visit,' he said.
Another site in Hougang Avenue 3 is adjacent to Tai Keng Gardens, a private estate with 1,200 households. This site will house up to 3,000 workers.
Dr Fatimah Lateef, the MP for the area, said she has not received any major complaint so far.
Once she was informed by MND before it made the announcement, she had met the neighbourhood committee and surveyed the site several times.
She said: 'The entry point in Hougang Avenue 3 will not cross into Tai Keng Gardens. I've also launched a programme that will teach workers about communication and etiquette.'
Meanwhile, an MND spokesman said the tender for an operator to run the Serangoon Gardens dormitory closed last Friday.
The key provisions in response to issues raised by residents, such as sealing off the existing entrance in Burghley Drive and security measures, were incorporated in the tender document, she said.
Work is scheduled to be completed in about a year's time.
Building ties
'I hope residents will understand that they are here to work and not cause problems. We hope to foster interaction and even have some ideas like a dormitory open house so residents can visit.' TANJONG PAGAR GRC MP BAEY YAM KENG, discussing the issue of a dormitory for foreign workers
(c) 2008 Singapore Press Holdings Limited
'Learn to handle angry residents' - Furor over Foreign Worker Housing
The following article appeared in TODAY on 12 Dec 08.
‘Learn to handle angry residents’; 'Greater ‘pushback’ is what MPs must be ready to deal with'
By Lin Yanqin
TODAY
12 December 2008
IF ANYTHING, the angry residents and hard issues involved in the Serangoon Gardens outcry over the siting of a foreign worker dormitory are a sign of challenges ahead for Singapore politicians.
“In the future, Members of Parliament (MPs) will have to deal with many more such seemingly unpopular issues and policies that have uneven effects on people in general,” said Mrs Lim Hwee Hua, the MP for Aljunied GRC embroiled in that episode. “There will be a greater need for engagement.”
In an interview with the People Action Party’s (PAP) Petir magazine, Mrs Lim said one conclusion she drew from the saga was that it boiled down to trust. “In the past, we used to engage the people less and they questioned less. Now they want to engage the Government more. That doesn’t mean they trust the Government less, it means that trust has to be continually earned and it has to be the focus all the time.”
This “greater pushback and disagreement” is something the party will have to come to grips and “move along with”, she said, by engaging more — especially online.
“We need more Net-savvy members, more activists who can better explain policies and who are continually thinking of new ways of doing things ... :It is more than pure support that we increasingly need. The members must also be able and prepared to handle angry residents,” said Mrs Lim, who is also :Senior Minister of State (Finance and Transport).
As the final decision about a temporary dormitory in Serangoon Gardens was announced in October, weeks after leaked information sparked protests from residents, Mrs Lim had communicated with residents and tracked feedback through a specially set-up email account, on top of traditional channels like newsletters and dialogue sessions.
She had also published the correspondence between herself and the National Development Minister on the issue in the community newsletter, available online at the Aljunied GRC website.
Over in Queenstown, where it was recently announced that the former polyclinic will be converted into a temporary workers’ dorm, MP Baey Yam Keng (Tanjong Pagar GRC) said residents “do not seem too overly concerned”.
He has visited the residents in the block nearest to the dorm site and dialogue sessions with residents will start next Saturday. “And then we will be talking to the dorm operators to convey some of the residents’ concerns,” he said, adding that all this will be done over the next three to six months.
One concern is about security at one of the HDB blocks near the dorm site, as the block is undergoing en bloc redevelopment. “Some of the vacant flats’ windows have been broken, so the residents worry that the workers will break into the empty flats to use the space,” said Mr Baey. Hence, he will seek to have the empty flats sealed off, as well as enhance the block’s lighting.
He agreed that having all the issues thrashed out in the media during the Serangoon Gardens episode may have helped address many general concerns about foreign workers. Grassroots leaders this time were also consulted beforehand, so they were ready to address residents’ needs.
(c) 2008. MediaCorp Press Ltd.
‘Learn to handle angry residents’; 'Greater ‘pushback’ is what MPs must be ready to deal with'
By Lin Yanqin
TODAY
12 December 2008
IF ANYTHING, the angry residents and hard issues involved in the Serangoon Gardens outcry over the siting of a foreign worker dormitory are a sign of challenges ahead for Singapore politicians.
“In the future, Members of Parliament (MPs) will have to deal with many more such seemingly unpopular issues and policies that have uneven effects on people in general,” said Mrs Lim Hwee Hua, the MP for Aljunied GRC embroiled in that episode. “There will be a greater need for engagement.”
In an interview with the People Action Party’s (PAP) Petir magazine, Mrs Lim said one conclusion she drew from the saga was that it boiled down to trust. “In the past, we used to engage the people less and they questioned less. Now they want to engage the Government more. That doesn’t mean they trust the Government less, it means that trust has to be continually earned and it has to be the focus all the time.”
This “greater pushback and disagreement” is something the party will have to come to grips and “move along with”, she said, by engaging more — especially online.
“We need more Net-savvy members, more activists who can better explain policies and who are continually thinking of new ways of doing things ... :It is more than pure support that we increasingly need. The members must also be able and prepared to handle angry residents,” said Mrs Lim, who is also :Senior Minister of State (Finance and Transport).
As the final decision about a temporary dormitory in Serangoon Gardens was announced in October, weeks after leaked information sparked protests from residents, Mrs Lim had communicated with residents and tracked feedback through a specially set-up email account, on top of traditional channels like newsletters and dialogue sessions.
She had also published the correspondence between herself and the National Development Minister on the issue in the community newsletter, available online at the Aljunied GRC website.
Over in Queenstown, where it was recently announced that the former polyclinic will be converted into a temporary workers’ dorm, MP Baey Yam Keng (Tanjong Pagar GRC) said residents “do not seem too overly concerned”.
He has visited the residents in the block nearest to the dorm site and dialogue sessions with residents will start next Saturday. “And then we will be talking to the dorm operators to convey some of the residents’ concerns,” he said, adding that all this will be done over the next three to six months.
One concern is about security at one of the HDB blocks near the dorm site, as the block is undergoing en bloc redevelopment. “Some of the vacant flats’ windows have been broken, so the residents worry that the workers will break into the empty flats to use the space,” said Mr Baey. Hence, he will seek to have the empty flats sealed off, as well as enhance the block’s lighting.
He agreed that having all the issues thrashed out in the media during the Serangoon Gardens episode may have helped address many general concerns about foreign workers. Grassroots leaders this time were also consulted beforehand, so they were ready to address residents’ needs.
(c) 2008. MediaCorp Press Ltd.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Workers get meals but pay still an issue
The following article appeared in the Straits Times on 19 Dec 08.
Workers get meals but pay still an issue
Melissa Sim
19 December 2008
Straits Times
Talks between Tipper Corp and workers are currently at a stalemate
A GROUP of Bangladeshi workers abandoned in their Tagore Lane living quarters when they lost their jobs went to bed on a full stomach yesterday, but still without the pay they say is owed to them.
Talks between employer Tipper Corp and the workers also resulted in stalemate.
The 180 workers say they will not move from their quarters until they receive back pay of up to three months.
But Tipper Corp says the landlord has given them till Saturday to move out and the workers are unlikely to be paid by then.
The workers' problems started a week ago when they were told by one of the two subcontractors who hired them that there was no more work, and they would not be paid their salaries.
On Wednesday, meal deliveries stopped and the electricity and water was cut off.
Yesterday, Tipper Corp provided the workers with three meals, while other individuals stepped in to help.
Money changer M.Y. Mohamed Rafeeq, 44, took 180 packets of murtabak to Tagore Lane at lunch, while Bread Of Life Bakery owner Jason Lee baked and delivered bread, buns and coconut jam to the workers in the evening.
Said Mr Mohamed Rafeeq, who spent $1,080 on the food: 'I read about them, and felt even though they are not Singaporeans, they are human beings and should not go hungry.'
The workers are caught in a dispute between Tipper Corp and its subcontractors - who supposedly took care of their accommodation, meals and pay - over who is responsible for them.
Mr Paul Lee from one of the subcontractors, S1 Engineering, declined comment, while Mr Uthayanan Sockalingam from UPNB, the other subcontractor, said he was only responsible for finding work, and not for housing, feeding or paying the workers.
While the workers are glad to be getting food, they want to be paid.
Tipper Corp's director Loke Siew Fai told them yesterday that he would find them jobs, perhaps in shipyards where they used to work.
But he held back in promising them outstanding salaries.
Mr Loke said the marine company would meet with the subcontractors and officials from the Manpower Ministry next Monday to determine how much each worker is owed.
The workers are waiting to see what comes out of that.
'Monday, they give us the money, Tuesday we move,' said worker Mr Md Shahidul Islam, 30.
(c) 2008 Singapore Press Holdings Limited
Workers get meals but pay still an issue
Melissa Sim
19 December 2008
Straits Times
Talks between Tipper Corp and workers are currently at a stalemate
A GROUP of Bangladeshi workers abandoned in their Tagore Lane living quarters when they lost their jobs went to bed on a full stomach yesterday, but still without the pay they say is owed to them.
Talks between employer Tipper Corp and the workers also resulted in stalemate.
The 180 workers say they will not move from their quarters until they receive back pay of up to three months.
But Tipper Corp says the landlord has given them till Saturday to move out and the workers are unlikely to be paid by then.
The workers' problems started a week ago when they were told by one of the two subcontractors who hired them that there was no more work, and they would not be paid their salaries.
On Wednesday, meal deliveries stopped and the electricity and water was cut off.
Yesterday, Tipper Corp provided the workers with three meals, while other individuals stepped in to help.
Money changer M.Y. Mohamed Rafeeq, 44, took 180 packets of murtabak to Tagore Lane at lunch, while Bread Of Life Bakery owner Jason Lee baked and delivered bread, buns and coconut jam to the workers in the evening.
Said Mr Mohamed Rafeeq, who spent $1,080 on the food: 'I read about them, and felt even though they are not Singaporeans, they are human beings and should not go hungry.'
The workers are caught in a dispute between Tipper Corp and its subcontractors - who supposedly took care of their accommodation, meals and pay - over who is responsible for them.
Mr Paul Lee from one of the subcontractors, S1 Engineering, declined comment, while Mr Uthayanan Sockalingam from UPNB, the other subcontractor, said he was only responsible for finding work, and not for housing, feeding or paying the workers.
While the workers are glad to be getting food, they want to be paid.
Tipper Corp's director Loke Siew Fai told them yesterday that he would find them jobs, perhaps in shipyards where they used to work.
But he held back in promising them outstanding salaries.
Mr Loke said the marine company would meet with the subcontractors and officials from the Manpower Ministry next Monday to determine how much each worker is owed.
The workers are waiting to see what comes out of that.
'Monday, they give us the money, Tuesday we move,' said worker Mr Md Shahidul Islam, 30.
(c) 2008 Singapore Press Holdings Limited
Friday, December 19, 2008
179 Bangladeshi Workers Abandoned by Employer
The following article appeared in TODAY on 18 Dec 08.
Left to their fate ; Group of 179 foreigners among a growing number abandoned
By Leong Wee Keat
TODAY
18 December 2008
AT ONE point yesterday, the group of 179 hungry Bangladeshi workers were not even sure if, by nightfall, they would be turned out onto the streets to spend a chilly December night.
Many had not eaten all day — meals, supposed to have been docked from their wages, were not delivered. For that matter, most claimed not to have been paid for up to three months.
On Monday, the agent they had called “Boss” for the past year told them that he was no longer their “employer”. He emptied his office, kept their passports, and left the workers to their fate at their Tagore Lane dormitory. The next day, the landlord threatened to evict them as the rent was not paid.
Showing this reporter his empty wallet, a tearful Abdul Hamid pleaded for the authorities to step in. “I don’t know what will happen. I have not eaten for a day. If you don’t eat for a day, what will happen to you?”
The 179 are believed to be the largest single group of migrant workers here to have been abandoned by an employer or agent.
And their plight has surfaced just as the world today marks a sober International Migrants Day, with the International Labour Organisation warning that millions of migrant workers face layoffs and worsening conditions as the global financial crisis deepens.
In Singapore, the Bangladesh High Commission said it has heard over 1,000 salary dispute cases this year — last year, there were some 300. With the downturn, a spokeswoman said, more disputes can be expected. “Contractors and subcontractors have brought in more people than they actually require,” she added.
In recent weeks, migrant workers’ groups have gotten complaints from at least 50 workers claiming they were owed wages; some said their companies had been forced to close down.
Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) president John Gee said: “Contractors large and small are feeling the pinch, and we think that, in :looking for ways of trimming costs, they all too often think of foreign workers as those they can pass their problems on to.”
Bad enough, many will lose their jobs; those even less lucky may get sacked without being paid back-wages owed.
MOM comes down on employer
In the case of the 179 Bangladeshis, they told TODAY they had paid between $8,000 and $10,000 to come to Singapore to work. They thought their agent, Mr Uthayanan, was their boss.
Officially, however, their registered employer – which the workers claimed they had never seen, prior to this month – was Tipper Corporation, a marine company.
Tipper :said Mr Uthayanan was supposed to look after the workers, and that the workers were supposed to have been on a training programme to pick up job skills, before being brought in to work on a big project for the company in March next year.
However, many of the Bangladeshis have been in Singapore since July last year – going by the date on their work permits – and they claim to have worked for three to six other companies. They also claim to have been paid less than $250 a month.
Tipper said the abandonment saga had arisen from the souring of a business agreement between Tipper and four parties, one of whom was Mr Uthayanan. The company had filed a writ of summons against the four on Dec 2.
When contacted by TODAY, Mr Uthayanan would only say he was not responsible for the workers, and declined to comment further.
In response to queries, a Ministry of Manpower (MOM) spokesman said it is investigating Tipper for the illegal deployment of foreign workers, as well as the failure to pay the workers their salary. “Work pass applications by Tipper Corporation will also no longer be accepted by MOM,” she added. “Tipper Corporation remains responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of the workers, and if they fail to fulfil their responsibility, they will be committing further breaches of the law.”
For the 179 workers, the good news is that they will have a roof over their heads at least for now. Dinner last night – their only meal of the day was catered by TWC2. Tipper also assured them it would resolve the outstanding salary disputes and move the men to new accommmodation on Saturday, and until then they could stay on at the dormitory.
The desperate among them can only hope that things work out. Said Mr Shafique Alomgir: “My father and mother died recently. One dollar also I don’t have to send back.”
(c) 2008. MediaCorp Press Ltd.
Left to their fate ; Group of 179 foreigners among a growing number abandoned
By Leong Wee Keat
TODAY
18 December 2008
AT ONE point yesterday, the group of 179 hungry Bangladeshi workers were not even sure if, by nightfall, they would be turned out onto the streets to spend a chilly December night.
Many had not eaten all day — meals, supposed to have been docked from their wages, were not delivered. For that matter, most claimed not to have been paid for up to three months.
On Monday, the agent they had called “Boss” for the past year told them that he was no longer their “employer”. He emptied his office, kept their passports, and left the workers to their fate at their Tagore Lane dormitory. The next day, the landlord threatened to evict them as the rent was not paid.
Showing this reporter his empty wallet, a tearful Abdul Hamid pleaded for the authorities to step in. “I don’t know what will happen. I have not eaten for a day. If you don’t eat for a day, what will happen to you?”
The 179 are believed to be the largest single group of migrant workers here to have been abandoned by an employer or agent.
And their plight has surfaced just as the world today marks a sober International Migrants Day, with the International Labour Organisation warning that millions of migrant workers face layoffs and worsening conditions as the global financial crisis deepens.
In Singapore, the Bangladesh High Commission said it has heard over 1,000 salary dispute cases this year — last year, there were some 300. With the downturn, a spokeswoman said, more disputes can be expected. “Contractors and subcontractors have brought in more people than they actually require,” she added.
In recent weeks, migrant workers’ groups have gotten complaints from at least 50 workers claiming they were owed wages; some said their companies had been forced to close down.
Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) president John Gee said: “Contractors large and small are feeling the pinch, and we think that, in :looking for ways of trimming costs, they all too often think of foreign workers as those they can pass their problems on to.”
Bad enough, many will lose their jobs; those even less lucky may get sacked without being paid back-wages owed.
MOM comes down on employer
In the case of the 179 Bangladeshis, they told TODAY they had paid between $8,000 and $10,000 to come to Singapore to work. They thought their agent, Mr Uthayanan, was their boss.
Officially, however, their registered employer – which the workers claimed they had never seen, prior to this month – was Tipper Corporation, a marine company.
Tipper :said Mr Uthayanan was supposed to look after the workers, and that the workers were supposed to have been on a training programme to pick up job skills, before being brought in to work on a big project for the company in March next year.
However, many of the Bangladeshis have been in Singapore since July last year – going by the date on their work permits – and they claim to have worked for three to six other companies. They also claim to have been paid less than $250 a month.
Tipper said the abandonment saga had arisen from the souring of a business agreement between Tipper and four parties, one of whom was Mr Uthayanan. The company had filed a writ of summons against the four on Dec 2.
When contacted by TODAY, Mr Uthayanan would only say he was not responsible for the workers, and declined to comment further.
In response to queries, a Ministry of Manpower (MOM) spokesman said it is investigating Tipper for the illegal deployment of foreign workers, as well as the failure to pay the workers their salary. “Work pass applications by Tipper Corporation will also no longer be accepted by MOM,” she added. “Tipper Corporation remains responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of the workers, and if they fail to fulfil their responsibility, they will be committing further breaches of the law.”
For the 179 workers, the good news is that they will have a roof over their heads at least for now. Dinner last night – their only meal of the day was catered by TWC2. Tipper also assured them it would resolve the outstanding salary disputes and move the men to new accommmodation on Saturday, and until then they could stay on at the dormitory.
The desperate among them can only hope that things work out. Said Mr Shafique Alomgir: “My father and mother died recently. One dollar also I don’t have to send back.”
(c) 2008. MediaCorp Press Ltd.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
British CEO shares tips on worksite safety
The following article was first published in the Straits Times on 16 Dec 2008.
British CEO shares tips on worksite safety
By Jermyn Chow
GETTING the job done quickly and cheaply is no longer good enough to win a building contract with British construction firm Bovis Lend Lease.
Contractors have to prove they take worksite safety seriously by specifying the number of onsite supervisors they plan to deploy and letting Bovis grill them during an interview.
"We want to look them in the eye and see that they share the same safety-first values and the vision for an injury-free workplace," said Bovis Lend Lease chairman Jack Spanswick.
While the process may take a little more time, it is a premium worth paying for a safer workplace, said Mr Spanswick, who is also the United Kingdom's Health and Safety Commissioner.
He was speaking to The Straits Times on the sidelines of the recent inaugural Construction CEO Summit, where he shared tips on how to keep workplaces safe with 200 property developers and contractors.
Mr Spanswick, who is in his 60s, said the UK's playbook can help Singapore reduce workplace deaths.
Last year, Britain's workplace fatality rate stood at 0.8 per 100,000 workers, while Singapore's death rate was 2.9.
The figure is set to go up as 52 workers died on the job here in the first nine months of this year, up from the 42 in the same period last year.
The most recent fatality was last Tuesday, when a 44-year-old foreman fell to his death while dismantling scaffolding at a construction site in Sengkang.
Mr Spanswick helms one of the world's biggest construction companies, which has won multiple health and safety awards here and overseas.
Its Singapore arm completed two pharmaceutical plants in Tuas without a serious injury to its 4,000-strong workforce.
He said the construction industries in the UK and Singapore are similar.
For instance, about 80 per cent of the workforce is made up of subcontractors, most of whom employ migrant workers.
"But we make sure that we vet all our subcontractors thoroughly and only work with those on our preferred list," said Mr Spanswick of his company.
He added: "We have to treat them like our own staff and make sure we are on the same page when it comes to safety."
Like Bovis Lend Lease staff, its subcontractors – CEOs and rank-and-file workers alike – go through a two-day safety workshop, where they have to pledge to keep the worksites injury-free and be "intolerant of any accidents".
To ensure that nothing is lost in translation, the company conducts training programmes in 15 different languages. Some employees are specially trained to reinforce safety messages with co-workers from the same ethnic background, Mr Spanswick said.
While the British enforcement officers still fan out to the worksites on their safety blitzes, Mr Spanswick said that it was industry-led initiatives in that country that "took things to the next level".
One example is the safety card that all construction workers in the UK have to carry with them to work. It outlines the safety procedures they have to follow every day before they start work.
He said: "It is just not realistic to expect more inspectors to be at construction sites all the time, industry players must still take the lead."
Singapore contractors said that the idea of putting safety first, spearheaded by the Workplace Safety and Health Council, is taking off here.
For instance, the heads of Singapore's top construction firms, property developers and construction-related associations last month pledged to cut injuries at their worksites to zero.
"We are moving in the right direction," said Singapore Contractors Association president Desmond Hill, who urged companies to make safety their first priority.
He added: "Safety is not a cost, it is outside of the profit equation and should be part and parcel of the company's philosophy."
Safety experts agreed, saying that the construction industry here still has much to learn from its counterparts in the UK and Australia. But they also caution there is no one-size-fits-all model.
Vice-president of the Singapore Institute of Safety Officers Andrew Tan said: "We cannot copy wholesale what other countries do. We still work and are wired to think differently."
British CEO shares tips on worksite safety
By Jermyn Chow
GETTING the job done quickly and cheaply is no longer good enough to win a building contract with British construction firm Bovis Lend Lease.
Contractors have to prove they take worksite safety seriously by specifying the number of onsite supervisors they plan to deploy and letting Bovis grill them during an interview.
"We want to look them in the eye and see that they share the same safety-first values and the vision for an injury-free workplace," said Bovis Lend Lease chairman Jack Spanswick.
While the process may take a little more time, it is a premium worth paying for a safer workplace, said Mr Spanswick, who is also the United Kingdom's Health and Safety Commissioner.
He was speaking to The Straits Times on the sidelines of the recent inaugural Construction CEO Summit, where he shared tips on how to keep workplaces safe with 200 property developers and contractors.
Mr Spanswick, who is in his 60s, said the UK's playbook can help Singapore reduce workplace deaths.
Last year, Britain's workplace fatality rate stood at 0.8 per 100,000 workers, while Singapore's death rate was 2.9.
The figure is set to go up as 52 workers died on the job here in the first nine months of this year, up from the 42 in the same period last year.
The most recent fatality was last Tuesday, when a 44-year-old foreman fell to his death while dismantling scaffolding at a construction site in Sengkang.
Mr Spanswick helms one of the world's biggest construction companies, which has won multiple health and safety awards here and overseas.
Its Singapore arm completed two pharmaceutical plants in Tuas without a serious injury to its 4,000-strong workforce.
He said the construction industries in the UK and Singapore are similar.
For instance, about 80 per cent of the workforce is made up of subcontractors, most of whom employ migrant workers.
"But we make sure that we vet all our subcontractors thoroughly and only work with those on our preferred list," said Mr Spanswick of his company.
He added: "We have to treat them like our own staff and make sure we are on the same page when it comes to safety."
Like Bovis Lend Lease staff, its subcontractors – CEOs and rank-and-file workers alike – go through a two-day safety workshop, where they have to pledge to keep the worksites injury-free and be "intolerant of any accidents".
To ensure that nothing is lost in translation, the company conducts training programmes in 15 different languages. Some employees are specially trained to reinforce safety messages with co-workers from the same ethnic background, Mr Spanswick said.
While the British enforcement officers still fan out to the worksites on their safety blitzes, Mr Spanswick said that it was industry-led initiatives in that country that "took things to the next level".
One example is the safety card that all construction workers in the UK have to carry with them to work. It outlines the safety procedures they have to follow every day before they start work.
He said: "It is just not realistic to expect more inspectors to be at construction sites all the time, industry players must still take the lead."
Singapore contractors said that the idea of putting safety first, spearheaded by the Workplace Safety and Health Council, is taking off here.
For instance, the heads of Singapore's top construction firms, property developers and construction-related associations last month pledged to cut injuries at their worksites to zero.
"We are moving in the right direction," said Singapore Contractors Association president Desmond Hill, who urged companies to make safety their first priority.
He added: "Safety is not a cost, it is outside of the profit equation and should be part and parcel of the company's philosophy."
Safety experts agreed, saying that the construction industry here still has much to learn from its counterparts in the UK and Australia. But they also caution there is no one-size-fits-all model.
Vice-president of the Singapore Institute of Safety Officers Andrew Tan said: "We cannot copy wholesale what other countries do. We still work and are wired to think differently."
Friday, December 12, 2008
China Construction Workers Taken by Repatriation Companies
This news clip from Channel U news (11pm, 10 Dec 2008) features Mr. Chen Yu Guang and Mr. Xue Cheng Ming, construction workers hired by Xuyi Building Engineering who were taken from their dormitory on 2 Dec 2008 by repatriation companies hired by their employer. Both have salary arrears cases pending. Both Mr. Chen and Mr. Xue had their work permits canceled by their employer, who then hired the repatriation companies to hold them before calling the police. Chen and Xue were taken into police custody on 3 Dec 2008 and then sent to the Immigration Checkpoints Authority (ICA). They were finally released on 10 Dec 2008, the day they were interviewed. For a fuller story on this case, please read the Yawning Bread entry (www.yawningbread.org) further below titled, 'Muddy Singapore swallows China Workers'.
Here is a summary of the newsclip in Mandarin (from the Mediacorp website):
以下这则新闻打印自新动网
建筑客工讨薪水 公司取消工作准证
日期 ： 10 December 2008 2226 hrs
网址 ： http://www.xin.sg/article.php?article=26622
新传媒新闻报道，中国籍建筑客工投诉被拖欠三个月的薪水，但在同雇主交涉时，工作准证却被取消。他们声称雇主还找来保安公司，把其中两人送到警察局去，希望将他们遣送回国。
薛成明、刘小平和另外30多名建筑客工，原本在滨海综合娱乐城的工地工作。他们声称被雇主拖欠了三个月的薪水，因此向人力部投诉。在斡旋期间，二手承包商要求扣除多项费用，其中六人认为不合理，因此继续留在本地争取索回薪水。
建筑劳工刘小平说：“我白白了干了三个月，扣了只剩下500元，你说你能接受吗？他说你不来结账，我就要报警了，我说怎么报警，他说，我报你们在外面丢失。”
受影响的客工也指雇主取消了他们的工作准证。
建筑劳工薛成明说：“12月2日，公司派了私人保安，到我的宿舍里，强行把我捉去。我说人力部叫我12月4日到人力部谈判，你现在为什么要把我捉走？他说我的准证，在11月26日已经割掉了，现在有权利来捉你了。保安公司把我扣押了12 小时，他就不让我自由，不让我打手机，也不准你到外面去。”
薛成明说，保安公司分头把他和另一名建筑客工带到警局。移民与关卡局证实，警方在12月3日把两名中国籍客工送到移民与关卡局，他们在鉴定客工的居留资格之后，在星期三发出特别准证给他们。除了这两人，另外两名客工则在12月6日被雇主报警带走，经调查后隔天获释。这六名客工下午再次到人力部进行调解，其中有三人已经同雇主达成和解。
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Foreign workers housed in bin centre
The following article was published in the Straits Times on 10 Dec 08.
Disused bin centre was home to five
By Lee Hui Chieh & Esther Tan
10 December 2008
Straits Times
1,052 employers caught providing substandard housing for workers
FOR at least six months, five foreign workers called a disused rubbish bin centre in Redhill Close their home.
They slept on mattresses or towels placed on the concrete floor, next to bicycles and the cleaning equipment they used to do their work. They cooked on a gas stove tucked away in a tiny corner of the centre that served as their makeshift kitchen.
For failing to provide acceptable housing for these foreign workers, cleaning company Chang Seng Services was fined $20,000 last month, the highest fine ever meted out for the offence.
Prior to this, the largest fine was $7,500, handed out last year to cleaning firm Maint-Kleen for housing four foreign workers in a Waterloo Street public toilet.
Maint-Kleen was also the first employer prosecuted by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) for housing its workers in substandard lodgings.
Chang Seng Services was caught in May after the ministry received a tip-off.
The company was among 1,052 employers caught by the ministry between January and November.
Of the 1,052, 20 firms were fined between $200 and $2,000. The remaining 1,031 were issued with warning letters.
The ministry was not able to provide figures for the same period last year.
It could only say that 116 employers had been caught in the first five months of last year, of whom 18 were fined a total of $30,700.
The ministry discovered this year's errant employers during routine checks on 661 premises across the island, of which 281 were found to be providing inappropriate housing.
Some of the premises were factories that had been illegally converted into dormitories.
The number of employers exceeded the number of premises checked because some places housed workers hired by many different companies.
The 1,370 foreign workers found living in the overcrowded quarters have since been relocated to approved accommodation by their employers, the MOM said in a statement yesterday.
Overcrowding poses risks to the workers' health and safety and to public health and fire safety too, it added.
Employers who fail to provide proper accommodation for their foreign workers are in breach of the conditions for the workers' work permits.
They may be fined up to $5,000 and/or jailed up to six months for each breach. It may also affect the companies' future applications for work permits.
Chang Seng Services' director, Mr Frankie Tan, said he left the workers in the bin centre because he had no luck renting a place for them nearby.
The bin centre was convenient as it was within walking distance of the hawker centre that the workers had to start cleaning every day at about 2am, when getting cheap transport was difficult, he added.
He said the bin centre had not been used for storing rubbish for a long time, and had instead been used by his company to store its cleaning equipment.
'We wouldn't have asked them to live in a rubbish dump. We're not so cruel,' he said.
After the bin centre was shut down, the five workers were moved to a flat in Tiong Bahru and cycled to work.
Four of them returned home after their work permits expired last month.
Mr Tan has applied to the Housing Board for permission to convert a utility centre in Redhill Close into proper living quarters for his cleaners.
Mr Nio Chee Sheng, a 51-year-old retiree who lives in Block 89 next to the bin centre, was one of the few residents who realised that the workers lived there.
He had spoken to them and described the workers as a quiet bunch who were cooperative and would even help residents discard heavy furniture from their flats.
'I've seen the inside of the bin centre when they lived there,' he told The Straits Times yesterday.
'It was clean, but there were many rats in the area.'
(c) 2008 Singapore Press Holdings Limited
Disused bin centre was home to five
By Lee Hui Chieh & Esther Tan
10 December 2008
Straits Times
1,052 employers caught providing substandard housing for workers
FOR at least six months, five foreign workers called a disused rubbish bin centre in Redhill Close their home.
They slept on mattresses or towels placed on the concrete floor, next to bicycles and the cleaning equipment they used to do their work. They cooked on a gas stove tucked away in a tiny corner of the centre that served as their makeshift kitchen.
For failing to provide acceptable housing for these foreign workers, cleaning company Chang Seng Services was fined $20,000 last month, the highest fine ever meted out for the offence.
Prior to this, the largest fine was $7,500, handed out last year to cleaning firm Maint-Kleen for housing four foreign workers in a Waterloo Street public toilet.
Maint-Kleen was also the first employer prosecuted by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) for housing its workers in substandard lodgings.
Chang Seng Services was caught in May after the ministry received a tip-off.
The company was among 1,052 employers caught by the ministry between January and November.
Of the 1,052, 20 firms were fined between $200 and $2,000. The remaining 1,031 were issued with warning letters.
The ministry was not able to provide figures for the same period last year.
It could only say that 116 employers had been caught in the first five months of last year, of whom 18 were fined a total of $30,700.
The ministry discovered this year's errant employers during routine checks on 661 premises across the island, of which 281 were found to be providing inappropriate housing.
Some of the premises were factories that had been illegally converted into dormitories.
The number of employers exceeded the number of premises checked because some places housed workers hired by many different companies.
The 1,370 foreign workers found living in the overcrowded quarters have since been relocated to approved accommodation by their employers, the MOM said in a statement yesterday.
Overcrowding poses risks to the workers' health and safety and to public health and fire safety too, it added.
Employers who fail to provide proper accommodation for their foreign workers are in breach of the conditions for the workers' work permits.
They may be fined up to $5,000 and/or jailed up to six months for each breach. It may also affect the companies' future applications for work permits.
Chang Seng Services' director, Mr Frankie Tan, said he left the workers in the bin centre because he had no luck renting a place for them nearby.
The bin centre was convenient as it was within walking distance of the hawker centre that the workers had to start cleaning every day at about 2am, when getting cheap transport was difficult, he added.
He said the bin centre had not been used for storing rubbish for a long time, and had instead been used by his company to store its cleaning equipment.
'We wouldn't have asked them to live in a rubbish dump. We're not so cruel,' he said.
After the bin centre was shut down, the five workers were moved to a flat in Tiong Bahru and cycled to work.
Four of them returned home after their work permits expired last month.
Mr Tan has applied to the Housing Board for permission to convert a utility centre in Redhill Close into proper living quarters for his cleaners.
Mr Nio Chee Sheng, a 51-year-old retiree who lives in Block 89 next to the bin centre, was one of the few residents who realised that the workers lived there.
He had spoken to them and described the workers as a quiet bunch who were cooperative and would even help residents discard heavy furniture from their flats.
'I've seen the inside of the bin centre when they lived there,' he told The Straits Times yesterday.
'It was clean, but there were many rats in the area.'
(c) 2008 Singapore Press Holdings Limited
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
1,370 workers to be relocated from poor housing
The following article was published in TODAY, 10 Dec 08.
1,370 foreign workers to be relocated?
CNA
10 December 2008
TODAY (Singapore)
THE Manpower Ministry’s (MOM) inspections of foreign worker dormitories have led to 1,370 of these workers relocated to approved accommodation by their employers.
MOM had inspected 661 premises between January and last month, to ensure foreign workers are housed in acceptable conditions. In all, 281 foreign workers’ quarters — within the Dengue and Chikungunya clusters and at factory premises that were illegally converted into dormitories — were found to be overcrowded. The Ministry warned that this posed public health and fire safety risks.
So far this year, some 1,052 employers were also taken to task for failing to provide acceptable housing for their foreign workers.
Just last month, an employer was fined $20,000. In May, acting on a tip-off, the MOM c:onducted an inspection at Redhill Close where five workers from Chang Seng Services were found housed in a rubbish bin centre where they cooked, slept and lived. The company provides conservancy services.
Employers who fail to provide acceptable accommodation breach the Work Permit conditions and may be fined up to $5,000 or jailed up to 6 months, or both.
(c) 2008. MediaCorp Press Ltd.
1,370 foreign workers to be relocated?
CNA
10 December 2008
TODAY (Singapore)
THE Manpower Ministry’s (MOM) inspections of foreign worker dormitories have led to 1,370 of these workers relocated to approved accommodation by their employers.
MOM had inspected 661 premises between January and last month, to ensure foreign workers are housed in acceptable conditions. In all, 281 foreign workers’ quarters — within the Dengue and Chikungunya clusters and at factory premises that were illegally converted into dormitories — were found to be overcrowded. The Ministry warned that this posed public health and fire safety risks.
So far this year, some 1,052 employers were also taken to task for failing to provide acceptable housing for their foreign workers.
Just last month, an employer was fined $20,000. In May, acting on a tip-off, the MOM c:onducted an inspection at Redhill Close where five workers from Chang Seng Services were found housed in a rubbish bin centre where they cooked, slept and lived. The company provides conservancy services.
Employers who fail to provide acceptable accommodation breach the Work Permit conditions and may be fined up to $5,000 or jailed up to 6 months, or both.
(c) 2008. MediaCorp Press Ltd.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Follow-up: Muddy Singapore swallows China workers, part 2
6 Dec 2008: Mr. Xue Han Ming taken into police custody from the office premises of XuYi Building Engineering Co. in Joo Chiat Rd. The photo has been cropped because apparently photographs of police personnel are not allowed. Mr. Xue was called to the office by his company supervisor, who had been relentlessly ringing them to ask them to come into the office to settle their salary arrears dispute. While there, the company called the police. The account below from Yawning Bread tells a fuller story.
This is a follow-up of the article, Muddy Singapore swallows China workers, posted by Yawning Bread on 9 December 2008. The url is http://www.yawningbread.org/ - just click on the link titled 'Muddy Singapore swallows China workers, part 2 - two more workers had to spend a night in a police lock-up'.
I'm sure readers would be interested in an update of the China workers issue before I fly off.
Friday, 5 December: After the morning's interview with Yawning Bread, the men went off to the Ministry of Manpower again, to ask for another appointment date. They met with the same officer whom I called "Chen" in the earlier article, but whose name I have now established, is Mr A K Tan.
Tan gave them a new appointment date for Wednesday, 10 December. He issued a letter with four originals, one each for the four China workers who were still free. As you will recall from the earlier article, two others were already in detention at the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA).
Each of the men had photocopies of the letter made. This letter should be useful in case the employer's security agents nab them and hand them over to the police.
Saturday, 6 December: Stephanie Chok, the tireless volunteer, received word that Xue Hanming and Yang Zhiqiang were being held at Xuyi, the employer's office. The employer wanted them to sign an agreement to be paid (a sum that the men did not agree with) and repatriated. The men refused and Xuyi was calling the police.
She and Russell Heng, treasurer of Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2), rushed to Xuyi's Joo Chiat office. They arrived at about the same time as two police officers. Two other police officers were already in the office. Other China workers were in the corridor muttering their own unhappiness with the employer.
A woman named Elsie, representing the company, objected to the presence of third parties, so Stephanie and Heng had to wait outside. Soon after, Radha Basu of the Straits Times arrived, but she didn't get much co-operation from Elsie either.
Heng told the police that Xue and Yang had appointments at the Manpower ministry on 10 December, and so they are not illegal overstayers. They therefore shouldn't be taken into custody. Unfortunately, Xue only had a photocopy of his letter in his possession and the police felt that they had to take the both of them in pending sight of the original letter.
The two men were then handcuffed and led out. On the way out, Xue told Stephanie to retrieve the original letter from among his possessions at a Geylang hostel. This would prove a mistake, because the employer's representative also heard it.
For some reason, there was a little delay before Stephanie called another worker at the same hostel. It was too late! The worker there said that Xuyi supervisor Tang Xuan had just arrived to take Xue’s bag away.
(What is this? Do employers have the right to take personal property away just like that? Isn't that theft?)
When Stephanie got there, she saw a few bags strewn about, but clearly no letter. The other workers, even though they were witnesses, were however reluctant to provide their names. "We have to earn a living," they said.
Stephanie and Heng then proceeded to Bedok Police Station where Xue and Yang were being held. They couldn't get to see them, but managed to speak to Winson Ng, the investigating officer. They briefed Ng about the background to this matter, and Ng helpfully explained to them what his station would be doing.
He said they would be in touch with the Ministry of Manpower to establish the status of the men. He enquired if there were any Special Passes issued for them, but when told that a certain Nigel from Manpower had said the Special Passes had been issued to the employer (see previous article), he remarked that he found it strange too.
(Later, I will explain why I think no Special Passes were ever issued.)
Ng said that if the police manage to establish that the men were not illegal overstayers, they would release them to their employer. Heng told him that this would expose them to the risk of being detained by Xuyi's security agencies and the whole drama would repeat itself. Agreeing, Ng said sometimes the police may just release the men on their own recognition.
Sunday, 7 December: Russell Heng had a phone conversation with a Simon Ho of Bedok Police Station. When Ho understood that while Xue's original letter from the Manpower ministry could not be located, Liu Xiaoping had an identical original, Ho agreed that Liu's letter would satisfy him of the appointment at Manpower on 10 December.
Stephanie then went to get hold of Liu and his original letter, and brought both to Bedok Police Station.
By the time she got there, the police had decided to release Xue and Yang without even seeing the letter. This was because Ho had managed to contact someone at Manpower to verify the facts. Ho also explained -– for once, somebody does -– a little about the system.
Apparently, after an employer cancels a worker's Work Permit [1], the police recognise a grace period of one month, to allow the individual to sort out matters and leave in an orderly fashion. They won't arrest the individual for overstaying during that one month.
In Xue Hanming's case, his Work Permit was apparently cancelled by his employer on 7 November 2008 -– that's about as soon as Xue lodged his complaint with the Ministry of Manpower. So on that same day as they were speaking (7 December), his one month grace period had expired. However, since he had a letter from Manpower setting an appointment date of 10 December, this would suffice for now.
In Yang Zhiqiang's case, the employer cancelled his Work Permit on 10 November 2008. He would be considered an overstayer after 10 December.
Stephanie thought that Ho's manner was genial. Xue and Yang too said that the police were very civil throughout their stay in the lock-up. It was clean, they said, and they were fed, though they felt the portions were a bit small.
* * * * *
In the meantime, there has been no news whatsoever about Cheng Yuguang and Xue Chengming, the two workers seized earlier by the employer's security agents. The last anyone heard, they were being held at the ICA.
Have they been deported? No one seems to know.
The remaining two guys, Tian Suyun and Liu Xiaoping, have fled the company-supplied accommodation and are staying with friends. They remain in contact with TWC2 and Stephanie. Xue Hanming and Yang Zhiqiang are obviously not going to return to the company-supplied accommodation either.
The men have made it clear that they have no intention of overstaying; in fact they want to go home to China, but also want to be paid their just amounts before they are sent home.
In the remaining few days, they will obviously have to try harder through the Manpower ministry or other means, to get the matter resolved to their satisfaction. What happens next, we shall see.
* * * * *
The picture is a little clearer now, but so are the crevices through which workers can fall through.
We learn from this story that Work Permits can be cancelled at any time by the employer, and apparently nobody has any responsibility to inform the worker that his Work Permit has been cancelled, and his one-month grace period is ticking. One morning, you can transition into an illegal overstayer without even knowing it, and be liable for imprisonment and caning.
By the way, the men's passports are still with the employer; the practice is that employers keep all their workers' passports. It seems strange to me that Singapore allows this to happen. There must be some human right violated that a critical identity document should be taken out of a person's hands.
It is doubtful if there were ever any Special Passes issued for these workers. The information attributed to the "Nigel" from Manpower must be defective. In any case, as I understand it, a Special Pass is normally issued only to a foreign worker if he or she is needed to stay on in Singapore as a prosecution witness in a criminal case; for example, if a domestic worker needs to testify that she has been physically abused by her employer.
These men are not bringing forward a criminal case (but see my comments below). It would therefore seem odd that Special Passes appear to figure in the story.
The men were at a disadvantage because they were ignorant of how the system works, and they largely wasted their one-month grace period (which they probably didn't know about) hoping that the Manpower ministry would help them resolve their dispute with Xuyi.
The Manpower ministry probably felt it was not their job to pressure the employer to solve the matter within one month.
As for the employer, my guess is that they probably thought they could stonewall the workers' claims for one month and then rely on the police and ICA to arrest and deport the men after that. Under duress, the men would have to agree to whatever little the company was prepared to pay them.
The system is therefore loaded against the worker.
* * * * *
But why wasn't it made into a criminal case from the start? The men's complaints were threefold:
* Their salaries had not been paid for three months;
* The employer was making deductions the men did not agree to;
* The employer was not computing for overtime in the salary calculations, when they were working as many as 88 hours a week.
The second might be a civil dispute, but the first and third were violations of the Employment Act.
Sections 20 and 21 of the Act says:
20. –(1) An employer may fix periods, which for the purpose of this Act shall be called salary periods, in respect of which salary earned shall be payable.
(2) No salary period shall exceed one month.
(3) In the absence of a salary period so fixed the salary period shall be deemed to be one month.
21. –(1) Salary earned by an employee under a contract of service, other than additional payments for overtime work, shall be paid before the expiry of the 7th day after the last day of the salary period in respect of which the salary is payable.
(2) Additional payments for overtime work shall be paid not later than 14 days after the last day of the salary period during which the overtime work was performed.
As for overtime pay, Section 38 (subsection 4) says,
38. -(4) If an employee at the request of the employer works –
(b) more than 44 hours in one week.....
he shall be paid for such extra work at the rate of not less than one and a half times his hourly basic rate of pay ...
As mentioned in the earlier article, the men had also worked every day for months without a day off. This violates the Employment Act too.
36. –(1) Every employee shall be allowed in each week a rest day without pay of one whole day which shall be Sunday or such other day as may be determined from time to time by the employer.
(2) The employer may substitute any continuous period of 30 hours as a rest day for an employee engaged in shift work.
As for the deductions, this could conceivably be a criminal matter as well, because the Act says,
26. No deductions other than deductions authorised under the provisions of this Act shall be made by an employer from the salary of an employee
The Act lists what it considers authorised deductions, including accommodation, meals, absence from work, provident fund payments, etc. Since I do not know the nature of the deductions the employer is making, I can offer no view whether they are in violation of the law or not.
Still, it does seem strange, doesn't it, that the Manpower ministry is merely trying to mediate the matter, when there is a case to prosecute the employer under the Employment Act for delaying wages and not computing overtime pay. Why hasn't it done so?
If it had, the employer could not then rely on the stonewall strategy. It would have to settle fairly and promptly or face the law.
BOX STORY 1: Channel 8's Liang Kaixin and a camera crew were also at Bedok Police Station. They took some footage and did an interview or two.
However, Russell Heng learnt from them that they also needed to get the Manpower ministry's response to their queries before they could air, and as at the time of writing this piece, more than 48 hours later, it hasn't aired yet.
Frankly, this is another problem with our mainstream media's editorial policies -- policies no doubt laid down from on high.
What if the Manpower ministry doesn't respond? The story will be suspended indefinitely. Then, at some point, the men will be deported, and editors may decide, oh well, the story is moot.
If so, Singaporeans may never learn of the affair.
BOX STORY 2: In the earlier article, I mentioned that a New Paper reporter was also there at the Friday morning interview. As far as I can see, the story did not appear on Saturday, nor on Sunday. Why?
© Yawning Bread
Muddy Singapore Swallows China Workers
L-R:
Tian Su Yun
Yang Zhi Qiang
Xue Han Ming
Liu Xiao Ping
Not in the photo (detained at ICA):
Xue Cheng Ming
Chen Yu Guang
The following is a web entry from Yawning Bread, posted on 5 December 2008, about a group of construction workers from China who are working on the Marina Sands integrated resort project. Hired by a company called XuYi Building Engineering Co., these men, whittled down to a group of 4 (see picture above) from an original batch of 34, have been trying to claim their unpaid salary arrears and have met with one obstacle after another. For the full story, please log on to Yawning Bread's website at: http://www.yawningbread.org/ and click on the December entry titled 'Muddy Singapore Swallows China Workers'. The article is reproduced below, but without the accompany box stories and a few images. You can also read the comments left by other readers on Yawning Bread's website.
MUDDY SINGAPORE SWALLOWS CHINA WORKERS
Wanting to press for a resolution of his dispute with his employer, Xue Hanming, a construction worker originally from Jiangsu, China, called the Ministry of Manpower on 3 December 2008. "Ms Foo [Kim Hui] told me to go down to the ministry the next day," he told me.
On the 4th, he arrived and asked the reception clerk to inform Ms Foo of his presence. He was asked to sit in the waiting area.
After a long while with no sign of Foo, Xue began to wonder if something else was up. Fresh in his mind was the case of a fellow worker, Xue Chengming (no relation), who had been seized by security agents hired by their employer on 2 Dec. More on Xue Chengming's seizure below.
Fearing a similar fate, Xue decided to leave. Moments after stepping out, he saw his manager and a couple of security guards enter the Manpower ministry building. It was a near miss.
The coincidences scream at you. Who would have alerted the employer that Xue Hanming was in the ministry building? Why did Foo never come down to meet someone with whom she herself had asked to come to the ministry, giving the impression that she was prepared to discuss the matter with the complainant? Are government offices meant to be places for resolving problems in good faith and according to the law, or locations for entrapment?
But let's start from the beginning.
* * * *
The two Xue were members of a larger group of workers -– a figure of 32 was mentioned at some point in the interview -– who were in dispute with their employer, Xuyi Building Engineering Co, a "foreign company registered in Singapore" according to the records at the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA). Its registration number is F 065765 K.
Xuyi is a subcontractor at both the Marina Bay and Sentosa casino projects. I am told that Xuyi is a subcontractor for multinational construction company Ssangyong at these sites.
This was not the first time that Xuyi faced unhappy workers. There was at least one earlier batch who had lodged complaints against the company -- a fact that the Ministry of Manpower acknowledged to Xue and his colleagues. More on that batch's story in the box at right.
Xue Hanming spoke on behalf of five other men... Two of them had been seized by the employer's security agents before the interview and handed over to the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA).
Of these six men, three had been brought to Singapore in late 2007, one in February 2008 and two, including Xue Hanming, in June 2008.
Before coming here, they had signed employment contracts with a labour agency in China -– whom they later discovered was set up by the spouse of the boss of Singapore Xuyi -– which contained a paragraph on expected remuneration. It is not an altogether clear clause, but it may be common in China. Essentially, it says that the monthly salary will be in the range of "S$1,250 to S$1,500 (subject to satisfactory diligence)". It also specified that if they worked every day of a month, they would get an extra S$1 per day, i.e. S$30 for a 30-day month.
By end October, Xue Hanming and others were seriously unhappy about not receiving their wages, formally lodging their complaints with their company's management. Xue himself, following the company's procedure, signed a form recording his grievance.
They even had difficulty at that stage. Xue wanted the complaint form to say that he wanted three months of salary arrears to be paid, but the supervisor or manager insisted on rewriting it to say "Salary too little, not in keeping with contract obligation". As you can imagine, the rewrite would conceal the fact that the company had broken Singapore law by not paying its workers on time; the rewrite cast5 it as a dispute about interpretation of contractual terms.
In response, the company produced a schedule listing what the men were owed. In Xue's case, the schedule showed that his gross salary in June and July was over S$1,400 monthly, but for August, September and October, his gross decreased to S$1,300 and S$1,200.
It was similar for the others in the batch.
Xue asked his management: "Is the gross salary for the last three months lowered because I filed a complaint and indicated I wanted to go back?"
He was not given much of an answer. "It's like that," was what the company representative told him.
Xue was prepared to accept the slightly reduced amounts, but then the company produced a list of deductions that whittled the gross salaries of August, September and October down to a nett S$1,400 or so. For all three months.
Others had it worse,
"In my case," said Liu Xiaoping, "my nett after deductions was just about S$500 for those three months!" As was the case for Chen Yuguang -– one of two guys currently in ICA detention.
Now feeling cheated and quite irate, they also chanced upon a story in the Chinese-language newspaper Lianhe Zaobao which told of another company being found in the wrong for holding back salaries time-wise and through deductions. They further learnt that it was illegal for companies not to pay overtime for working hours in excess of 44 hours a week.
In their case, they had been working every day, seven days a week. They often worked more than 80 hours a week. This only fueled their anger.
Ministry of Manpower – first meeting
On 6 November 2008, they filed a complaint with the Ministry of Manpower, meeting the above-mentioned Ms Foo and an officer whose surname in hanyu pinyin was Chen.
Xue recounted that Chen waxed lyrical with three allegorical tales.
"His first story was from Lu Xun, about a patriot and revolutionary named Ah Q, who ended up being executed, because he was illiterate. He signed a confession without understanding it.
“I told him in response, ‘The era of Ah Q is over’.”Refusing to be compared to an illiterate, Xue pointed to the Zaobao article that had informed him of his rights. The article had said that it is illegal for an employer to make deductions from workers' pay. Even if an agreement had been signed, the agreement would not be valid, Xue summarised the news story.
Chen then spoke of the Yellow River, saying that at its source the water is clear, but in the lower reaches, it is yellow and muddy. "Frankly," noted Xue, "I don't understand what he was trying to say. Was he saying that Singapore is muddy?"
The Manpower official then launched into his third allegory. "Rub two stones and you get a spark," Xue recalled Chen saying. "But if you have an egg and a stone.... You workers are the eggs."
"He said this in front of more than 20 workers as well as company representative Tang Xuan," reported Xue. "And the meeting ended like that with no conclusion."
Along the way, the workers learnt that the same company had had a similar case just weeks before. Twelve workers, originally from Henan, had meetings with the Manpower ministry in October and were eventually sent home to China in early November. Workers in that batch were upset about the same things, and demanded to be released from their contracts and repatriated. To close that case, the company deducted S$100 for each month in the contract not worked. There were also deductions for rent and utilities.
The current batch said that if the company would use the same formula, they would accept the settlement. But this time, the company refused, while the ministry officials said, "We can't tell your employer what to pay you."
Ministry of Manpower – second and third meetings
The mediation session of 19 November was likewise fruitless. The employer stood firm, saying something to this effect: These projects (the casinos) are important projects, and if we let you quit whenever you want, we cannot complete them in time.
The third meeting was not held at the ministry, but at the worksite. Inside information told Yawning Bread that the ministry was seeing more and more workers showing up and making complaints, and they did not want the public to see how many unhappy workers were descending on their premises.
Held on 26 November, the officer Chen circumlocuted again. He spoke of a wolf, goat and grass wanting a boatman's services to cross a river. The problem was that if the boatman did so, with the three of them ending up on the same bank, they would devour each other. According to Xue, the ministry saw itself as the boatman. The wolf represented what he called third parties, (which could be the NGOs and outsiders getting involved), the goat the company, and the workers the lowly grass.
Soon after making this nebulous comparison, Chen told the company's representative, Tang Xuan, something to this effect: "Go and settle this properly. I have to go now because I have an exam to take tomorrow."
And with that, the meeting broke up.
Facing total intransigence on the employer's part, the workers thought about hiring a lawyer, but they had no money. Eventually they turned to an NGO, TWC2 (Transient Workers Count Too), who are now trying to help them though they too have very limited influence and resources.
Snatching and robbing
Along the way, some of the workers in the group gave up and accepted the company's unfair and miserly terms, and were repatriated –- or at least that was the impression that Yawning Bread got. Six held on. But for these six, things got nastier.
Tuesday, 2 December: Four or five security agents hired by the employer, and led by the company representative Tang Xuan, went to Xue Chengming's dormitory between 10 and 11 in the morning and took him away under coercion. One co-worker witnessed it and informed Xue Hanming. Shortly after, agents from another security company took Chen Yuguang away from his dormitory, which was at a different location. To Yawning Bread, the two instances sound awfully like kidnapping.
Friends tried to call Xue Chengming on his two mobile phone numbers, but these were switched off. Nor could friends reach Chen Yuguang.
In the latter's case, the security agency which snatched him was identified as a company with a name like "UTR". It was traced, and TWC2 rang them to enquire if Chen was there. It was established that he was. Yang Zhiqiang, Xue Hanming, Sha Najak from TWC2, together with Stephanie Chok -– a Singaporean who helps workers in her personal capacity -– went there and had a chance to speak with him.
Chen told them that his handphone had been taken from him by the security agents. One could assume that Xue Chengming too had been relieved of his two phones by the security agents who seized him.
Yawning Bread asked the men at the interview: Who owned the phones? They said the men did. They were the personal property of Xue and Chen. Well, dear readers, doesn't that amount to robbery? And wouldn't keeping people incommunicado reinforce the justification for calling this kidnap?
Wednesday, 3 December: Around midnight Tuesday/Wednesday, police arrived at UTR -- almost surely a result of a phone call from the employer Xuyi to the police -- and took Chen Yuguang to Central Police Station.
When Stephanie went there Wednesday afternoon, she also enquired with the police about Xue Chengming. She told them that no one had been able to contact him since the day before and people needed to know his whereabouts and if he was safe. After some pleading, the police checked their database and found him as being in custody at Bedok Police Station. His status was that he had been "arrested" for overstaying.
Were they overstayers? This could not be so, because Xue Chengming, for one, had a letter from the Ministry of Manpower setting an appointment date of 4 December, and it was only 2 or 3 December when the police took him in.
The way things are supposed to work in Singapore is that when employees are in a dispute with en employer, the Ministry of Manpower issues them with special passes so that they can remain in Singapore until the issues have been resolved. Having a letter from the Ministry of Manpower setting up an appointment is a good sign that these people had been put on special passes.
Moreover, a certain Nigel, an officer with the Ministry of Manpower, would later confirm to TWC2 that these men had been issued with special passes, but he also said that these passes were handed over to the employer at the time of issuance. However, Nigel added that the "passes had expired because the employer neglected to renew them" according to an email Stephanie received from TWC2.
This does not make any sense, so the above information may be wrong. How can Manpower entrust the special passes to the employer when the employer and workers are locked in a dispute? How can the employer have the discretion to "renew" or not, the special passes, when the employer would have an interest in throwing the workers out of the country?
Whatever it is, it's quite evident that the men are not overstayers -– and based on usual procedure, they would not be -– but the police seemed to think he was. It is believed that like Chen Yuguang's case, Xuyi called the police after their security agents had seized Xue Chengming, with Xuyi telling the police that Xue was an overstayer. The police appeared to be uninterested in checking their information. Effectively, therefore, the police were holding people unlawfully.
Thursday, 4 December: Xue Hanming had his near miss with security agents in the lobby of the Ministry of Manpower, as described at the start of this story.
Police said, "Don't come."
That (Thursday) afternoon at 15:08h, Xue Hanming got a phone call from a police officer named Ye, who told him that his employer had made a police report that he (Xue Hanming) had gone missing. The employer must have called the police right after they failed to nab him at the ministry lobby.
"I am not missing," Xue replied. "Shall I come to the police station? I would be happy to do that, so that you can protect me from my employer.
"Mr Ye then said, 'No, no. Don't come'," Xue recalled with a laugh.
The police officer then suggested that Xue seek help from the Chinese embassy. Xue said he had tried that but the embassy told him it was a domestic Singapore matter.
Fly yourself home or be caned
Xue Hanming receiving an unexpected phone call from Chen Yuguang, who was calling from the ICA where he was being held.
Halfway through Yawning Bread's interview, Xue Hanming received a call from Chen Yuguang on his handphone. Chen and Xue Chengming had by then been dumped by the police onto the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA). Chen was calling from an ICA landline (his cellphone having been seized). He was under pressure from the ICA to find the money to buy his air ticket home, and was appealing to his friends for help.
Why was Chen Yuguang and Xue Chengming looking to buy their own air tickets home? you should ask. After all, the rule is that employers are responsible for paying for that. All workers in Singapore know that.
My guess is that the ICA were threatening them with imprisonment and caning -– these being the penalties for illegal overstaying -– and pressuring him to accept an injustice.
* * * * *
This story started with an abusive employer, but what got me interested was the role played by the government departments. From this, you can see that they were not at all interested in helping workers. Mediation became story-telling in the hope of discouraging the workers from pressing their claims. No mention is made of the company being prosecuted for violating our Employment Act.
The police held people for overstaying without a shred of evidence that they were overstayers.
The ICA held people in an armlock, getting them to fund their own flight home, with or without being paid their wages.
They all just want to get rid of the problem with no regard for justice, law or rights. The source of the problem is the employer, but by action or inaction, our government is abetting all these abuses, ranging from cheating people of their wages, to robbery of their handphones, to kidnap.
It's not just bad officers. It is the system. There are many things wrong with the foreign worker work permit system, as illustrated by this case, which I will point out in a follow-up article.
But meanwhile, I hope you feel as angry as I do.
© Yawning Bread
Thursday, December 4, 2008
10 more sites for temporary foreign worker dorms
The following article was published in the Straits Times on 4 Dec 2008.
Margaret Drive to get foreign worker dorm
Yeo Ghim Lay & Esther Tan
4 December 2008
Straits Times
Ten sites are identified, but most of them are in remote areas
THE authorities have identified 10 more sites for temporary foreign worker dormitories, with the Queenstown Polyclinic site in Margaret Drive being the closest to residential areas.
The building is across the road from three blocks of HDB flats, a hawker centre and the Queenstown library.
Once it begins operating, in three to six months' time, the dormitory will hold 150 construction workers. The Ministry of National Development (MND) said the site was chosen for its smaller capacity and its proximity to Dover Crescent, where the workers will be building a public housing project.
This site is one of three state properties that will be converted into temporary dormitories.
The remaining seven sites are on vacant state land and will be released for tender as demand develops in the future.
The 10 sites will hold up to 20,000 foreign workers and tenures will range from three to six years.
The majority of the sites are in remote areas like Mandai, Seletar West and Choa Chu Kang, which house industrial estates, farms and army camps.
Three sites, two of which are situated in Changi and a third in Hougang Avenue 3, are near residential areas but are at least a 10-minute walk away.
The MND said various measures will be put in place to minimise disruption caused by the new dormitories. For example, dormitories must have adequate facilities on site so that workers will not have to leave the premises.
A liaison officer will be required as a contact point for grassroots organisations and workers will be educated on the social norms and laws of Singapore.
This announcement comes months after news of a planned foreign worker dormitory in Serangoon Gardens caused an uproar among residents.
Grassroots leaders were consulted over the last two months regarding each new site and the leaders understood the need for new foreign worker housing, said the MND.
Margaret Drive residents who spoke to The Straits Times said that they are not overly concerned about having foreign workers in the neighbourhood, as long as they do not cause trouble.
Many also pointed out that they will be leaving the area soon as the blocks of flats opposite the polyclinic are being demolished over the next two years.
Madam Tan Gek Ling, 70, who has lived in Margaret Drive for 48 years, said she is already used to the sight of foreign workers gathering on the void deck.
'They tend to leave their rubbish behind but they don't cause any trouble,' said the housewife.
Besides, she added, she will be moving out of her flat within two years.
However, some residents are concerned about their safety.
Madam Sim Bee Huay, 39, the mother of two primary school children, said the neighbourhood might not be as safe or as quiet.
The area's MP Baey Yam Keng acknowledged that this is a concern among residents. 'The police are well aware of this and there are plans to step up patrols. We also plan to increase the lighting in certain areas,' he said.
Mr Baey said that the workers would be Chinese nationals and able to communicate with the mainly Mandarin- or dialect-speaking residents in the area.
Mr Kenneth Loo, the general manager of Straits Construction, which is building the Dover Crescent project, said it will help to have the workers close by.
The MND said the 10 sites will help meet Singapore's construction needs over the next five to six years.
Contractors and dormitory operators believe that they will ease the shortage of space for such housing.
Mr Simon Lee, the executive director of the Singapore Contractors Association, said that as the sites are offered by the authorities, workers are guaranteed a better standard of housing.
'This will help in addressing the welfare of the foreign workers,' he said.
(c) 2008 Singapore Press Holdings Limited
Margaret Drive to get foreign worker dorm
Yeo Ghim Lay & Esther Tan
4 December 2008
Straits Times
Ten sites are identified, but most of them are in remote areas
THE authorities have identified 10 more sites for temporary foreign worker dormitories, with the Queenstown Polyclinic site in Margaret Drive being the closest to residential areas.
The building is across the road from three blocks of HDB flats, a hawker centre and the Queenstown library.
Once it begins operating, in three to six months' time, the dormitory will hold 150 construction workers. The Ministry of National Development (MND) said the site was chosen for its smaller capacity and its proximity to Dover Crescent, where the workers will be building a public housing project.
This site is one of three state properties that will be converted into temporary dormitories.
The remaining seven sites are on vacant state land and will be released for tender as demand develops in the future.
The 10 sites will hold up to 20,000 foreign workers and tenures will range from three to six years.
The majority of the sites are in remote areas like Mandai, Seletar West and Choa Chu Kang, which house industrial estates, farms and army camps.
Three sites, two of which are situated in Changi and a third in Hougang Avenue 3, are near residential areas but are at least a 10-minute walk away.
The MND said various measures will be put in place to minimise disruption caused by the new dormitories. For example, dormitories must have adequate facilities on site so that workers will not have to leave the premises.
A liaison officer will be required as a contact point for grassroots organisations and workers will be educated on the social norms and laws of Singapore.
This announcement comes months after news of a planned foreign worker dormitory in Serangoon Gardens caused an uproar among residents.
Grassroots leaders were consulted over the last two months regarding each new site and the leaders understood the need for new foreign worker housing, said the MND.
Margaret Drive residents who spoke to The Straits Times said that they are not overly concerned about having foreign workers in the neighbourhood, as long as they do not cause trouble.
Many also pointed out that they will be leaving the area soon as the blocks of flats opposite the polyclinic are being demolished over the next two years.
Madam Tan Gek Ling, 70, who has lived in Margaret Drive for 48 years, said she is already used to the sight of foreign workers gathering on the void deck.
'They tend to leave their rubbish behind but they don't cause any trouble,' said the housewife.
Besides, she added, she will be moving out of her flat within two years.
However, some residents are concerned about their safety.
Madam Sim Bee Huay, 39, the mother of two primary school children, said the neighbourhood might not be as safe or as quiet.
The area's MP Baey Yam Keng acknowledged that this is a concern among residents. 'The police are well aware of this and there are plans to step up patrols. We also plan to increase the lighting in certain areas,' he said.
Mr Baey said that the workers would be Chinese nationals and able to communicate with the mainly Mandarin- or dialect-speaking residents in the area.
Mr Kenneth Loo, the general manager of Straits Construction, which is building the Dover Crescent project, said it will help to have the workers close by.
The MND said the 10 sites will help meet Singapore's construction needs over the next five to six years.
Contractors and dormitory operators believe that they will ease the shortage of space for such housing.
Mr Simon Lee, the executive director of the Singapore Contractors Association, said that as the sites are offered by the authorities, workers are guaranteed a better standard of housing.
'This will help in addressing the welfare of the foreign workers,' he said.
(c) 2008 Singapore Press Holdings Limited
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)