The following article was published by AFP on 28 May 2009.
Foreign worker enclaves mushroom in globalised Singapore
By Philip Lim
28 May 2009
Agence France Presse
For foreign workers like P. Baskaran, the sprawling recreation centre set up by the Singapore Contractors' Association is a home away from home.
On his days off, the Indian air-conditioning technician visits the complex to play cricket, buy cheap groceries and share a few beers with friends.
"This centre is very good, it has everything I need," said Baskaran, flashing a toothy smile as he gestured in the direction of the four-hectare (10-acre) complex located in an industrial suburb.
With a supermarket, clinic, remittance services and a cinema, the centre was built for foreign workers who help power Singapore's labour-short economy.
The centre has become a second "Little India" to workers from South Asia in addition to their original enclave along Serangoon Road, a 90-minute bus ride away.
More than 20 percent of Singapore's 4.8 million residents are foreigners, many from less-developed Asian countries, and it shows. On weekends and holidays, malls teeming with foreign workers add an extra dimension to Singapore's claim of being a multi-racial state.
While more affluent expatriate families live in upmarket areas, workers like Baskaran are often housed in far-flung, cramped dormitories, and congregate in their thousands at favourite locations to relax on their days off.
Lucky Plaza, a run-down shopping mall along swank Orchard Road, is where Filipinos gather to eat fried pork, drink San Miguel beer and send money home.
"This is the centre of the Philippines in Singapore, this is the place where we all come to," Imelda Rico, 43, who been a maid in Singapore for 15 years, told AFP.
At Golden Mile Complex, on the other side of the shopping district, is Little Thailand where famous Thai singers perform on two television screens in a music shop next to the entrance, while the scent of lemongrass and spices fills the building.
"I like to come here," construction worker Prayun Kalangram said at a supermarket where he buys Thai delicacies and other products from home.
In yet another part of town, Aung Soe Paing offers solace to nostalgic compatriots at an eatery in Peninsula Plaza, Singapore's Little Myanmar.
Movie stills featuring the history of the country formerly known as Burma, as well as pictures of its famous actors, adorn the walls of the cosy restaurant managed by the former design student belonging to the Shan minority.
"Every group has their congregation area. Peninsula Plaza is our gathering area. We come for the local food, and to hang out," he said.
Singaporeans are a minority in the foreign enclaves, highlighting a social divide between guest workers and locals that experts say is unbreachable.
"We need foreign workers, but we don't want them to integrate into society," said Gavin Jones, a sociologist at the National University of Singapore who has worked on population and development issues in other Asian countries.
But the foreign crowd is a boon for Singaporean entrepreneurs, providing a number of niche markets that many business people are happy to exploit for a number of reasons.
"Thai people are very friendly, more friendly than Singaporeans, they don't bargain with you over a five-cent difference, not like locals," said Jimmy Phua, owner of a mobile phone shop at the Golden Mile Complex.
Las Tang, a Singaporean saleswoman at a fashion accessory shop in Lucky Plaza, agrees.
"The Filipino customers are better than the locals, they're all very friendly," she said.
Maids like Rico look forward to spending their one day off a week at the mall, which on Sundays looks more like a busy Manila shopping centre.
"This place reminds us of home," Rico said with a smile.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2009 All reproduction and presentation rights reserved.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Companies should accord equal respect to local and foreign workers
The following article appeared in the Straits Times on 27 May 2009.
How to beat S'pore's work woes
Radha Basu, Senior Correspondent
27 May 2009
Straits Times
Champion of workers Halimah Yacob believes in higher skills and creativity as sure paths to prosperity
CREATING the best workforce and workplace in the world is the surest path to prosperity in today's volatile world, says parliamentarian and unionist Halimah Yacob.
But Singapore still has some way to go before achieving this, says the veteran MP and deputy secretary-general of the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC).
The indefatigable champion of workers, who took over as chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee (GPC) for Manpower last week, will scrutinise manpower policies and provide input on how they can be tweaked to keep pace with the vagaries of the economic climate. Continuous learning, she advocates, is the best way forward in these tough times.
Pointing out that Singapore had been lacerated by four recessions in a little more than a decade, she notes that guaranteed employment is history, not just here but all over the world.
This being the case, companies need to 'create clear learning paths' to help individual workers develop their careers.
'Lifelong learning is the only way to lifelong employability and income security,' she says.
Going back to the classroom is important not only for those who fuel the 'knowledge economy', but even for rank-and-file blue-collar workers. 'In the old days, good eyesight and nimble fingers were all that were needed to be a factory worker.'
But with labour-intensive jobs moving to cheaper markets, factory workers here need to know how to operate multiple, sophisticated machines worth millions of dollars.
'This requires computer skills. Although it's still a production job, the skill and knowledge needed is much higher.'
The other key ingredient in shaping up the most competitive workforce in the world is more intangible.
'It is the unique value-add that workers provide that has become the main distinguishing factor between the performance of one country or company and another,' says Madam Halimah, a lawyer by training. She joined the labour movement in 1978.
'We need to focus not just on infrastructure and machinery, but on how to help people to create value. We need to make the jump from being able to do a job to finding creative solutions to problems - not just old solutions, but new and innovative ones.'
At Panasonic Refrigeration Devices Singapore, a factory she visited last week, suggestions from factory workers helped save the company precious dollars.
The company ended up replacing the timber boxes used to pack refrigerator parts with cheaper and lighter cardboard cartons, enabling workers to pack them faster.
While such sparks are heartening, they are still far from the norm.
Seeds of creativity need to be sown not at workplaces, but much earlier - at school and university, says the mother of five children aged between 18 and 27.
'We need to look hard at our education system and see how best to produce workers who don't just work hard but know how to think out of the box and ask questions.'
Cutting costs and saving jobs
BUT her immediate priority is to help companies cut costs and save jobs.
Last quarter, 12,600 people here lost their jobs as retrenchments scaled a 10-year peak. Two schemes the Government launched to help workers cope - Spur and Jobs Credit - have helped stanch the bleed.
Dismissing criticism that such moves help businesses more than workers, she says that both programmes are a 'win-win' formula that helped both groups.
Take the case of Japanese disk drive manufacturer Murata Electronics, the first company to make use of Spur, under which the Government pays up to 90 per cent of course fees for worker training.
At the time, Murata's orders had plunged to a new low. By sending its workers for training under Spur, the company saved $500,000 and was able to reduce retrenchments. Now its workers are reskilled and orders are finally looking up.
But her work as the chief purveyor of manpower policies will be far from over when Singapore pulls out of the recession. Her long-term wish list is extensive, and high on the list is improving the lot of low-skilled, female and foreign workers.
First, she wants to bridge the rich-poor income divide.
'After every recession, there is a decline in level of wages as pay cuts may not be restored,' she says.
This may be a global phenomenon, but one that Singapore cannot take lightly, as it already has a relatively high Gini coefficient at 0.48, which is comparable to countries like Mexico (0.47) and Uganda (0.43). This coefficient is the international benchmark for measuring income inequalities between the richest and poorest in a country.
If you factor in 'social transfers' or the handouts the Government gives to the poor - such as the Workfare Income Supplement - the coefficient falls slightly to 0.46.
'But long term, we need to worry about this and make sure that social cohesion is not affected.'
With Singapore's focus on ensuring that all children get a proper education - an additional $67.5 million was poured in just this past weekend towards this goal - she believes that eventually a better-educated population will narrow the rich-poor divide.
'But it's today's low-wage workers that worry me. Some who are just in their 40s may have another 20 years of working life left.'
She hopes the Government will consider raising from $1,500 to $1,800 the income ceiling of the Workfare Income Supplement, a government payout that is given to help shore up the wages of older workers.
Another imperative: Creating 'good quality' jobs that pay well. Some of this is already happening.
Job re-creation schemes that aim to turn low-paying jobs into better-paying ones are underway, including in the security industry.
Five years ago, security guards earned an average of $800, a little more than half the $1,500 they do today.
The value-add? They need to be trained and now use sophisticated surveillance equipment.
Helping more women go back to work is another key priority.
'Women have less CPF savings, Medisave and retirement income,' she says.
Yet, on average they suffer 11 years of disability, compared to just eight years for men, towards the end of their lives.
'They also need a lot more treatment and incur higher health-care costs.'
Singapore's labour force participation rate for women - at around 55 per cent last June - is abysmally low, compared to Scandinavian countries such as Sweden (81 per cent) and Norway (80 per cent).
Getting more companies to embrace flexi-work options is one way of ensuring that women, often bogged down with care-giving, get an opportunity to earn an income.
Companies can also make use of the Government's FlexiWork Fund to help defray the costs of introducing flexible work arrangements such as staggered hours or shorter work weeks.
Companies such as SingPost have already come up with innovative ways of employing housewives.
The company makes use of housewives to deliver letters in Housing Board estates during their free time.
'The work is organised around the women rather than the other way around,' she notes. 'We need more of such arrangements.'
Respect in the workplace
FINALLY, she hopes companies here will accord equal respect to both local and foreign workers.
'A nurturing workplace is one that empowers workers, ensures their safety - and above all - obeys the laws of the land. Judging by the number of instances of employers not complying with our laws - especially with regard to foreign workers - we have some distance to go.'
Recent cases of workers coming here on legal work permits after paying hefty fees to agents, but being repatriated after getting no work, are a 'shame' that she fears could ultimately reap a grim harvest for Singapore.
While governments in the origin countries need to police their own rogue agents, she says better enforcement of laws here is also necessary.
It was reported recently that the authorities in China's Fujian province were discouraging their workers from coming to Singapore.
'If more areas follow suit, this could cost Singapore dearly,' she says. 'Saving these workers from the terrible hardship they face is ultimately in Singapore's best interests.'
radhab@sph.com.sg
New head of Manpower GPC
MADAM Halimah Yacob, 54, is deputy secretary-general of the National Trades Union Congress and a member of Parliament for Jurong GRC. Last week, she took over the chair of the Government Parliamentary Committee (GPC) for Manpower.
In her new role, she will provide feedback to the Government on gaps in manpower policy.
A lawyer by training, she has more than 30 years of experience at NTUC, which she first joined as a legal officer in 1978.
In 1999, she became the first Singaporean to get a seat on the governing body of the International Labour Organisation.
Two years later, after completing her master's in law from the National University of Singapore, she became the first Malay-Muslim woman to become an MP in independent Singapore.
She is a board member of the National University of Singapore, the Economic Development Board and the Housing Board, as well as a patron of the Young Women Muslim Association.
She won the Berita Harian McDonald's Achiever of the Year Award in 2001 and followed it up with the 2003 Her World Woman of the Year Award.
A mother of five children aged between 18 and 27, she is married to businessman Mohammed Abdullah Alhabshee.
ON THE CHANGING NATURE OF WORKPLACES
'It is no longer possible to have a command-and- control, authoritarian style of managing people, reminiscent of the assembly line operations of the past. Workers need to be empowered so that they can feel greater ownership and suggest ways to save costs and improve productivity.'
ON CARING EMPLOYERS BEGETTING COMMITTED WORKERS
'Thinking and productive workers and caring employers are two sides of the same coin. We cannot have one without the other.'
ON HER VISION FOR SINGAPORE
'The best workplace in the world is one where there is respect for workers' rights, including those enshrined in the various laws on employment, industrial relations and safety, where workers are assessed on merit and adequately rewarded and recognised for their efforts. These should apply equally to both foreign and local workers.'
(c) 2009 Singapore Press Holdings Limited
How to beat S'pore's work woes
Radha Basu, Senior Correspondent
27 May 2009
Straits Times
Champion of workers Halimah Yacob believes in higher skills and creativity as sure paths to prosperity
CREATING the best workforce and workplace in the world is the surest path to prosperity in today's volatile world, says parliamentarian and unionist Halimah Yacob.
But Singapore still has some way to go before achieving this, says the veteran MP and deputy secretary-general of the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC).
The indefatigable champion of workers, who took over as chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee (GPC) for Manpower last week, will scrutinise manpower policies and provide input on how they can be tweaked to keep pace with the vagaries of the economic climate. Continuous learning, she advocates, is the best way forward in these tough times.
Pointing out that Singapore had been lacerated by four recessions in a little more than a decade, she notes that guaranteed employment is history, not just here but all over the world.
This being the case, companies need to 'create clear learning paths' to help individual workers develop their careers.
'Lifelong learning is the only way to lifelong employability and income security,' she says.
Going back to the classroom is important not only for those who fuel the 'knowledge economy', but even for rank-and-file blue-collar workers. 'In the old days, good eyesight and nimble fingers were all that were needed to be a factory worker.'
But with labour-intensive jobs moving to cheaper markets, factory workers here need to know how to operate multiple, sophisticated machines worth millions of dollars.
'This requires computer skills. Although it's still a production job, the skill and knowledge needed is much higher.'
The other key ingredient in shaping up the most competitive workforce in the world is more intangible.
'It is the unique value-add that workers provide that has become the main distinguishing factor between the performance of one country or company and another,' says Madam Halimah, a lawyer by training. She joined the labour movement in 1978.
'We need to focus not just on infrastructure and machinery, but on how to help people to create value. We need to make the jump from being able to do a job to finding creative solutions to problems - not just old solutions, but new and innovative ones.'
At Panasonic Refrigeration Devices Singapore, a factory she visited last week, suggestions from factory workers helped save the company precious dollars.
The company ended up replacing the timber boxes used to pack refrigerator parts with cheaper and lighter cardboard cartons, enabling workers to pack them faster.
While such sparks are heartening, they are still far from the norm.
Seeds of creativity need to be sown not at workplaces, but much earlier - at school and university, says the mother of five children aged between 18 and 27.
'We need to look hard at our education system and see how best to produce workers who don't just work hard but know how to think out of the box and ask questions.'
Cutting costs and saving jobs
BUT her immediate priority is to help companies cut costs and save jobs.
Last quarter, 12,600 people here lost their jobs as retrenchments scaled a 10-year peak. Two schemes the Government launched to help workers cope - Spur and Jobs Credit - have helped stanch the bleed.
Dismissing criticism that such moves help businesses more than workers, she says that both programmes are a 'win-win' formula that helped both groups.
Take the case of Japanese disk drive manufacturer Murata Electronics, the first company to make use of Spur, under which the Government pays up to 90 per cent of course fees for worker training.
At the time, Murata's orders had plunged to a new low. By sending its workers for training under Spur, the company saved $500,000 and was able to reduce retrenchments. Now its workers are reskilled and orders are finally looking up.
But her work as the chief purveyor of manpower policies will be far from over when Singapore pulls out of the recession. Her long-term wish list is extensive, and high on the list is improving the lot of low-skilled, female and foreign workers.
First, she wants to bridge the rich-poor income divide.
'After every recession, there is a decline in level of wages as pay cuts may not be restored,' she says.
This may be a global phenomenon, but one that Singapore cannot take lightly, as it already has a relatively high Gini coefficient at 0.48, which is comparable to countries like Mexico (0.47) and Uganda (0.43). This coefficient is the international benchmark for measuring income inequalities between the richest and poorest in a country.
If you factor in 'social transfers' or the handouts the Government gives to the poor - such as the Workfare Income Supplement - the coefficient falls slightly to 0.46.
'But long term, we need to worry about this and make sure that social cohesion is not affected.'
With Singapore's focus on ensuring that all children get a proper education - an additional $67.5 million was poured in just this past weekend towards this goal - she believes that eventually a better-educated population will narrow the rich-poor divide.
'But it's today's low-wage workers that worry me. Some who are just in their 40s may have another 20 years of working life left.'
She hopes the Government will consider raising from $1,500 to $1,800 the income ceiling of the Workfare Income Supplement, a government payout that is given to help shore up the wages of older workers.
Another imperative: Creating 'good quality' jobs that pay well. Some of this is already happening.
Job re-creation schemes that aim to turn low-paying jobs into better-paying ones are underway, including in the security industry.
Five years ago, security guards earned an average of $800, a little more than half the $1,500 they do today.
The value-add? They need to be trained and now use sophisticated surveillance equipment.
Helping more women go back to work is another key priority.
'Women have less CPF savings, Medisave and retirement income,' she says.
Yet, on average they suffer 11 years of disability, compared to just eight years for men, towards the end of their lives.
'They also need a lot more treatment and incur higher health-care costs.'
Singapore's labour force participation rate for women - at around 55 per cent last June - is abysmally low, compared to Scandinavian countries such as Sweden (81 per cent) and Norway (80 per cent).
Getting more companies to embrace flexi-work options is one way of ensuring that women, often bogged down with care-giving, get an opportunity to earn an income.
Companies can also make use of the Government's FlexiWork Fund to help defray the costs of introducing flexible work arrangements such as staggered hours or shorter work weeks.
Companies such as SingPost have already come up with innovative ways of employing housewives.
The company makes use of housewives to deliver letters in Housing Board estates during their free time.
'The work is organised around the women rather than the other way around,' she notes. 'We need more of such arrangements.'
Respect in the workplace
FINALLY, she hopes companies here will accord equal respect to both local and foreign workers.
'A nurturing workplace is one that empowers workers, ensures their safety - and above all - obeys the laws of the land. Judging by the number of instances of employers not complying with our laws - especially with regard to foreign workers - we have some distance to go.'
Recent cases of workers coming here on legal work permits after paying hefty fees to agents, but being repatriated after getting no work, are a 'shame' that she fears could ultimately reap a grim harvest for Singapore.
While governments in the origin countries need to police their own rogue agents, she says better enforcement of laws here is also necessary.
It was reported recently that the authorities in China's Fujian province were discouraging their workers from coming to Singapore.
'If more areas follow suit, this could cost Singapore dearly,' she says. 'Saving these workers from the terrible hardship they face is ultimately in Singapore's best interests.'
radhab@sph.com.sg
New head of Manpower GPC
MADAM Halimah Yacob, 54, is deputy secretary-general of the National Trades Union Congress and a member of Parliament for Jurong GRC. Last week, she took over the chair of the Government Parliamentary Committee (GPC) for Manpower.
In her new role, she will provide feedback to the Government on gaps in manpower policy.
A lawyer by training, she has more than 30 years of experience at NTUC, which she first joined as a legal officer in 1978.
In 1999, she became the first Singaporean to get a seat on the governing body of the International Labour Organisation.
Two years later, after completing her master's in law from the National University of Singapore, she became the first Malay-Muslim woman to become an MP in independent Singapore.
She is a board member of the National University of Singapore, the Economic Development Board and the Housing Board, as well as a patron of the Young Women Muslim Association.
She won the Berita Harian McDonald's Achiever of the Year Award in 2001 and followed it up with the 2003 Her World Woman of the Year Award.
A mother of five children aged between 18 and 27, she is married to businessman Mohammed Abdullah Alhabshee.
ON THE CHANGING NATURE OF WORKPLACES
'It is no longer possible to have a command-and- control, authoritarian style of managing people, reminiscent of the assembly line operations of the past. Workers need to be empowered so that they can feel greater ownership and suggest ways to save costs and improve productivity.'
ON CARING EMPLOYERS BEGETTING COMMITTED WORKERS
'Thinking and productive workers and caring employers are two sides of the same coin. We cannot have one without the other.'
ON HER VISION FOR SINGAPORE
'The best workplace in the world is one where there is respect for workers' rights, including those enshrined in the various laws on employment, industrial relations and safety, where workers are assessed on merit and adequately rewarded and recognised for their efforts. These should apply equally to both foreign and local workers.'
(c) 2009 Singapore Press Holdings Limited
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Lorry Load of Trouble
The New Paper ran this article on 26 May 2009:
Lorry load of trouble
Foreign workers speak about perils of being 'back-seat' passengers
By Ho Lian-Yi
Alarming: (Top) Workers are squeezed with equipment. (Below) Crowded together in a lorry without handles to grasp or shelter to protect them from rain.
(Below) Workers sit among piles of broken branches. TNP Pictures: Jonathan Choo
It's common to hear Singaporeans gripe about having to be packed like sardines on trains and buses during peak hours.
But take a look at these pictures - and see how foreign workers are being transported daily.
They put up with bumpy rides and battle the elements. Worse, it is dangerous.
Four workers were killed last Monday after the lorry that was carrying them crashed into a trailer at Tuas.
We spoke to a few foreign workers to find out what it's like to travel on the back of a lorry.
Mr Arman, 29, a Bangladeshi, told The New Paper that he gets to sit in the front of the lorry these days - one of the perks of being a supervisor.
But he still remembers vividly the "scary" rides at the back.
The ride from his workers' quarters in Yishun to his worksite in Haig Road takes 25 minutes.
When the drive brakes suddenly, "those behind also come to the front", he said.
He has also seen workers getting hit by low-lying branches - causing injury in some cases.
What is really dangerous, Mr Arman said, is when companies carry equipment and men on the same lorry. When it's overloaded, workers have to sit on the machinery.
He said his workers bought a 5m-long canvas sheet to protect themselves from the rain. When it pours, they huddle under the sheet, holding hands.
Despite the recent accident, nothing has changed, Mr Arman said.
Another Bangladeshi workers, 38, who declined to be named, said that recently, one of his colleagues injured his leg falling off a lorry when it surged forward before he had properly climbed onboard.
Although he has worked in Singapore for 19 years, he said he had to take lorries only in the last two years. Previously, he lived onsite.
The lorry rides are very bumpy, he said. And that hurts his spine.
"One year, two years, so much damage to my back," he said.
Sometimes, when the lorry ends up behind a rubbish truck, the stench is unbearable, he said.
He added that when the workers get caught in the rain and fall sick, some foremen are unsympathetic.
Other workers though, had better experiences.
Indian national Muthu Senthil, 28, who has worked in Singapore for five years, takes the lorry from Tuas to Marina Bay at 7am every day. It's a 45-minute ride.
While there are no seat belts, he said everyone holds on to the handlebars at the side tightly. And people do not fall off as the driver moves off only after the workers have told him that everyone is secure.
No mixing
They also do not mix equipment with workers.
"If they need to get equipment, they'll make a second trip," Mr Senthil said.
Singapore roads are straight, he added, and not dangerous.
Mr Bala Supramaniam, 27, said his driver, a Singaporean, was "very good" and cleans his lorry every day.
"He follows the speed limit, even on the highway," he said.
His lorry has plywood planks securely bolted to the sides for the workers to sit, and handles to grasp.
Mr Bala deals with the dust and smoke of the roads with a handkerchief over his mouth.
What he is unhappy about is the way many workers get on or off a lorry while it's still moving.
All the foreign workers we spoke to said they preferred to be transported by bus. But most were not optimistic that there will be changes any time soon.
Said Mr Arman, "If I tell my boss, buy a bus for us, he'll say, 'waste money for what?'"
Lorry load of trouble
Foreign workers speak about perils of being 'back-seat' passengers
By Ho Lian-Yi
Alarming: (Top) Workers are squeezed with equipment. (Below) Crowded together in a lorry without handles to grasp or shelter to protect them from rain.
(Below) Workers sit among piles of broken branches. TNP Pictures: Jonathan Choo
It's common to hear Singaporeans gripe about having to be packed like sardines on trains and buses during peak hours.
But take a look at these pictures - and see how foreign workers are being transported daily.
They put up with bumpy rides and battle the elements. Worse, it is dangerous.
Four workers were killed last Monday after the lorry that was carrying them crashed into a trailer at Tuas.
We spoke to a few foreign workers to find out what it's like to travel on the back of a lorry.
Mr Arman, 29, a Bangladeshi, told The New Paper that he gets to sit in the front of the lorry these days - one of the perks of being a supervisor.
But he still remembers vividly the "scary" rides at the back.
The ride from his workers' quarters in Yishun to his worksite in Haig Road takes 25 minutes.
When the drive brakes suddenly, "those behind also come to the front", he said.
He has also seen workers getting hit by low-lying branches - causing injury in some cases.
What is really dangerous, Mr Arman said, is when companies carry equipment and men on the same lorry. When it's overloaded, workers have to sit on the machinery.
He said his workers bought a 5m-long canvas sheet to protect themselves from the rain. When it pours, they huddle under the sheet, holding hands.
Despite the recent accident, nothing has changed, Mr Arman said.
Another Bangladeshi workers, 38, who declined to be named, said that recently, one of his colleagues injured his leg falling off a lorry when it surged forward before he had properly climbed onboard.
Although he has worked in Singapore for 19 years, he said he had to take lorries only in the last two years. Previously, he lived onsite.
The lorry rides are very bumpy, he said. And that hurts his spine.
"One year, two years, so much damage to my back," he said.
Sometimes, when the lorry ends up behind a rubbish truck, the stench is unbearable, he said.
He added that when the workers get caught in the rain and fall sick, some foremen are unsympathetic.
Other workers though, had better experiences.
Indian national Muthu Senthil, 28, who has worked in Singapore for five years, takes the lorry from Tuas to Marina Bay at 7am every day. It's a 45-minute ride.
While there are no seat belts, he said everyone holds on to the handlebars at the side tightly. And people do not fall off as the driver moves off only after the workers have told him that everyone is secure.
No mixing
They also do not mix equipment with workers.
"If they need to get equipment, they'll make a second trip," Mr Senthil said.
Singapore roads are straight, he added, and not dangerous.
Mr Bala Supramaniam, 27, said his driver, a Singaporean, was "very good" and cleans his lorry every day.
"He follows the speed limit, even on the highway," he said.
His lorry has plywood planks securely bolted to the sides for the workers to sit, and handles to grasp.
Mr Bala deals with the dust and smoke of the roads with a handkerchief over his mouth.
What he is unhappy about is the way many workers get on or off a lorry while it's still moving.
All the foreign workers we spoke to said they preferred to be transported by bus. But most were not optimistic that there will be changes any time soon.
Said Mr Arman, "If I tell my boss, buy a bus for us, he'll say, 'waste money for what?'"
Chinese Worker Jailed for Attempted Suicide
The following article was published in the Straits Times on 26 May 2009.
Worker jailed for trespass at MOM
Straits Times
26 May 2009
By Elena Chong
A CHINESE national who threatened to jump off the top of the Ministry of Manpower building last month had wanted to pressure officers to settle his alleged grievances with his employer.
Yesterday, Zhao Er Hui, 32, originally charged with attempted suicide, was sentenced to 10 weeks' jail for criminal trespass at the seven-storey building on April 1. He pleaded guilty.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Imran Abdul Hamid said that a day after Zhao was told by a foreman to stop work, he went to the MOM in Havelock Road on March 30 and told a case officer he had not received his salary for February. He also said he sustained an eye injury because of welding work.
He was advised to get a doctor to certify his condition before filing a claim against his company, Hong Yang Construction.
On April 1, he called his employer and complained that he had not worked for three days. His employer told him to take a rest.
Zhao then went to MOM and told an officer he had not been working for three days and wanted to quit. He said his company should compensate him.
After consultation, he managed to sneak through a second-floor lift lobby stairwell by tailing MOM officers. He then walked up the stairs to the roof, where he sat on the ledge, called his employer and police and threatened to throw himself off.
Two hours later, he stepped to safety after he was assured that MOM officers would help him negotiate with his boss.
Zhao, a father of two, could have been jailed for up to three months and fined up to $1,500. He apologised for the inconvenience caused to the Singapore Government.
District Judge James Leong, who backdated his sentence to April 3, told Zhao he should consider himself fortunate that the prosecution had not pressed further charges against him.
'Please stay out of trouble in future,' he said.
Worker jailed for trespass at MOM
Straits Times
26 May 2009
By Elena Chong
A CHINESE national who threatened to jump off the top of the Ministry of Manpower building last month had wanted to pressure officers to settle his alleged grievances with his employer.
Yesterday, Zhao Er Hui, 32, originally charged with attempted suicide, was sentenced to 10 weeks' jail for criminal trespass at the seven-storey building on April 1. He pleaded guilty.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Imran Abdul Hamid said that a day after Zhao was told by a foreman to stop work, he went to the MOM in Havelock Road on March 30 and told a case officer he had not received his salary for February. He also said he sustained an eye injury because of welding work.
He was advised to get a doctor to certify his condition before filing a claim against his company, Hong Yang Construction.
On April 1, he called his employer and complained that he had not worked for three days. His employer told him to take a rest.
Zhao then went to MOM and told an officer he had not been working for three days and wanted to quit. He said his company should compensate him.
After consultation, he managed to sneak through a second-floor lift lobby stairwell by tailing MOM officers. He then walked up the stairs to the roof, where he sat on the ledge, called his employer and police and threatened to throw himself off.
Two hours later, he stepped to safety after he was assured that MOM officers would help him negotiate with his boss.
Zhao, a father of two, could have been jailed for up to three months and fined up to $1,500. He apologised for the inconvenience caused to the Singapore Government.
District Judge James Leong, who backdated his sentence to April 3, told Zhao he should consider himself fortunate that the prosecution had not pressed further charges against him.
'Please stay out of trouble in future,' he said.
Call For a Review of Foreign Worker Policy
Today ran this article on 26 May 2009:
Call for a review of foreign worker policy
By Neo Chai Chin
Should Singapore tighten its “liberal” foreign worker policies? Some Members of Parliament think so and have called for a Government review.
Jurong MP Halimah Yacob urged for a review of foreign worker quotas to reflect today’s situation of higher unemployment and weaker job creation. She warned of a “hollowing out of skills” among locals, should large numbers of foreigners occupy jobs in a particular sector.
“There are now so many foreign workers even in the services sector that Singaporeans are beginning to feel squeezed out,” she said. For their part, Singaporeans must be prepared to work in new sectors or work further away from home.
Ang Mo Kio MP Inderjit Singh believes Singapore needs more pro-active measures such as a minimum-wage system to make some jobs more attractive to locals — a call the Opposition has made in the past — as well as reserving certain jobs for Singaporeans.
Middle- and lower-income groups here will be worse off over time with the current liberal policies due to “artificially depressed” wages — a result of “competition for low value-added jobs from foreigners”, he said.
Call for a review of foreign worker policy
By Neo Chai Chin
Should Singapore tighten its “liberal” foreign worker policies? Some Members of Parliament think so and have called for a Government review.
Jurong MP Halimah Yacob urged for a review of foreign worker quotas to reflect today’s situation of higher unemployment and weaker job creation. She warned of a “hollowing out of skills” among locals, should large numbers of foreigners occupy jobs in a particular sector.
“There are now so many foreign workers even in the services sector that Singaporeans are beginning to feel squeezed out,” she said. For their part, Singaporeans must be prepared to work in new sectors or work further away from home.
Ang Mo Kio MP Inderjit Singh believes Singapore needs more pro-active measures such as a minimum-wage system to make some jobs more attractive to locals — a call the Opposition has made in the past — as well as reserving certain jobs for Singaporeans.
Middle- and lower-income groups here will be worse off over time with the current liberal policies due to “artificially depressed” wages — a result of “competition for low value-added jobs from foreigners”, he said.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Chinese Worker Jailed for 10 Weeks
The Straits Times ran this story on 25 May 2009:
Jailed for 10 weeks
A CHINESE national who threatened to jump from the top of the Ministry of Manpower building last month had no intention of doing so, a district court heard on Monday.
Zhao Er Hui's purpose of calling the police on April 1 was to intimidate MOM officers to intervene into his work-related issues with his employer.
The 32-year-old was jailed for 10 weeks after he admitted to criminal trespass at the seven-storey MOM building at Havelock Road that day.
Jailed for 10 weeks
A CHINESE national who threatened to jump from the top of the Ministry of Manpower building last month had no intention of doing so, a district court heard on Monday.
Zhao Er Hui's purpose of calling the police on April 1 was to intimidate MOM officers to intervene into his work-related issues with his employer.
The 32-year-old was jailed for 10 weeks after he admitted to criminal trespass at the seven-storey MOM building at Havelock Road that day.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Three NGOs Form Coalition Called Solidarity for Migrant Workers
Channel NewsAsia ran this article on 24 May 2009:
Three NGOs form coalition called Solidarity for Migrant Workers
By Lynda Hong
SINGAPORE : Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have said they are seeing a huge impact on foreign workers due to the economic recession.
Thus, despite more steps being taken to improve the working conditions of foreign workers, NGOs want to further strengthen activism for them.
Three NGOs - Migrant Voices, Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) and Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics (HOME) - have come together to form a coalition called the Solidarity for Migrant Workers, which taps on the expertise of the three foreign worker NGOs.
Up to 160 foreign workers attended the launch of the new coalition on Sunday afternoon.
Three NGOs form coalition called Solidarity for Migrant Workers
By Lynda Hong
SINGAPORE : Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have said they are seeing a huge impact on foreign workers due to the economic recession.
Thus, despite more steps being taken to improve the working conditions of foreign workers, NGOs want to further strengthen activism for them.
Three NGOs - Migrant Voices, Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) and Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics (HOME) - have come together to form a coalition called the Solidarity for Migrant Workers, which taps on the expertise of the three foreign worker NGOs.
Up to 160 foreign workers attended the launch of the new coalition on Sunday afternoon.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
S'pore drivers can be selfish & reckless too
The following letter was published in the New Paper on 23 May 2009.
S'pore drivers can be selfish & reckless too
I WOULD like to comment on the statements by Mr Elangovan and Mr Rehmat Kiwon in the article 'It's the fault of foreign drivers' (The New Paper, 20 May).
I am from Scotland and I have been living here for the last two years. I think their comments against foreign drivers are rather offensive.
As foreigners here, we do know how to drive, and also follow the same rules while we are on the road.
From my experience, I think driving in Singapore is scary.
Some Singaporean drivers are selfish, they show no courtesy at all on the roads.
When I signal to the left or right to go to the next junction, they should let me go, but unfortunately they speed up and pass my car.
This could lead to an accident if I am not cautious while making the turn.
Courtesy does not cost anything, but unfortunately this is not the case.
My opinion about driving in Singapore is supported by comments from taxi drivers as I take taxis regularly.
Regarding the recent accident where four workers were killed - the companies which transported the foreign workers should be asked to pay a heavy fine.
I often see a lot of heavy equipment being carried at the back of the lorry, along with the workers.
If an accident occurs, the workers will be crushed to death instantly.
The authorities should ban this practice and improve ways to transport foreign workers to their workplace.
 They are hard-working people and deserve a proper mode of transport while they work in Singapore.
I am sure the company can afford a proper minibus with seat belts for them.
These amenities could save lives in the event of an accident.
But these companies find the cheapest way to transport them, as they do not want to spend the money on the workers.
I suggest that the Land Transport Authority take quick steps or decisions to avoid more unneccesary deaths.
This form of transport should have been banned a long time ago, and companies should be encouraged to use the proper form of transport.
FROM READER HERLIEN HUGHES
S'pore drivers can be selfish & reckless too
I WOULD like to comment on the statements by Mr Elangovan and Mr Rehmat Kiwon in the article 'It's the fault of foreign drivers' (The New Paper, 20 May).
I am from Scotland and I have been living here for the last two years. I think their comments against foreign drivers are rather offensive.
As foreigners here, we do know how to drive, and also follow the same rules while we are on the road.
From my experience, I think driving in Singapore is scary.
Some Singaporean drivers are selfish, they show no courtesy at all on the roads.
When I signal to the left or right to go to the next junction, they should let me go, but unfortunately they speed up and pass my car.
This could lead to an accident if I am not cautious while making the turn.
Courtesy does not cost anything, but unfortunately this is not the case.
My opinion about driving in Singapore is supported by comments from taxi drivers as I take taxis regularly.
Regarding the recent accident where four workers were killed - the companies which transported the foreign workers should be asked to pay a heavy fine.
I often see a lot of heavy equipment being carried at the back of the lorry, along with the workers.
If an accident occurs, the workers will be crushed to death instantly.
The authorities should ban this practice and improve ways to transport foreign workers to their workplace.
 They are hard-working people and deserve a proper mode of transport while they work in Singapore.
I am sure the company can afford a proper minibus with seat belts for them.
These amenities could save lives in the event of an accident.
But these companies find the cheapest way to transport them, as they do not want to spend the money on the workers.
I suggest that the Land Transport Authority take quick steps or decisions to avoid more unneccesary deaths.
This form of transport should have been banned a long time ago, and companies should be encouraged to use the proper form of transport.
FROM READER HERLIEN HUGHES
Saving money by keeping them safe
The following article was published in the New Paper on 23 May 2009.
Saving money by keeping them safe
23 May 2009
The New Paper
Some construction firms feel workers keep healthy and safe travelling in buses
IT'S COMMON to see construction workers travel to work in open-air lorries in Singapore, but these batch of workers are different.
They travel to and from their worksite in Clementi in an air-conditioned bus hired by their company, Straits Construction.
And the company has been doing so since 2002.
Said Mr Alex Lim, 35, a human resource consultant with Straits Construction: 'We could choose to ferry them by lorry, but in Singapore, we are likely to meet with rain 50per cent of the time. Then most of them will get the flu or catch a cold.
'What's the point if we save money but get lower productivity?'
The workers, mostly in their 20s, are grateful.
While their compatriots have to brave the weather and face the danger of accidents and falling off the lorry,the men at Straits Construction can catch a quick nap, chat or drink coffee during their daily journey.
Mr S B Alagesan, 23, who has worked in Singapore for two years, said: 'Buses are better, at least when it rains. We have cover and won't have mud flowing all over our body.'
Fellow worker R Panchanathan, 25, said he was grateful for the increased safety of buses.
He said: 'Last time I used to travel by lorry. When it stops, I sometimes jerk forward and fall but the driver will continue to speed very fast.
'No one cares. In buses we won't fall down.'
Currently, it costs a company about $4,000 to hire a bus for a month. The sum is for two trips a day, to and fromthe work site, including public holidays.
Typically, each bus can carry about 45 workers.
In contrast, hiring a lorry for a month costs about $3,000.
'We have about 800 workers and need to hire about 20 buses. The workers need to be safe and healthy for work,' said Mr Lim.
Mr Lim estimates that hiring a lorry to transport workerswould save his company about $20,000 every month.
Another company that ferries workers to and from their dormitories to their various worksites in air-conditioned buses is Keppel Fels.
When contacted, it declined to comment.
Buses too expensive
But not everyone is convinced that buses are better. At CP Ong Construction, workers are still ferried to work by lorries owned by the company.
Said Ms Sharon Qiu, 27, a purchaser: 'It will definitely be more expensive if we have to hire a bus company. We own the lorries, so there's no external costs.'
Ms Marie Palma, an administrative manager at Chuan-Yu construction company, said that their workers have always been transported on lorries and this is unlikely to change.
'We have had no problems sending the workers to workon lorries and I don't think we will switch to buses,' said Ms Palma.
Meanwhile, companies who are using buses have adapted well.
For example, workers are told to change out of their typically muddy work boots and sweaty clothes before they get on the bus to prevent them from dirtying thevehicles too much.
Said Mr V Pichau of Straits Construction, 37, who has worked in Singapore for more than five years: 'We change into our workclothes and boots only when we reach the site and back into our home clothes when we are going back.
'Still, we are very sweaty. Sometimes, we complain among ourselves that the bus is smelly, especially withthe air-conditioning.'
Bus driver Chan Ah Soon, 58, who has been ferrying the workers for about two years, said that the men are generally well-behaved.
He said: 'Sometimes some of them forget to change their clothes and shoes, but it's just dirt, I can wash it away.
'I've seen lorries ferrying workers involved in accidents and I pity them. No matter what, buses are definitely safer than lorries.'
Mr Chan said he takes about two hours to clean the bus every evening.
Workers who have travelled in lorries told The New Paper that it was scary.
Said Mr S Koorthilkeyam, 28: 'When it rains, we get wet and the floor is slippery and because we sit on chairs, we will slide around.'
Another worker, who was waiting for his company lorry, admitted that he dreaded every ride he took.
Said Mr Kibria Sarker, 38: 'Every time I take the lorry, I am scared.
'Whether it rains or it is sunny, it is also no good. We siton the chairs at the back of the lorry and it's like dancing, any time can fall over, only for us it's onto theroad.'
As The New Paper team waited for the Straits Construction bus to pick the workers up from their dormitory, we witnessed a group of about 60 men rushing forward to board a large lorry.
They climbed and pushed one another to get on. Some stumbled but quickly picked themselves up to try to geton again.
The workers seemed to understand that the lorry could not stop by the roadside for too long as the heavy traffic rushed by.
In less than five minutes, the men were packed into thecargo deck on plastic chairs and the lorry moved off.
Pearly Tan, newsroom intern
Copyright 2009, Singapore Press Holdings Limited
Saving money by keeping them safe
23 May 2009
The New Paper
Some construction firms feel workers keep healthy and safe travelling in buses
IT'S COMMON to see construction workers travel to work in open-air lorries in Singapore, but these batch of workers are different.
They travel to and from their worksite in Clementi in an air-conditioned bus hired by their company, Straits Construction.
And the company has been doing so since 2002.
Said Mr Alex Lim, 35, a human resource consultant with Straits Construction: 'We could choose to ferry them by lorry, but in Singapore, we are likely to meet with rain 50per cent of the time. Then most of them will get the flu or catch a cold.
'What's the point if we save money but get lower productivity?'
The workers, mostly in their 20s, are grateful.
While their compatriots have to brave the weather and face the danger of accidents and falling off the lorry,the men at Straits Construction can catch a quick nap, chat or drink coffee during their daily journey.
Mr S B Alagesan, 23, who has worked in Singapore for two years, said: 'Buses are better, at least when it rains. We have cover and won't have mud flowing all over our body.'
Fellow worker R Panchanathan, 25, said he was grateful for the increased safety of buses.
He said: 'Last time I used to travel by lorry. When it stops, I sometimes jerk forward and fall but the driver will continue to speed very fast.
'No one cares. In buses we won't fall down.'
Currently, it costs a company about $4,000 to hire a bus for a month. The sum is for two trips a day, to and fromthe work site, including public holidays.
Typically, each bus can carry about 45 workers.
In contrast, hiring a lorry for a month costs about $3,000.
'We have about 800 workers and need to hire about 20 buses. The workers need to be safe and healthy for work,' said Mr Lim.
Mr Lim estimates that hiring a lorry to transport workerswould save his company about $20,000 every month.
Another company that ferries workers to and from their dormitories to their various worksites in air-conditioned buses is Keppel Fels.
When contacted, it declined to comment.
Buses too expensive
But not everyone is convinced that buses are better. At CP Ong Construction, workers are still ferried to work by lorries owned by the company.
Said Ms Sharon Qiu, 27, a purchaser: 'It will definitely be more expensive if we have to hire a bus company. We own the lorries, so there's no external costs.'
Ms Marie Palma, an administrative manager at Chuan-Yu construction company, said that their workers have always been transported on lorries and this is unlikely to change.
'We have had no problems sending the workers to workon lorries and I don't think we will switch to buses,' said Ms Palma.
Meanwhile, companies who are using buses have adapted well.
For example, workers are told to change out of their typically muddy work boots and sweaty clothes before they get on the bus to prevent them from dirtying thevehicles too much.
Said Mr V Pichau of Straits Construction, 37, who has worked in Singapore for more than five years: 'We change into our workclothes and boots only when we reach the site and back into our home clothes when we are going back.
'Still, we are very sweaty. Sometimes, we complain among ourselves that the bus is smelly, especially withthe air-conditioning.'
Bus driver Chan Ah Soon, 58, who has been ferrying the workers for about two years, said that the men are generally well-behaved.
He said: 'Sometimes some of them forget to change their clothes and shoes, but it's just dirt, I can wash it away.
'I've seen lorries ferrying workers involved in accidents and I pity them. No matter what, buses are definitely safer than lorries.'
Mr Chan said he takes about two hours to clean the bus every evening.
Workers who have travelled in lorries told The New Paper that it was scary.
Said Mr S Koorthilkeyam, 28: 'When it rains, we get wet and the floor is slippery and because we sit on chairs, we will slide around.'
Another worker, who was waiting for his company lorry, admitted that he dreaded every ride he took.
Said Mr Kibria Sarker, 38: 'Every time I take the lorry, I am scared.
'Whether it rains or it is sunny, it is also no good. We siton the chairs at the back of the lorry and it's like dancing, any time can fall over, only for us it's onto theroad.'
As The New Paper team waited for the Straits Construction bus to pick the workers up from their dormitory, we witnessed a group of about 60 men rushing forward to board a large lorry.
They climbed and pushed one another to get on. Some stumbled but quickly picked themselves up to try to geton again.
The workers seemed to understand that the lorry could not stop by the roadside for too long as the heavy traffic rushed by.
In less than five minutes, the men were packed into thecargo deck on plastic chairs and the lorry moved off.
Pearly Tan, newsroom intern
Copyright 2009, Singapore Press Holdings Limited
Friday, May 22, 2009
Maids are not substitutes for parents
The following article was published in the MyPaper on 22 May 2009.
Maids are not substitutes for parents
By LEONA BOEY
MyPaper, 22 May 2009
ON UNREALISTIC EXPECTATIONS OF DOMESTIC HELPERS
MAIDS are in the news again – for all the wrong reasons.
In the most recent case, a 25-year-old maid was charged in court for handling a baby roughly.
Some time ago, a video recording showing a maid kicking a small child sparked off a heated discussion on the Internet.
The incident also inspired a newspaper article luridly entitled Maids From Hell, which highlighted some accounts of maids behaving irresponsibly towards the children in their care.
The message is clear: Think twice before leaving your children alone with maids.
But are foreign maids solely to blame?
I do not believe that the foreign women who come here to work as domestic helpers are generally more prone to violence or irresponsible behaviour than ordinary Singaporeans.
There are, in fact, many good and reliable maids who are excellent with children.
But, let’s face it, anyone who has had to deal with the demands of caring for young children day after day – on top of completing one-hundred-and- one other household tasks – will know how very easy it is to be driven to the edge of one’s patience.
And that is without even taking into account various factors such as the homesickness, cultural differences, social isolation and low educational levels of many foreign maids.
In days gone by, households which could afford domestic servants – as they were called in pre-politically correct times – would have several.
Each had her area of specialisation, be it cooking, gardening, childcare or general housework.
Among the various categories of servants, Cantonese amahs, in their distinctive black and white samfoos, were particularly recognised and respected as the creme de la creme of childcare specialists.
There is a world of difference between such old-style family retainers and foreign domestic workers.
Employing a domestic helper is no longer a luxury reserved for the rich, but is seen as a necessity for the middle classes.
However, unlike in former times, most middle-class families’ incomes allow them to hire only one foreign maid.
She then becomes the maid- of-all-work, whether it is washing the windows or soothing a fretful baby.
But is it really reasonable to expect one person to perform any and every task well?
Surely, as in any workplace, a worker’s aptitude, background and training should be taken into account before allocating clearly defined and suitable res- ponsibilities.
It has been said that “maids are people too”, in terms of their welfare.
But, sadly, very little attention has been paid to the fact that maids are workers who need well-defined and realistic job scopes.
Let’s face it: Some maids have little or zilch patience with children.
Why not task them withonly cooking and cleaning, while the children are sent to professional childcare?
Certainly, a big part of the problem has to do with the low level of respect accorded to housework and childcare.
It’s the any-unskilled-person-can-do-it attitude.
As a full-time mum, I beg to differ with that mindset.
Bringing up children with love, care and discipline, and keeping clean, well-run homes, are highly demanding jobs which require expertise, perception and long-term commitment.
Maids can be of help if they are given specific tasks according to their abilities, like other workers.
But they can never shoulder the responsibilities of parents, and nor should they be expected to do so.
The writer is a freelance writer and editor who lives in an HDB estate in the north of Singapore. She has two young children.
Maids are not substitutes for parents
By LEONA BOEY
MyPaper, 22 May 2009
ON UNREALISTIC EXPECTATIONS OF DOMESTIC HELPERS
MAIDS are in the news again – for all the wrong reasons.
In the most recent case, a 25-year-old maid was charged in court for handling a baby roughly.
Some time ago, a video recording showing a maid kicking a small child sparked off a heated discussion on the Internet.
The incident also inspired a newspaper article luridly entitled Maids From Hell, which highlighted some accounts of maids behaving irresponsibly towards the children in their care.
The message is clear: Think twice before leaving your children alone with maids.
But are foreign maids solely to blame?
I do not believe that the foreign women who come here to work as domestic helpers are generally more prone to violence or irresponsible behaviour than ordinary Singaporeans.
There are, in fact, many good and reliable maids who are excellent with children.
But, let’s face it, anyone who has had to deal with the demands of caring for young children day after day – on top of completing one-hundred-and- one other household tasks – will know how very easy it is to be driven to the edge of one’s patience.
And that is without even taking into account various factors such as the homesickness, cultural differences, social isolation and low educational levels of many foreign maids.
In days gone by, households which could afford domestic servants – as they were called in pre-politically correct times – would have several.
Each had her area of specialisation, be it cooking, gardening, childcare or general housework.
Among the various categories of servants, Cantonese amahs, in their distinctive black and white samfoos, were particularly recognised and respected as the creme de la creme of childcare specialists.
There is a world of difference between such old-style family retainers and foreign domestic workers.
Employing a domestic helper is no longer a luxury reserved for the rich, but is seen as a necessity for the middle classes.
However, unlike in former times, most middle-class families’ incomes allow them to hire only one foreign maid.
She then becomes the maid- of-all-work, whether it is washing the windows or soothing a fretful baby.
But is it really reasonable to expect one person to perform any and every task well?
Surely, as in any workplace, a worker’s aptitude, background and training should be taken into account before allocating clearly defined and suitable res- ponsibilities.
It has been said that “maids are people too”, in terms of their welfare.
But, sadly, very little attention has been paid to the fact that maids are workers who need well-defined and realistic job scopes.
Let’s face it: Some maids have little or zilch patience with children.
Why not task them withonly cooking and cleaning, while the children are sent to professional childcare?
Certainly, a big part of the problem has to do with the low level of respect accorded to housework and childcare.
It’s the any-unskilled-person-can-do-it attitude.
As a full-time mum, I beg to differ with that mindset.
Bringing up children with love, care and discipline, and keeping clean, well-run homes, are highly demanding jobs which require expertise, perception and long-term commitment.
Maids can be of help if they are given specific tasks according to their abilities, like other workers.
But they can never shoulder the responsibilities of parents, and nor should they be expected to do so.
The writer is a freelance writer and editor who lives in an HDB estate in the north of Singapore. She has two young children.
Foreign workers lives at risk in Singapore
The following radio program was broadcast on ABC Radio Australia on 22 May 2009. To listen, click here.
Foreign workers lives at risk in Singapore
Updated May 22, 2009
Apart from doing the tough jobs that nobody wants, foreign workers in Singapore also face danger getting to and from work.
The transportation of foreign workers, mainly in the construction and manufacturing sectors, has long been a controversial area. This is because of safety issues, as they are ferried about on the trays of pick-up trucks.
Presenter: Sen Lam
Speaker: Bharati Jagdish at Radio 938-LIVE in Singapore
Foreign workers lives at risk in Singapore
Updated May 22, 2009
Apart from doing the tough jobs that nobody wants, foreign workers in Singapore also face danger getting to and from work.
The transportation of foreign workers, mainly in the construction and manufacturing sectors, has long been a controversial area. This is because of safety issues, as they are ferried about on the trays of pick-up trucks.
Presenter: Sen Lam
Speaker: Bharati Jagdish at Radio 938-LIVE in Singapore
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Make travelling safer for everyone alike
The following letter was published in The New Paper on 21 May 2009.
Make travelling safer for everyone alike
AS A Singaporean I must strongly voice my anger and disgust at the sad news that four more workers have been killed in a road accident, 'More deaths to come at back of other lorries?' (The New Paper, 19 May).
I feel the pain and anguish of the workers who met with this unfortunate accident. My deepest sympathies to their families who have lost their fathers, sons, brothers or uncles.
The question is: Do we allow our own children and office workers to travel to schools and offices in open top buses?
Do we allow our people to travel in trains without doors? Do we want to be transported to our destinations like animals?
Are these foreign workers treated shabbily because they are less worthy and dispensable? Will we take action only if it involves our own valuable citizens?
The idea of travelling in receptacles without roofs is seen only in roller-coaster rides or other speed thrill-seeking rides. Even those have safety considerations.
But there were no safety considerations for these poor souls who have sacrificed their lives in the hope of finding a better life in another country.
They and their families may have thought highly of our standards of living and security. That's why they chose to work here. But we have let them down.
This is one tragic example. There are many other cases.
Just look at the way we house them.
We need foreign workers to do the dirty job, but do not want them to enjoy the same standard of living like us.
How many more must die before the authorities take concrete and responsible action to make working and travelling to work safer for everyone alike, local or foreign?
No more playing with people's lives.
It must stop. I urge a ban on transporting workers in lorries.
FROM READER STEPHEN GEORGE DE SOUZA
Make travelling safer for everyone alike
AS A Singaporean I must strongly voice my anger and disgust at the sad news that four more workers have been killed in a road accident, 'More deaths to come at back of other lorries?' (The New Paper, 19 May).
I feel the pain and anguish of the workers who met with this unfortunate accident. My deepest sympathies to their families who have lost their fathers, sons, brothers or uncles.
The question is: Do we allow our own children and office workers to travel to schools and offices in open top buses?
Do we allow our people to travel in trains without doors? Do we want to be transported to our destinations like animals?
Are these foreign workers treated shabbily because they are less worthy and dispensable? Will we take action only if it involves our own valuable citizens?
The idea of travelling in receptacles without roofs is seen only in roller-coaster rides or other speed thrill-seeking rides. Even those have safety considerations.
But there were no safety considerations for these poor souls who have sacrificed their lives in the hope of finding a better life in another country.
They and their families may have thought highly of our standards of living and security. That's why they chose to work here. But we have let them down.
This is one tragic example. There are many other cases.
Just look at the way we house them.
We need foreign workers to do the dirty job, but do not want them to enjoy the same standard of living like us.
How many more must die before the authorities take concrete and responsible action to make working and travelling to work safer for everyone alike, local or foreign?
No more playing with people's lives.
It must stop. I urge a ban on transporting workers in lorries.
FROM READER STEPHEN GEORGE DE SOUZA
4 die after lorry hits trailer
The following article was published in the Straits Times on 19 May 2009.
ACCIDENT IN TUAS
4 die after lorry hits trailer
Six others hurt; trailer driver was asleep in parked vehicle at the time
By Teh Joo Lin & Jalelah Abu Baker
May 19, 2009
Reproduced photo caption:The brother-in law (right) of one of the deceased, Pitchaiah Govindaraj, 31, grieving outside the Emergency Department at NUH. -- ST PHOTO: STEPHANIE YEOW
Reproduced photo caption:Rescuers had to use a hydraulic cutter and two winches to free the body of the front-seat passenger. The lorry was ferrying a group of workers to their workplace at a shipyard at the end of Gul Road at the time.-- ST PHOTO: JOYCE FANG
HE HAD stopped his trailer at the side of the road for forty winks, and was just drifting off when the 12m-long vehicle wobbled.
Mr Shukor Ayub thought nothing of it, but seconds later, a man appeared at his window, rapping furiously.
Startled awake, he climbed out, and saw carnage.
A lorry ferrying 10 foreign workers had smashed into the back of his massive 22-wheeler. Four men were killed, six others injured.
'I didn't even realise it until someone came and told me,' said the stunned 30-year-old Malaysian.
The only damage to the trailer was a loose wheel.
But the front of the lorry was so badly crumpled, rescuers had to use a hydraulic cutter and two winches to free the body of the front-seat passenger.
The accident, which happened in Gul Road in Tuas at about 4am yesterday, is believed to be the worst so far this year.
Indian worker V. Varatharajan, 23, survived the crash.
He said that the day had started as usual for the group, who were minutes away from their workplace at a shipyard at the end of Gul Road at the time.
ACCIDENT IN TUAS
4 die after lorry hits trailer
Six others hurt; trailer driver was asleep in parked vehicle at the time
By Teh Joo Lin & Jalelah Abu Baker
May 19, 2009
Reproduced photo caption:The brother-in law (right) of one of the deceased, Pitchaiah Govindaraj, 31, grieving outside the Emergency Department at NUH. -- ST PHOTO: STEPHANIE YEOW 
Reproduced photo caption:Rescuers had to use a hydraulic cutter and two winches to free the body of the front-seat passenger. The lorry was ferrying a group of workers to their workplace at a shipyard at the end of Gul Road at the time.-- ST PHOTO: JOYCE FANG 
HE HAD stopped his trailer at the side of the road for forty winks, and was just drifting off when the 12m-long vehicle wobbled.
Mr Shukor Ayub thought nothing of it, but seconds later, a man appeared at his window, rapping furiously.
Startled awake, he climbed out, and saw carnage.
A lorry ferrying 10 foreign workers had smashed into the back of his massive 22-wheeler. Four men were killed, six others injured.
'I didn't even realise it until someone came and told me,' said the stunned 30-year-old Malaysian.
The only damage to the trailer was a loose wheel.
But the front of the lorry was so badly crumpled, rescuers had to use a hydraulic cutter and two winches to free the body of the front-seat passenger.
The accident, which happened in Gul Road in Tuas at about 4am yesterday, is believed to be the worst so far this year.
Indian worker V. Varatharajan, 23, survived the crash.
He said that the day had started as usual for the group, who were minutes away from their workplace at a shipyard at the end of Gul Road at the time.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Lorry driver in tragic accident arrested
The following article was published by the Straits Times on 20 May 2009.
Lorry driver arrested
By Teh Joo Lin
May 20, 2009
Reproduced photo caption: The lorry driver whose vehicle slammed into the back of a parked trailer in Gul Road on Monday, killing four of his passengers, has been arrested. --PHOTO: SCDF
THE lorry driver whose vehicle slammed into the back of a parked trailer in Gul Road on Monday, killing four of his passengers, has been arrested.
He was taken into custody a day after his discharge from hospital, police said in response to queries on Wednesday.
The Straits Times understands the 31-year-old Indian national is being investigated for causing death through a rash act, an offence that could land him a jail term lasting up five years and a fine.
In the worst road collision so far this year, Mr Ramaiah was at the wheel of the lorry, ferrying nine foreign workers to a shipyard in Tuas at about 4am on Monday when his vehicle smashed into an illegally-parked trailer laden with concrete beams.
This happened at a spot along Gul Road where the street lamps were unlit because of an underground cable fault.
The impact killed the lorry's front-seat passenger and three workers in the cargo deck. Mr Ramaiah himself had injuries on his face and was taken with the other workers to hospital.
Trailer driver Shukor Ayub, resting in the cabin at the time of the crash, was unhurt.
The 30-year-old Malaysian had parked illegally on the two-way, single-lane road with a central white line. It is understood he has received a summons for the infringement, which carries a fine of $70.
The crash has re-ignited calls for better ways to ferry workers than on the back of lorries. A workgroup co-chaired by the Land Transport Authority and the Manpower Ministry has been looking into this since its set-up was announced last March, but no finding has been reported to date.
In response to queries, the LTA said on Wednesday it will aim to complete the study in four to six months. Noting that the issue is 'complex', the spokesman said: 'The review is taking longer than expected as the study will need to balance the safety and other concerns from the different stakeholder groups, to better understand the potential impact of the recommendations for successful implementation of the measures later.'
Lorry driver arrested
By Teh Joo Lin
May 20, 2009
Reproduced photo caption: The lorry driver whose vehicle slammed into the back of a parked trailer in Gul Road on Monday, killing four of his passengers, has been arrested. --PHOTO: SCDF
THE lorry driver whose vehicle slammed into the back of a parked trailer in Gul Road on Monday, killing four of his passengers, has been arrested.
He was taken into custody a day after his discharge from hospital, police said in response to queries on Wednesday.
The Straits Times understands the 31-year-old Indian national is being investigated for causing death through a rash act, an offence that could land him a jail term lasting up five years and a fine.
In the worst road collision so far this year, Mr Ramaiah was at the wheel of the lorry, ferrying nine foreign workers to a shipyard in Tuas at about 4am on Monday when his vehicle smashed into an illegally-parked trailer laden with concrete beams.
This happened at a spot along Gul Road where the street lamps were unlit because of an underground cable fault.
The impact killed the lorry's front-seat passenger and three workers in the cargo deck. Mr Ramaiah himself had injuries on his face and was taken with the other workers to hospital.
Trailer driver Shukor Ayub, resting in the cabin at the time of the crash, was unhurt.
The 30-year-old Malaysian had parked illegally on the two-way, single-lane road with a central white line. It is understood he has received a summons for the infringement, which carries a fine of $70.
The crash has re-ignited calls for better ways to ferry workers than on the back of lorries. A workgroup co-chaired by the Land Transport Authority and the Manpower Ministry has been looking into this since its set-up was announced last March, but no finding has been reported to date.
In response to queries, the LTA said on Wednesday it will aim to complete the study in four to six months. Noting that the issue is 'complex', the spokesman said: 'The review is taking longer than expected as the study will need to balance the safety and other concerns from the different stakeholder groups, to better understand the potential impact of the recommendations for successful implementation of the measures later.'
Four Workers Killed as Lorry Crashes into Trailer
The following article was published in the New Paper on 20 May 2009.
MORE DEATHS TO COME AT BACK OF OTHER LORRIES?
Four killed at Tuas as lorry carrying foreign workers crashes into trailer
May 20, 2009
The Electric New Paper
Reproduced photo caption: HORRIFIC: A worker sitting at the back of the lorry was said to have hit against the roof and his blood dripped onto the road. PICTURES: LIANHE WANBAO, SHIN MIN DAILY NEWS
Reproduced photo caption: DANGEROUS: Three of the dead workers were at the back of the lorry, stained with blood.
Reproduced photo caption: Grief-stricken foreign workers waiting for news at the hospital.
IN THE worst accident this year, four foreign workers were killed after the lorry they were in crashed into the back of a stationary trailer in Tuas early yesterday.
It was not the first time that lives had been lost in accidents involving lorries carrying foreign workers in the cargo decks.
And yesterday's accident prompted MP Halimah Yacob to call it a tragedy waiting to happen.
Asked to comment by The New Paper, she said there was a need for proper criteria on how foreign workers are transported.
'Four more lives were taken this time.
'How many lives must be lost before we do something to protect these people who come help us and our economy?' she said.
Tragedy
Madam Halimah, who is chairman of the Manpower government parliamentary committee (GPC) and NTUC deputy secretary-general, added: 'The issue of workers' safety has been an age-old debate.
'This is truly a tragedy and we should not delay in taking action anymore.
'This was a tragedy waiting to happen and we need to take this as a turning point to put in place proper criteria about how foreign workers are transported.'
Madam Halimah had said last year that it seemed that workers lives were 'worth less than equipment' after the Land Transport Authority (LTA) refused to ban the transport of foreign workers in lorries.
She added that stringent workplace safety regulations should apply to the transportation of workers as well.
'It doesn't make sense for us to have stringent regulations to protect workers at the workplace, but have no rules to protect their lives when fetching them to and fro,' she said.
One of the four fatalities in yesterday's accident was sitting in the front passenger seat while the other three were with five other workers at the back of the lorry.
Three died on the spot while a fourth man died in hospital.
The driver, Mr Ramaiah Raja, 31, is warded at the National University Hospital with abrasions on his face and arms. Five other survivors were also taken to the hospital.
A Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) spokesman said the SCDF was alerted to the accident at Gul Road at 4.05am.
When SCDF personnel arrived with two fire engines, two support vehicles and three ambulances, they found that the front passenger side of the lorry was crushed badly.
They used a hydraulic spreader and cutter and two winches to free the front passenger, who was pronounced dead by paramedics.
Mr Baskar, operations manager of the victims' employer, Hi-tech NDT Inspection Services, said they were marine workers who were travelling from their quarters in Toh Guan Road East to Keppel Shipyard.
'All the workers have been working here for between two and three years. The company will be informing their relatives once we sort out what to do,' he said.
He said three of the dead were from Bangladesh and the other was from India.
Of the workers taken to hospital, two had suffered 'leg strain' and had been discharged, he said. Four men are still in hospital in a stable condition.
Groups of foreign workers milled around at the hospital hoping to see their injured friends. A few shed tears.
One burst into loud wails when approached by reporters. He later composed himself, but kept his head bowed in grief.
Last evening, Mr Baskar said he was relieved when doctors told him that the warded workers could be discharged in a few days.
Exposed & at risk
The issue of safety when transporting workers in open-top lorries has long been debated, with some calling for it to be banned.
A work group, co-chaired by the LTA and Ministry of Manpower, was formed early last year to review this issue.
The president of Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2), Mr John Gee, 55, said it had written to the LTA to recommend that foreign workers be transported in enclosed vehicles with seatbelts.
He said: 'Migrant workers should definitely be moved around in buses with safety belts.
'It's bad enough that they're exposed to the weather. In a crash, their likelihood of escaping unscathed is drastically reduced.'
He said the LTA responded by introducing measures to reduce the risk of workers being hurt while transported in lorries - such as handle bars, speed and other structural limits, but stopped short of a ban.
According to LTA rules, vehicles carrying workers cannot travel faster than 60kmh.
A label must also be displayed on the vehicle to indicate the maximum number of workers who can be transported, based on a minimum space requirement per person.
Passengers must also sit in a manner that does not allow them to fall off vehicles easily and not above 3.2m off the ground.
There have been suggestions that seatbelts should be installed in lorries, like schoolbuses now, after an 8-year-old child was flung out of a minibus in an accident last year.
But experts such as Dr Chin Hoong Chor, who specialises in transportation at the National University of Singapore, said doing so might give people 'the wrong impression that a lorry is meant for carrying passengers'.
Madam Halimah acknowledged that using minibuses to transport foreign workers would be more expensive for companies, but she felt the cost would be worth it.
She said: 'Companies will have to pay, but what...can compensate for a life lost?'
Mr Gee said: 'It is sad when we see such an accident takes place. If this goes on, you can be sure that a more serious one is waiting to happen.'
Pearly Tan, newsroom intern. Additional reporting by Amanda Yong.
MORE DEATHS TO COME AT BACK OF OTHER LORRIES?
Four killed at Tuas as lorry carrying foreign workers crashes into trailer
May 20, 2009
The Electric New Paper
Reproduced photo caption: HORRIFIC: A worker sitting at the back of the lorry was said to have hit against the roof and his blood dripped onto the road. PICTURES: LIANHE WANBAO, SHIN MIN DAILY NEWS
Reproduced photo caption: DANGEROUS: Three of the dead workers were at the back of the lorry, stained with blood.
Reproduced photo caption: Grief-stricken foreign workers waiting for news at the hospital.IN THE worst accident this year, four foreign workers were killed after the lorry they were in crashed into the back of a stationary trailer in Tuas early yesterday.
It was not the first time that lives had been lost in accidents involving lorries carrying foreign workers in the cargo decks.
And yesterday's accident prompted MP Halimah Yacob to call it a tragedy waiting to happen.
Asked to comment by The New Paper, she said there was a need for proper criteria on how foreign workers are transported.
'Four more lives were taken this time.
'How many lives must be lost before we do something to protect these people who come help us and our economy?' she said.
Tragedy
Madam Halimah, who is chairman of the Manpower government parliamentary committee (GPC) and NTUC deputy secretary-general, added: 'The issue of workers' safety has been an age-old debate.
'This is truly a tragedy and we should not delay in taking action anymore.
'This was a tragedy waiting to happen and we need to take this as a turning point to put in place proper criteria about how foreign workers are transported.'
Madam Halimah had said last year that it seemed that workers lives were 'worth less than equipment' after the Land Transport Authority (LTA) refused to ban the transport of foreign workers in lorries.
She added that stringent workplace safety regulations should apply to the transportation of workers as well.
'It doesn't make sense for us to have stringent regulations to protect workers at the workplace, but have no rules to protect their lives when fetching them to and fro,' she said.
One of the four fatalities in yesterday's accident was sitting in the front passenger seat while the other three were with five other workers at the back of the lorry.
Three died on the spot while a fourth man died in hospital.
The driver, Mr Ramaiah Raja, 31, is warded at the National University Hospital with abrasions on his face and arms. Five other survivors were also taken to the hospital.
A Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) spokesman said the SCDF was alerted to the accident at Gul Road at 4.05am.
When SCDF personnel arrived with two fire engines, two support vehicles and three ambulances, they found that the front passenger side of the lorry was crushed badly.
They used a hydraulic spreader and cutter and two winches to free the front passenger, who was pronounced dead by paramedics.
Mr Baskar, operations manager of the victims' employer, Hi-tech NDT Inspection Services, said they were marine workers who were travelling from their quarters in Toh Guan Road East to Keppel Shipyard.
'All the workers have been working here for between two and three years. The company will be informing their relatives once we sort out what to do,' he said.
He said three of the dead were from Bangladesh and the other was from India.
Of the workers taken to hospital, two had suffered 'leg strain' and had been discharged, he said. Four men are still in hospital in a stable condition.
Groups of foreign workers milled around at the hospital hoping to see their injured friends. A few shed tears.
One burst into loud wails when approached by reporters. He later composed himself, but kept his head bowed in grief.
Last evening, Mr Baskar said he was relieved when doctors told him that the warded workers could be discharged in a few days.
Exposed & at risk
The issue of safety when transporting workers in open-top lorries has long been debated, with some calling for it to be banned.
A work group, co-chaired by the LTA and Ministry of Manpower, was formed early last year to review this issue.
The president of Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2), Mr John Gee, 55, said it had written to the LTA to recommend that foreign workers be transported in enclosed vehicles with seatbelts.
He said: 'Migrant workers should definitely be moved around in buses with safety belts.
'It's bad enough that they're exposed to the weather. In a crash, their likelihood of escaping unscathed is drastically reduced.'
He said the LTA responded by introducing measures to reduce the risk of workers being hurt while transported in lorries - such as handle bars, speed and other structural limits, but stopped short of a ban.
According to LTA rules, vehicles carrying workers cannot travel faster than 60kmh.
A label must also be displayed on the vehicle to indicate the maximum number of workers who can be transported, based on a minimum space requirement per person.
Passengers must also sit in a manner that does not allow them to fall off vehicles easily and not above 3.2m off the ground.
There have been suggestions that seatbelts should be installed in lorries, like schoolbuses now, after an 8-year-old child was flung out of a minibus in an accident last year.
But experts such as Dr Chin Hoong Chor, who specialises in transportation at the National University of Singapore, said doing so might give people 'the wrong impression that a lorry is meant for carrying passengers'.
Madam Halimah acknowledged that using minibuses to transport foreign workers would be more expensive for companies, but she felt the cost would be worth it.
She said: 'Companies will have to pay, but what...can compensate for a life lost?'
Mr Gee said: 'It is sad when we see such an accident takes place. If this goes on, you can be sure that a more serious one is waiting to happen.'
Pearly Tan, newsroom intern. Additional reporting by Amanda Yong.
WORKER TRANSPORT - It’s time for change
The following letter was published in TODAY on 20 May 2009.
WORKER TRANSPORT - It’s time for change
Letter from Isabel Vadivu Govind
I REFER to “Tragedy at Gul Road” (May 19) in which four foreign workers died.
Concerns about transporting workers in the backs of lorries have been raised. I understand that the Land Transport Authorities said in March last year that it was setting up a work group with the Ministry of Manpower to review this.
More than a year and about 200 injuries and six deaths later, things do not seem to have changed.
Cost, I believe, is the reason why we need a “work group” to discuss what is obvious should be done.
Yes, it will be more expensive to humanely transport workers. But this is part of our ethical responsibility as a receiving country of foreign labour.
The present practice of transporting such workers is unsafe, inhumane and does not treat people with respect or dignity.
It is disturbing that as a developed nation we allow this. Furthermore, doing so is a safety hazard for other road users.
I would like to urge a ban on the transporting of people in the backs of lorries.
All workers should be seated in buses when being transported.
And I urge the swift implementation of such a ban without the excuse that it would take a long time to make the change at a practical level.
We are efficient in many ways. I am certain we can be efficient in this matter if we recognise how important it is.
We do not need a work group.
We need action and we need it now, before more lives are lost.
Let the deaths of the four workers not be in vain.
Letter from Isabel Vadivu Govind
WORKER TRANSPORT - It’s time for change
Letter from Isabel Vadivu Govind
I REFER to “Tragedy at Gul Road” (May 19) in which four foreign workers died.
Concerns about transporting workers in the backs of lorries have been raised. I understand that the Land Transport Authorities said in March last year that it was setting up a work group with the Ministry of Manpower to review this.
More than a year and about 200 injuries and six deaths later, things do not seem to have changed.
Cost, I believe, is the reason why we need a “work group” to discuss what is obvious should be done.
Yes, it will be more expensive to humanely transport workers. But this is part of our ethical responsibility as a receiving country of foreign labour.
The present practice of transporting such workers is unsafe, inhumane and does not treat people with respect or dignity.
It is disturbing that as a developed nation we allow this. Furthermore, doing so is a safety hazard for other road users.
I would like to urge a ban on the transporting of people in the backs of lorries.
All workers should be seated in buses when being transported.
And I urge the swift implementation of such a ban without the excuse that it would take a long time to make the change at a practical level.
We are efficient in many ways. I am certain we can be efficient in this matter if we recognise how important it is.
We do not need a work group.
We need action and we need it now, before more lives are lost.
Let the deaths of the four workers not be in vain.
Letter from Isabel Vadivu Govind
The Unacceptable Cost of Cheap Labour
The following blog post was published by UK Telegraph reporter, Ben Bland, as part his Asia File series, on 20 May 2009. To access it, click here.
The Unacceptable Cost of Cheap Labour
By Ben Bland, The Asia File
First thing in the morning and late at night, Singapore's tree-lined highways are full of lorries and trucks carrying a vital cargo: the migrant workers from Bangladesh and India who are the backbone of the Lion City's economic miracle.
Crammed into the rear deck, the only protection they have from the scorching sun and the perpetual downpours is a bit of plastic sheeting. But the weather is the least of their worries.
Before sunrise on Monday morning, four workers from India and Bangladesh set off from their humble quarters for the shipyard where they were employed. But none of them arrived at work after the lorry they were travelling in hit the back of a larger truck parked by the roadside and they were killed in the collision.
One of the victims had been travelling in the front passenger seat but the other three had been sitting in the back of their vehicle. Six others were injured but survived.
The fatal accident has once more brought the shoddy treatment of migrant workers in Singapore to public attention.
While cattle are transported in comfortable air-conditioned surroundings, Singapore's construction and shipping workers are afforded no such luxury.
The authorities only stipulate that each worker has at least 0.372 square metres of floor space and that lorries do not carry more people than they are licensed to.
210 people were injured while traveling in the back of lorries in Singapore last year and two killed. 186 were hurt in 2007 and two killed.
So long as unscrupulous companies are allowed to carry people in worse conditions than animals, the deaths and injuries will continue.
The Gulf state of Bahrain, which does not exactly have a reputation as a haven of workers' rights, has introduced a ban on using trucks to transport labourers.
But Singapore seems to have no intention of altering the status quo, largely because of the purported costs to business in a state that is dependent on external trade and investment. (It's obviously cheaper to pay the odd hospital bill and coffin shipping costs than it is to hire a mini-bus.)
It's a pretty despicable situation that reflects a xenophobic attitude to foreign labour. People are happy to milk the economic benefits of cheaply imported workers but are not so willing to accord them rights and respect.
Nimby-ist Singaporeans complain whenever a foreign workers' hostel is built in their vicinity and, according to one earnest writer in the Straits Times today, if migrant labourers were to be given public transport passes instead of being thrown onto the back of trucks, "some segments of the local population may complain about having to share standing space in trains and buses with foreign workers".
The Unacceptable Cost of Cheap Labour
By Ben Bland, The Asia File
First thing in the morning and late at night, Singapore's tree-lined highways are full of lorries and trucks carrying a vital cargo: the migrant workers from Bangladesh and India who are the backbone of the Lion City's economic miracle.
Crammed into the rear deck, the only protection they have from the scorching sun and the perpetual downpours is a bit of plastic sheeting. But the weather is the least of their worries.
Before sunrise on Monday morning, four workers from India and Bangladesh set off from their humble quarters for the shipyard where they were employed. But none of them arrived at work after the lorry they were travelling in hit the back of a larger truck parked by the roadside and they were killed in the collision.
One of the victims had been travelling in the front passenger seat but the other three had been sitting in the back of their vehicle. Six others were injured but survived.
The fatal accident has once more brought the shoddy treatment of migrant workers in Singapore to public attention.
While cattle are transported in comfortable air-conditioned surroundings, Singapore's construction and shipping workers are afforded no such luxury.
The authorities only stipulate that each worker has at least 0.372 square metres of floor space and that lorries do not carry more people than they are licensed to.
210 people were injured while traveling in the back of lorries in Singapore last year and two killed. 186 were hurt in 2007 and two killed.
So long as unscrupulous companies are allowed to carry people in worse conditions than animals, the deaths and injuries will continue.
The Gulf state of Bahrain, which does not exactly have a reputation as a haven of workers' rights, has introduced a ban on using trucks to transport labourers.
But Singapore seems to have no intention of altering the status quo, largely because of the purported costs to business in a state that is dependent on external trade and investment. (It's obviously cheaper to pay the odd hospital bill and coffin shipping costs than it is to hire a mini-bus.)
It's a pretty despicable situation that reflects a xenophobic attitude to foreign labour. People are happy to milk the economic benefits of cheaply imported workers but are not so willing to accord them rights and respect.
Nimby-ist Singaporeans complain whenever a foreign workers' hostel is built in their vicinity and, according to one earnest writer in the Straits Times today, if migrant labourers were to be given public transport passes instead of being thrown onto the back of trucks, "some segments of the local population may complain about having to share standing space in trains and buses with foreign workers".
Ferrying Workers Safely
The following article was published in the Straits Times on 20 May 2009.
Ferrying workers safely
By Teh Joo Lin
20 May 2009
A good solution has to be found quickly so more lives are not lost
IT'S happened again.
On Monday, three foreign workers sitting in the back of a lorry died after it crashed into the back of a trailer. A fourth man in the front seat also died.
How many more must lose their lives before a solution to ferrying workers is found?
It took less than six months for the public outcry over the death of an eight-year-old boy last April to lead to action: minibuses must have seat belts installed. Now, 6,400 small buses are being fitted with safety harnesses. It was Singapore-style efficiency at work.
But the authorities seem to be in a bind on the issue of ferrying workers - usually foreigners - in the backs of lorries. There are many more of these workers than students and any solution will have to satisfy more interest groups.
Last year, an average of four workers a week never reached their destinations in one piece. Casualties have mounted but thankfully, fatalities have not been high: five in 2006 and two each in the next two years.
The issue of where and how foreign workers should be housed has been a subject of intense discussion every now and then, with plenty of ideas thrown up. But the question of how they should be ferried has received less attention. That is, until the next accident occurs.
A workgroup co-chaired by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and the Manpower Ministry (MOM) has been labouring since its setting-up was announced last March to come up with solutions to this problem.
While a report is expected to be completed by the year's end, no finding has been made public so far. That is perhaps an indication of the complexity of the problem, and the difficulty of having to satisfy the interests of several stakeholders.
In the minibus issue, the biggest concern was how much operators would have to pay to equip their vehicles with seat belts. This was resolved when the Government contributed $35 million for a five-year plan. Six-month window periods were scheduled so as to accommodate the worries of operators that they would lose business while their buses were retro-fitted.
All this was done to satisfy one big, clear and important constituency: parents with school-going children.
The big stakeholder in the foreign worker transport issue, besides the workers themselves, is the employer. Small-time contractors and some big-name companies too are likely to complain about any solution that puts pressure on their bottom lines in these turbulent economic times.
Perhaps the most obvious solution is to ban riding in the back of lorries altogether - as Bahrain, which has about 500,000 foreign workers, did from May 1 this year.
The alternatives? Public transport for the workers is one option, with workers equipped with a prepaid fare card.
But this means adding to the commuter crush during rush hour. Some segments of the local population may complain about having to share standing space in trains and buses with foreign workers.
Having them ride in chartered buses, which some employers are already providing for their workers, is more feasible.
Mr Neo Tiam Beng, president of the Singapore School and Private Hire Bus Owners' Association, says that the operators who run some 4,000 private buses for hire here, have the capacity to provide transportation to foreign workers.
This option, however, comes at a price, with each one-way trip estimated at $40 to $50 for about 40 workers, or roughly $1 a head at current oil prices. That's still a lot considering that employers with trucks pay near zero for using them to transport both equipment and people. There is likely to be a cry for government subsidies, which can run into the millions.
Rules on ferrying workers on cargo decks might be tightened up, with harsher penalties imposed for contraventions.
The rules now include allocating each worker at least 0.372 sq m of sitting space - slightly bigger than a full page of this newspaper. Workers are also not allowed to sit more than 3.2m off the ground, among other things.
Introduced in 2003, these measures have probably saved lives, but the LTA still caught 352 lorries overladen with workers last year, up from 226 in 2007. The maximum court penalty for those who ferry more workers than allowed is a $1,000 fine or a three-month jail term.
So perhaps it comes back to installing seat belts, as the Singapore Armed Forces has done for its trucks. Except that army trucks are designed for passengers to sit in, while the private trucks we are talking about are built only to carry cargo.
There may be other solutions to this problem: no travelling on expressways, for example, or having as many workers as possible stay on or near worksites.
Or the LTA could tie requests to hire foreign workers to providing them with adequate transportation. In other words, if you need more than 20 workers, tell LTA how you are going to get to them to work and back.
All these suggested solutions have their costs and trade-offs - and Singapore isn't alone in grappling with the issue.
In the United States, 30 of the 50 states have some form of restriction on how people can be transported on the cargo beds of pickup trucks. Britain has gone further with a blanket ban on passengers sitting on the decks of heavy goods vehicles.
Bahrain's move came despite claims from businesses that the cost of ferrying workers in buses could set the construction industry back by as much as $1 billion Bahraini dinars (S$3.9 billion).
At the end of the day, each country will have to weigh the life of a foreign worker against the economic and even political costs of not doing anything.
It's time we grappled with this problem - before the next accident occurs.
(c) 2009 Singapore Press Holdings Limited
Ferrying workers safely
By Teh Joo Lin
20 May 2009
A good solution has to be found quickly so more lives are not lost
IT'S happened again.
On Monday, three foreign workers sitting in the back of a lorry died after it crashed into the back of a trailer. A fourth man in the front seat also died.
How many more must lose their lives before a solution to ferrying workers is found?
It took less than six months for the public outcry over the death of an eight-year-old boy last April to lead to action: minibuses must have seat belts installed. Now, 6,400 small buses are being fitted with safety harnesses. It was Singapore-style efficiency at work.
But the authorities seem to be in a bind on the issue of ferrying workers - usually foreigners - in the backs of lorries. There are many more of these workers than students and any solution will have to satisfy more interest groups.
Last year, an average of four workers a week never reached their destinations in one piece. Casualties have mounted but thankfully, fatalities have not been high: five in 2006 and two each in the next two years.
The issue of where and how foreign workers should be housed has been a subject of intense discussion every now and then, with plenty of ideas thrown up. But the question of how they should be ferried has received less attention. That is, until the next accident occurs.
A workgroup co-chaired by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and the Manpower Ministry (MOM) has been labouring since its setting-up was announced last March to come up with solutions to this problem.
While a report is expected to be completed by the year's end, no finding has been made public so far. That is perhaps an indication of the complexity of the problem, and the difficulty of having to satisfy the interests of several stakeholders.
In the minibus issue, the biggest concern was how much operators would have to pay to equip their vehicles with seat belts. This was resolved when the Government contributed $35 million for a five-year plan. Six-month window periods were scheduled so as to accommodate the worries of operators that they would lose business while their buses were retro-fitted.
All this was done to satisfy one big, clear and important constituency: parents with school-going children.
The big stakeholder in the foreign worker transport issue, besides the workers themselves, is the employer. Small-time contractors and some big-name companies too are likely to complain about any solution that puts pressure on their bottom lines in these turbulent economic times.
Perhaps the most obvious solution is to ban riding in the back of lorries altogether - as Bahrain, which has about 500,000 foreign workers, did from May 1 this year.
The alternatives? Public transport for the workers is one option, with workers equipped with a prepaid fare card.
But this means adding to the commuter crush during rush hour. Some segments of the local population may complain about having to share standing space in trains and buses with foreign workers.
Having them ride in chartered buses, which some employers are already providing for their workers, is more feasible.
Mr Neo Tiam Beng, president of the Singapore School and Private Hire Bus Owners' Association, says that the operators who run some 4,000 private buses for hire here, have the capacity to provide transportation to foreign workers.
This option, however, comes at a price, with each one-way trip estimated at $40 to $50 for about 40 workers, or roughly $1 a head at current oil prices. That's still a lot considering that employers with trucks pay near zero for using them to transport both equipment and people. There is likely to be a cry for government subsidies, which can run into the millions.
Rules on ferrying workers on cargo decks might be tightened up, with harsher penalties imposed for contraventions.
The rules now include allocating each worker at least 0.372 sq m of sitting space - slightly bigger than a full page of this newspaper. Workers are also not allowed to sit more than 3.2m off the ground, among other things.
Introduced in 2003, these measures have probably saved lives, but the LTA still caught 352 lorries overladen with workers last year, up from 226 in 2007. The maximum court penalty for those who ferry more workers than allowed is a $1,000 fine or a three-month jail term.
So perhaps it comes back to installing seat belts, as the Singapore Armed Forces has done for its trucks. Except that army trucks are designed for passengers to sit in, while the private trucks we are talking about are built only to carry cargo.
There may be other solutions to this problem: no travelling on expressways, for example, or having as many workers as possible stay on or near worksites.
Or the LTA could tie requests to hire foreign workers to providing them with adequate transportation. In other words, if you need more than 20 workers, tell LTA how you are going to get to them to work and back.
All these suggested solutions have their costs and trade-offs - and Singapore isn't alone in grappling with the issue.
In the United States, 30 of the 50 states have some form of restriction on how people can be transported on the cargo beds of pickup trucks. Britain has gone further with a blanket ban on passengers sitting on the decks of heavy goods vehicles.
Bahrain's move came despite claims from businesses that the cost of ferrying workers in buses could set the construction industry back by as much as $1 billion Bahraini dinars (S$3.9 billion).
At the end of the day, each country will have to weigh the life of a foreign worker against the economic and even political costs of not doing anything.
It's time we grappled with this problem - before the next accident occurs.
(c) 2009 Singapore Press Holdings Limited
It's the fault of foreign drivers
The following article was published in The New Paper on 21 May 2009.
It's the fault of foreign drivers
By Amanda Yong
21 May 2009
The New Paper
Our readers claim these drivers are reckless and cause many accidents
BLAME it on the drivers.
They weave in and out of lanes, ignore traffic rules and have no regard for road safety.
Or so claim an overwhelming majority of readers who called or wrote in reacting to yesterday's report on an accident that killed four foreign workers on Gul Road early Monday morning.
The readers' bone of contention: Foreign drivers - and whether more needs to be done to ensure that they are qualified to drive on Singapore roads.
In the accident, a lorry driven by a foreign worker rammed into a parked trailer. Three of the four who died, along with five others who were injured, were riding in the back of the lorry. The workers - including the driver - were from India and Bangladesh.
The problem lies with foreign drivers at the wheel of lorries transporting their fellow foreign workers, said 23 of 27 readers who e-mailed or called The New Paper yesterday.
Reader Elangovan, 44, a lorry driver for 15 years, disclosed a little-known fact: That all it takes for a foreign worker to qualify to drive in Singapore is to pass the basic theory test. He found out from mixing with foreign drivers at work that many obtain their driving licences in their home countries.
'They don't need to sit for the practical driving test here. So at the end of the day, we don't know whether they actually know how to drive,' he said.
He felt that many drivers from foreign countries are inexperienced. 'When they drive back home, they're reckless. There are no signboards, no regulations, so when they come here they get confused.'
Confirmation with traffic police
A check with the traffic police website confirmed what Mr Elangovan said, at least for drivers of Class 3 and 3A vehicles. This comprises cars with an unladen weight of up to 3,000kg, and motor tractors and other motor vehicles with an unladen weight of up to 2,500kg.
The lorry involved in Monday's accident would fall under this classification.
But a foreigner holding a foreign licence of Class 4 and above is subject to more stringent requirements - he will have to 'go through training and a prescribed practical test... No direct conversion is granted for these heavy vehicle licences', according to the traffic police website.
Another Singaporean lorry driver, Mr S Sundarajan Rajan, called for stronger action against errant drivers.
He said in an e-mail: 'I think it's not really the mode of transport that is the issue, it's the drivers. Either the traffic police have to scrutinise these people before issuing them the licence or not issue them one at all.'
Mr Rehmat Kiwon, 54, a lorry driver with 35 years of experience and who works in the Jurong area, said: 'These drivers are reckless. They never give way and look like they are racing each other. I don't know what they're chasing.'
One reader recalled a close shave a month ago when his car escaped with a bent side mirror after a lorry driven by a foreign worker brushed against his car.
Mr Chia K S, 58, a chauffeur, said: 'The lorry overtook my car without signalling. Luckily I braked in time.'
There were foreign workers at the back of the lorry at the time. Mr Chia said he knew the driver was a foreigner because he took down the man's particulars for claims on his motor insurance.
A dormitory supervisor who gave his name as Mr Ramasamy, 59, is concerned about the lorries ferrying foreign workers, even in the wee hours of the morning, at Tuas where he works.
He said: 'I usually start work at 3am, but I am scared to drive there (to his Tuas workplace) because they (the lorry drivers) always speed. (The authorities) shouldn't give licences to these foreigners.'
Teacher Nur Mawarni, 24, said: 'There needs to be stricter imposition and reinforcement of traffic rules. Maybe more traffic police officers should be deployed to ensure that drivers ferrying workers do not exceed the 60kmh speed limit.
'In the meantime, we need to begin work to better protect these workers rather than wait for more to lose their lives.'
Others said the companies should also be held responsible.
Technician V Ramasamy wrote in an e-mail: '(the company) should... ensure safe transportation for the workers by providing 'safe' drivers.'
But another reader, who only gave his name as bobhairi, said he believed that regardless of road safety rules, 'if the drivers (have) bad attitude on the road, no matter (whether) you take a car, bus or any other (type of transport), accidents will happen.'
He added: 'The Government can make (a) thousand regulations, (but) I believe accidents will happen. It all depends on the drivers...'
Mr Elangovan agreed. 'When I carry 25 people with me, I always tell myself that these people are my responsibility. At the end of the day, even if you don't die, somebody else dies.'
Additional reporting by Pearly Tan, newsroom intern
Copyright 2009, Singapore Press Holdings Limited
It's the fault of foreign drivers
By Amanda Yong
21 May 2009
The New Paper
Our readers claim these drivers are reckless and cause many accidents
BLAME it on the drivers.
They weave in and out of lanes, ignore traffic rules and have no regard for road safety.
Or so claim an overwhelming majority of readers who called or wrote in reacting to yesterday's report on an accident that killed four foreign workers on Gul Road early Monday morning.
The readers' bone of contention: Foreign drivers - and whether more needs to be done to ensure that they are qualified to drive on Singapore roads.
In the accident, a lorry driven by a foreign worker rammed into a parked trailer. Three of the four who died, along with five others who were injured, were riding in the back of the lorry. The workers - including the driver - were from India and Bangladesh.
The problem lies with foreign drivers at the wheel of lorries transporting their fellow foreign workers, said 23 of 27 readers who e-mailed or called The New Paper yesterday.
Reader Elangovan, 44, a lorry driver for 15 years, disclosed a little-known fact: That all it takes for a foreign worker to qualify to drive in Singapore is to pass the basic theory test. He found out from mixing with foreign drivers at work that many obtain their driving licences in their home countries.
'They don't need to sit for the practical driving test here. So at the end of the day, we don't know whether they actually know how to drive,' he said.
He felt that many drivers from foreign countries are inexperienced. 'When they drive back home, they're reckless. There are no signboards, no regulations, so when they come here they get confused.'
Confirmation with traffic police
A check with the traffic police website confirmed what Mr Elangovan said, at least for drivers of Class 3 and 3A vehicles. This comprises cars with an unladen weight of up to 3,000kg, and motor tractors and other motor vehicles with an unladen weight of up to 2,500kg.
The lorry involved in Monday's accident would fall under this classification.
But a foreigner holding a foreign licence of Class 4 and above is subject to more stringent requirements - he will have to 'go through training and a prescribed practical test... No direct conversion is granted for these heavy vehicle licences', according to the traffic police website.
Another Singaporean lorry driver, Mr S Sundarajan Rajan, called for stronger action against errant drivers.
He said in an e-mail: 'I think it's not really the mode of transport that is the issue, it's the drivers. Either the traffic police have to scrutinise these people before issuing them the licence or not issue them one at all.'
Mr Rehmat Kiwon, 54, a lorry driver with 35 years of experience and who works in the Jurong area, said: 'These drivers are reckless. They never give way and look like they are racing each other. I don't know what they're chasing.'
One reader recalled a close shave a month ago when his car escaped with a bent side mirror after a lorry driven by a foreign worker brushed against his car.
Mr Chia K S, 58, a chauffeur, said: 'The lorry overtook my car without signalling. Luckily I braked in time.'
There were foreign workers at the back of the lorry at the time. Mr Chia said he knew the driver was a foreigner because he took down the man's particulars for claims on his motor insurance.
A dormitory supervisor who gave his name as Mr Ramasamy, 59, is concerned about the lorries ferrying foreign workers, even in the wee hours of the morning, at Tuas where he works.
He said: 'I usually start work at 3am, but I am scared to drive there (to his Tuas workplace) because they (the lorry drivers) always speed. (The authorities) shouldn't give licences to these foreigners.'
Teacher Nur Mawarni, 24, said: 'There needs to be stricter imposition and reinforcement of traffic rules. Maybe more traffic police officers should be deployed to ensure that drivers ferrying workers do not exceed the 60kmh speed limit.
'In the meantime, we need to begin work to better protect these workers rather than wait for more to lose their lives.'
Others said the companies should also be held responsible.
Technician V Ramasamy wrote in an e-mail: '(the company) should... ensure safe transportation for the workers by providing 'safe' drivers.'
But another reader, who only gave his name as bobhairi, said he believed that regardless of road safety rules, 'if the drivers (have) bad attitude on the road, no matter (whether) you take a car, bus or any other (type of transport), accidents will happen.'
He added: 'The Government can make (a) thousand regulations, (but) I believe accidents will happen. It all depends on the drivers...'
Mr Elangovan agreed. 'When I carry 25 people with me, I always tell myself that these people are my responsibility. At the end of the day, even if you don't die, somebody else dies.'
Additional reporting by Pearly Tan, newsroom intern
Copyright 2009, Singapore Press Holdings Limited
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Worker lured to MOM building, assaulted, and possibly to be repatriated
This story was posted on The Online Citizen on Friday, 15 May 2009. You can access it by clicking here.
By Andrew Loh, The Online Citizen
“Come to MOM building at 6pm and I will pay you your salary,” Asmad Kadir (not his real name) was told by his employer. Asmad, who is owed some S$2,100 for 5-months’ work as a labourer, agreed. But he wondered why his employer would ask to meet him at 6pm when the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) building would be closing. He asked for the time to be changed to 5pm instead. His employer agreed.
At that designated time on Thursday, 14 May, after having arrived at the Ministry of Manpower’s (MOM) building at Havelock Road, he called his employer’s brother, who goes by the name of Ganesh. Asmad was told to come out of the building and meet with Ganesh. After his previous experiences with his employer, Asmad was reluctant to and asked Ganesh to meet him inside the building instead. Ganesh tried to coax Asmad into agreeing by promising Asmad that if he came out and met him, he would pay Asmad the entire amount owed to him.
An hour of negotiation ensued which lasted till 6pm, when the MOM building was to be closed. Asmad then had no choice but to go out and meet with Ganesh. There, Ganesh and another man, Biji, insisted that Asmad signed the receipt for the money first before they paid him. Asmad told them he would not and that he will only sign after he has received the money. They got into a heated argument. The two men then seemed to relent and asked that they proceeded to a side street where Asmad will be issued a receipt. “I feared for my safety,” Asmad said, “but I still went to the location with them.”
When they arrived at the new location, Ganesh and Biji tried to force Asmad into a microvan by manhandling him. In the scuffle, Ganesh punched him, causing his lips to bleed. Biji grabbed the right side of his face. In the struggle, Asmad’s shirt was torn and he managed to free himself and fled. “This is not the first time Ganesh has assaulted me,” Asmad said in the police report he lodged against his employer’s brother.
Asmad Kadir, 28, has been working with Ocean Marine Engineering in Singapore since 2007. In February this year, he asked for the five months’ worth of salary owed to him to be paid.
He was called up to his employer’s office to discuss the issue. Asmad explained to his employer that his family back in Bangladesh needed the money urgently. In the course of the discussion, his employer slapped him across his left ear three times. “After I was slapped, I lost consciousness for a few minutes,” Asmad said in a separate police report he has made. His employer then asked him to go back to the dormitory to rest. Later that day, he felt “a lot of pain” in his left ear and called his employer, who promised to bring him to a doctor the next day after work. His employer did not do so.
It was only one week later, on 5 March, that Asmad himself went to see the doctor. He was given two days’ medical leave. When he showed the certificate to his employer, they told him that the certificate was a fake. Subsequently, his employer gave him some ear drops and told him to go back to the dormitory to rest – but that he would have to report for work the next day.
Asmad’s problems, however, do not end there.
MOM’s dispute settlement
On 13 April, in a salary dispute mediation session overseen by MOM between Asmad and his employer, it was agreed that Asmad’s employer would pay him half of the salary owed and the other half “upon repatriation”, as stated in the agreement. However, till date, Asmad said he has been paid only S$300 out of the S$2,100 he is owed.
Because his work permit has been cancelled, and he is still awaiting full compensation and the outcome of the two police reports, Asmad needed to obtain a Special Pass which would allow him to remain in Singapore until these are resolved. On 15 May, he approached MOM, with all the documents he has, including the two police reports.
However, the MOM officer dismissed the documents as fake and told Asmad that he would have to go to Changi airport and “go home”, Asmad related to The Online Citizen. Asmad can only speak a smattering of very simple English words and did not fully understand what the officer had said.
Without the Special Pass, Asmad is now considered an overstayer and could be forcibly repatriated anytime by the authorities.
As for the police report made by Asmad on 14 May, the police has notified him that “preliminary inquiries into your police report is completed and it discloses an offence under Section 323 of the Penal Code… which is a non-seizable offence.”
Thus, in order for the police to proceed with further actions, Asmad would need to lodge a Magistrate’s Complaint at the Subordinate Courts. The Magistrate would then order the police to act as she sees fit.
Asmad may not get a chance to do so without a Special Pass.
He too will have to forfeit the salary still owed to him.
Asmad is now being taken care of by aid workers.
Opinion:
There are several serious questions raised in Asmad’s case.
1. MOM should take a very serious view that its office location is being used by unscrupulous employers to lure their employees into meeting them. It is quite clear from Asmad’s experience and example that this was the case.
2. MOM and the police should also take a very serious view of physical assault on employees by employers or their henchmen.
3. According to what Asmad told The Online Citizen, it seems that he was a victim of an attempted kidnapping. This is also a very serious offence under Singapore law and should be treated as such.
4. MOM should have staff who are proficient in the native languages of foreign workers who approach them. If the frontline staff is not proficient in these, they should be told to refer such workers to officers who are in a better position to help, instead of dismissing workers’ complaints.
If Asmad is forcibly repatriated on a technicality – because he does not have a Special Pass – it would signal to employers that such ill-treatment and abuse of foreign workers are tolerated by the authorities. And employers will be emboldened to continue to do so.
Asmad wants to return to his family in Bangladesh.
It is not unreasonable for him to expect to be paid for the work he has done before doing so.
Asmad still has hearing problems in his left ear.
By Andrew Loh, The Online Citizen
“Come to MOM building at 6pm and I will pay you your salary,” Asmad Kadir (not his real name) was told by his employer. Asmad, who is owed some S$2,100 for 5-months’ work as a labourer, agreed. But he wondered why his employer would ask to meet him at 6pm when the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) building would be closing. He asked for the time to be changed to 5pm instead. His employer agreed.
At that designated time on Thursday, 14 May, after having arrived at the Ministry of Manpower’s (MOM) building at Havelock Road, he called his employer’s brother, who goes by the name of Ganesh. Asmad was told to come out of the building and meet with Ganesh. After his previous experiences with his employer, Asmad was reluctant to and asked Ganesh to meet him inside the building instead. Ganesh tried to coax Asmad into agreeing by promising Asmad that if he came out and met him, he would pay Asmad the entire amount owed to him.
An hour of negotiation ensued which lasted till 6pm, when the MOM building was to be closed. Asmad then had no choice but to go out and meet with Ganesh. There, Ganesh and another man, Biji, insisted that Asmad signed the receipt for the money first before they paid him. Asmad told them he would not and that he will only sign after he has received the money. They got into a heated argument. The two men then seemed to relent and asked that they proceeded to a side street where Asmad will be issued a receipt. “I feared for my safety,” Asmad said, “but I still went to the location with them.”
When they arrived at the new location, Ganesh and Biji tried to force Asmad into a microvan by manhandling him. In the scuffle, Ganesh punched him, causing his lips to bleed. Biji grabbed the right side of his face. In the struggle, Asmad’s shirt was torn and he managed to free himself and fled. “This is not the first time Ganesh has assaulted me,” Asmad said in the police report he lodged against his employer’s brother.
Asmad Kadir, 28, has been working with Ocean Marine Engineering in Singapore since 2007. In February this year, he asked for the five months’ worth of salary owed to him to be paid.
He was called up to his employer’s office to discuss the issue. Asmad explained to his employer that his family back in Bangladesh needed the money urgently. In the course of the discussion, his employer slapped him across his left ear three times. “After I was slapped, I lost consciousness for a few minutes,” Asmad said in a separate police report he has made. His employer then asked him to go back to the dormitory to rest. Later that day, he felt “a lot of pain” in his left ear and called his employer, who promised to bring him to a doctor the next day after work. His employer did not do so.
It was only one week later, on 5 March, that Asmad himself went to see the doctor. He was given two days’ medical leave. When he showed the certificate to his employer, they told him that the certificate was a fake. Subsequently, his employer gave him some ear drops and told him to go back to the dormitory to rest – but that he would have to report for work the next day.
Asmad’s problems, however, do not end there.
MOM’s dispute settlement
On 13 April, in a salary dispute mediation session overseen by MOM between Asmad and his employer, it was agreed that Asmad’s employer would pay him half of the salary owed and the other half “upon repatriation”, as stated in the agreement. However, till date, Asmad said he has been paid only S$300 out of the S$2,100 he is owed.
Because his work permit has been cancelled, and he is still awaiting full compensation and the outcome of the two police reports, Asmad needed to obtain a Special Pass which would allow him to remain in Singapore until these are resolved. On 15 May, he approached MOM, with all the documents he has, including the two police reports.
However, the MOM officer dismissed the documents as fake and told Asmad that he would have to go to Changi airport and “go home”, Asmad related to The Online Citizen. Asmad can only speak a smattering of very simple English words and did not fully understand what the officer had said.
Without the Special Pass, Asmad is now considered an overstayer and could be forcibly repatriated anytime by the authorities.
As for the police report made by Asmad on 14 May, the police has notified him that “preliminary inquiries into your police report is completed and it discloses an offence under Section 323 of the Penal Code… which is a non-seizable offence.”
Thus, in order for the police to proceed with further actions, Asmad would need to lodge a Magistrate’s Complaint at the Subordinate Courts. The Magistrate would then order the police to act as she sees fit.
Asmad may not get a chance to do so without a Special Pass.
He too will have to forfeit the salary still owed to him.
Asmad is now being taken care of by aid workers.
Opinion:
There are several serious questions raised in Asmad’s case.
1. MOM should take a very serious view that its office location is being used by unscrupulous employers to lure their employees into meeting them. It is quite clear from Asmad’s experience and example that this was the case.
2. MOM and the police should also take a very serious view of physical assault on employees by employers or their henchmen.
3. According to what Asmad told The Online Citizen, it seems that he was a victim of an attempted kidnapping. This is also a very serious offence under Singapore law and should be treated as such.
4. MOM should have staff who are proficient in the native languages of foreign workers who approach them. If the frontline staff is not proficient in these, they should be told to refer such workers to officers who are in a better position to help, instead of dismissing workers’ complaints.
If Asmad is forcibly repatriated on a technicality – because he does not have a Special Pass – it would signal to employers that such ill-treatment and abuse of foreign workers are tolerated by the authorities. And employers will be emboldened to continue to do so.
Asmad wants to return to his family in Bangladesh.
It is not unreasonable for him to expect to be paid for the work he has done before doing so.
Asmad still has hearing problems in his left ear.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
7 firms charged for violations
The following article was published in the Straits Times on 14 May 2009.
7 firms charged for violations
By Diana Othman
May 14, 2009
SEVEN errant employers were charged on Thursday for violating the Employment Act in several ways.
They face charges for failing to pay salaries to their employees, unauthorised salary deductions, excessive work hours and failing to provide statutory employment benefits, said the Ministry of Manpower (MOM).
One of them, King's Security and Safety Management was found to have deployed four security officers to work beyond 12 hours a day and beyond 72 hours of overtime a month without MOM's authorisation between November 2007 and March last year.
The company and its managing director, Tiruchelvam Sinnadurai, each faces 84 charges.
In another case, Sun City Maintenance was found to have made two workers work more than 12 hours a day on several occasions from October to December 2008 after MOM investigated.
The company had also failed to provide eight workers with an extra day's salary for work done on a public holiday.
The company and its managing director, Swee Peng Koon, each faces 48 charges.
This is in addition to 17 other employers who have been earlier charged for similar violations and are pending further court mentions.
It is an offence under the Employment Act for an employer not to pay salary for work done within seven days after the salary period, or within three days from the termination of the contract of service.
Failure to provide statutory employment benefits such as annual leave, rest days and sick leave are also violations under the Act.
It is also an offence to deploy employees to perform work exceeding 12 hours per day or beyond 72 hours of overtime work in a month.
A first-time offender may be fined a maximum of $5,000 or jailed up to six months, or both. For any subsequent offence, an offender may be fined up to $10,000 or jailed up to one year or both.
If employers have to adopt shift hours that exceed the norm, they should apply to MOM for authorisation to do so.
7 firms charged for violations
By Diana Othman
May 14, 2009
SEVEN errant employers were charged on Thursday for violating the Employment Act in several ways.
They face charges for failing to pay salaries to their employees, unauthorised salary deductions, excessive work hours and failing to provide statutory employment benefits, said the Ministry of Manpower (MOM).
One of them, King's Security and Safety Management was found to have deployed four security officers to work beyond 12 hours a day and beyond 72 hours of overtime a month without MOM's authorisation between November 2007 and March last year.
The company and its managing director, Tiruchelvam Sinnadurai, each faces 84 charges.
In another case, Sun City Maintenance was found to have made two workers work more than 12 hours a day on several occasions from October to December 2008 after MOM investigated.
The company had also failed to provide eight workers with an extra day's salary for work done on a public holiday.
The company and its managing director, Swee Peng Koon, each faces 48 charges.
This is in addition to 17 other employers who have been earlier charged for similar violations and are pending further court mentions.
It is an offence under the Employment Act for an employer not to pay salary for work done within seven days after the salary period, or within three days from the termination of the contract of service.
Failure to provide statutory employment benefits such as annual leave, rest days and sick leave are also violations under the Act.
It is also an offence to deploy employees to perform work exceeding 12 hours per day or beyond 72 hours of overtime work in a month.
A first-time offender may be fined a maximum of $5,000 or jailed up to six months, or both. For any subsequent offence, an offender may be fined up to $10,000 or jailed up to one year or both.
If employers have to adopt shift hours that exceed the norm, they should apply to MOM for authorisation to do so.
Jailed for fake 'hurt at work' claims
The following article was published in the Straits Times on 14 May 2009.
Jailed for fake 'hurt at work' claims
By Esther Tan
14 May 2009
First two convicted under stricter laws
ONE foreign worker said he injured his foot while at work, though he was actually resting in his living quarters when a mirror fell on it.
Another claimed he slipped and fell while doing welding work, but it turned out he had suffered a back injury when he fell from a mango tree.
Both men tried the injured-at-work ruse in an attempt to claim compensation from employers.
But they were found out after the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) conducted investigations, and instead became the first two to be convicted under new laws that went into force in April last year.
The MOM highlighted their cases earlier this week to warn foreign workers not to attempt to cheat the system this way. It said another worker is due to be charged soon with a similar offence.
In the first case, Indian national Asirvatham Jayaprabhu, 24, was sentenced to eight weeks in jail in January. During his trial, a court heard that Asirvatham, a construction worker with Success Forever Construction and Maintenance, submitted a claim for compensation to MOM last August.
He said he suffered his foot injury in May last year while cleaning the storeroom at his company's Toa Payoh Industrial Park premises.
In truth, he had backed into a wall at his living quarters, causing the mirror to fall onto his foot.
In the second incident, Bangladeshi Jalal Isub Ali, 28, a marine trade worker with JE Construction and Engineering, filed his fraudulent claim with MOM last August. Last month, he was sentenced to six weeks in jail.
The Workmen's Compensation Act was changed last year to make it more relevant and effective.
Now called the Work Injury Compensation Act, it frees employees hurt at work from needing to prove that their bosses had been negligent and should hence be held responsible for their injuries. They only need to show that their injuries were sustained in the course of work. A section on fraudulent claims was included to deter abuse and safeguard the interests of employers.
Under the old Act, MOM could only charge errant workers with a lesser offence of providing false answers. The penalty for doing this was a maximum fine of $2,000, up to 3 months in jail, or both. In 2007, nine workers were convicted for fraud on this basis.
Current laws provide for much stiffer penalties: A jail term of up to 12 months and/or a fine of up to $15,000.
Said Mr Clarence Tang, the director of MOM's Work Injury Compensation Department, Occupational Safety and Health Division: 'Such fraudulent and mischievous claims divert public resources away from ensuring the prompt settlement of genuine work injury compensation claims.'
(c) 2009 Singapore Press Holdings Limited
Jailed for fake 'hurt at work' claims
By Esther Tan
14 May 2009
First two convicted under stricter laws
ONE foreign worker said he injured his foot while at work, though he was actually resting in his living quarters when a mirror fell on it.
Another claimed he slipped and fell while doing welding work, but it turned out he had suffered a back injury when he fell from a mango tree.
Both men tried the injured-at-work ruse in an attempt to claim compensation from employers.
But they were found out after the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) conducted investigations, and instead became the first two to be convicted under new laws that went into force in April last year.
The MOM highlighted their cases earlier this week to warn foreign workers not to attempt to cheat the system this way. It said another worker is due to be charged soon with a similar offence.
In the first case, Indian national Asirvatham Jayaprabhu, 24, was sentenced to eight weeks in jail in January. During his trial, a court heard that Asirvatham, a construction worker with Success Forever Construction and Maintenance, submitted a claim for compensation to MOM last August.
He said he suffered his foot injury in May last year while cleaning the storeroom at his company's Toa Payoh Industrial Park premises.
In truth, he had backed into a wall at his living quarters, causing the mirror to fall onto his foot.
In the second incident, Bangladeshi Jalal Isub Ali, 28, a marine trade worker with JE Construction and Engineering, filed his fraudulent claim with MOM last August. Last month, he was sentenced to six weeks in jail.
The Workmen's Compensation Act was changed last year to make it more relevant and effective.
Now called the Work Injury Compensation Act, it frees employees hurt at work from needing to prove that their bosses had been negligent and should hence be held responsible for their injuries. They only need to show that their injuries were sustained in the course of work. A section on fraudulent claims was included to deter abuse and safeguard the interests of employers.
Under the old Act, MOM could only charge errant workers with a lesser offence of providing false answers. The penalty for doing this was a maximum fine of $2,000, up to 3 months in jail, or both. In 2007, nine workers were convicted for fraud on this basis.
Current laws provide for much stiffer penalties: A jail term of up to 12 months and/or a fine of up to $15,000.
Said Mr Clarence Tang, the director of MOM's Work Injury Compensation Department, Occupational Safety and Health Division: 'Such fraudulent and mischievous claims divert public resources away from ensuring the prompt settlement of genuine work injury compensation claims.'
(c) 2009 Singapore Press Holdings Limited
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Bangladeshi worker dies after falling into lift shaft
The following article was published by Channel News Asia on 13 May 2009.
Bangladeshi worker dies after falling into lift shaft
Channel NewsAsia
13 May 2009
SINGAPORE: A Bangladeshi worker in his mid-30s died on Tuesday evening after falling into a lift shaft.
The foreign worker was working on a lift upgrading project at Block 113 Clementi Street 13 when the accident happened.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force said they received a call at about 6.20pm about the incident, and when they arrived at the scene they found the worker stuck between the lift shaft wall and lift car.
Using a rope tied to the victim, officers managed to hoist the body up by using a pulley from the lift shaft.
The man was pronounced dead by paramedics at around 7pm. - CNA/de
(c) 2009 MediaCorp News Pte Ltd.
Bangladeshi worker dies after falling into lift shaft
Channel NewsAsia
13 May 2009
SINGAPORE: A Bangladeshi worker in his mid-30s died on Tuesday evening after falling into a lift shaft.
The foreign worker was working on a lift upgrading project at Block 113 Clementi Street 13 when the accident happened.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force said they received a call at about 6.20pm about the incident, and when they arrived at the scene they found the worker stuck between the lift shaft wall and lift car.
Using a rope tied to the victim, officers managed to hoist the body up by using a pulley from the lift shaft.
The man was pronounced dead by paramedics at around 7pm. - CNA/de
(c) 2009 MediaCorp News Pte Ltd.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Nepali sailors claim torture on high seas
This article was published in TODAY on 12 May 2009.
Nepali sailors claim torture on high seas
But S’pore labour contractor dismisses their claims
by Neo Chai Chin
TODAY
12 May 2009
Reproduced photo caption: Beverly Agency's premises at Kitchener Complex.
A SINGAPORE labour contractor has been named as the middleman in a saga of 36 Nepali workers who allege they were tortured on board a fishing vessel.
Nepali news site eKantipur.com reported that the workers paid about $4,000 each to agents in Nepal who promised them work on board ships. They were then flown to Singapore, where a company called Beverly Agency arranged for them to work on a fishing vessel. The workers claimed that they were beaten, denied food and made to haul 100kg loads of whale meat. Some workers managed to get off the ship and return to Nepal, the report said. Now they want the local agents to return their money.
One of the workers, Mr Samir Shrestha, told Today through a translator that he stayed on the fishing vessel for more than six months before mechanical problems caused him to be transferred to another ship, which docked in Durban, South Africa, from where he flew home.
Mr Shrestha, 27, said he arrived in Singapore on Oct 1 last year, and started work the next day. In one incident on board the ship, he had reported late to another section after coiling and storing ropes. For that, he was hit with a shovel before being pushed out to sea, he alleged. He was saved by an Indonesian colleague.
When told of the eKantipur.com report, Beverly Agency owner Lim Hang Tiong dismissed the claims. “Don’t believe all these things, no one ill-treated them,” he said.
He has been in business for 15 years, and usually contracts workers from the Philippines and Myanmar, who are employees of the ship owners. Last year was the first time he had contracted workers from Nepal - he has since steered clear after this “disappointing” experience, he said.
His explanation for their allegations of torture? Being from a land-locked country, the Nepalis were not used to life at sea and were seasick during the first few days. Some asked to leave the ship, and he duly paid for their air tickets home. Mr Lim added that his agency collects fees from ship owners, and not the workers.
According to a shipping industry veteran who declined to be named, stories of torture at sea are not new. It boils down to agents seeking a quick buck who recruit unsuitable workers, said the veteran who was a seaman for 12 years and now works for a shipping agency.
In his 30 years in the industry, he has never encountered Nepali seafarers. Conditions on board fishing vessels are also among the “worst you can have”, he said. “It’s like a sampan in a choppy sea.”
According to the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) - with 653 member unions representing 4.5 million workers worldwide - the fishing industry has “some of the worst examples of workplace abuse”. This is because of the prevalence of flag of convenience (FOC) ships, which fly the flag of a country other than the country of ownership. This allows owners to dodge taxes and hire non-unionised workers, opening the door to exploitation.
“The dominance of FOC vessels means that many fishing crews are exposed to physical abuse and callous treatment by employers, and lack the protection of the most basic contract of employment,” said the ITF on its website. “Crew have been cheated out of wages ... or abandoned in foreign ports if they complain.”
Beverly’s Mr Lim said the workers were employed by a Taiwanese fishing company. He declined to put Today in touch with the Taiwanese company.
Should Beverly be liable for the workers’ welfare? The shipping industry veteran said it was hard to say as everything hinges on the contracts between the ship owner and agent, as well as the agents and the workers.
According to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), Beverly Agency is not one of its licensed employment agencies. Any company which conducts recruitment or placement activities in Singapore needs to obtain an employment agency licence.
“Persons who operate employment agencies without a valid licence from MOM infringe the Employment Agency Act,” said a spokeswoman.
The penalty for such an offence is a fine of up to $5,000 for first-time offenders.
Nepali sailors claim torture on high seas
But S’pore labour contractor dismisses their claims
by Neo Chai Chin
TODAY
12 May 2009
Reproduced photo caption: Beverly Agency's premises at Kitchener Complex.A SINGAPORE labour contractor has been named as the middleman in a saga of 36 Nepali workers who allege they were tortured on board a fishing vessel.
Nepali news site eKantipur.com reported that the workers paid about $4,000 each to agents in Nepal who promised them work on board ships. They were then flown to Singapore, where a company called Beverly Agency arranged for them to work on a fishing vessel. The workers claimed that they were beaten, denied food and made to haul 100kg loads of whale meat. Some workers managed to get off the ship and return to Nepal, the report said. Now they want the local agents to return their money.
One of the workers, Mr Samir Shrestha, told Today through a translator that he stayed on the fishing vessel for more than six months before mechanical problems caused him to be transferred to another ship, which docked in Durban, South Africa, from where he flew home.
Mr Shrestha, 27, said he arrived in Singapore on Oct 1 last year, and started work the next day. In one incident on board the ship, he had reported late to another section after coiling and storing ropes. For that, he was hit with a shovel before being pushed out to sea, he alleged. He was saved by an Indonesian colleague.
When told of the eKantipur.com report, Beverly Agency owner Lim Hang Tiong dismissed the claims. “Don’t believe all these things, no one ill-treated them,” he said.
He has been in business for 15 years, and usually contracts workers from the Philippines and Myanmar, who are employees of the ship owners. Last year was the first time he had contracted workers from Nepal - he has since steered clear after this “disappointing” experience, he said.
His explanation for their allegations of torture? Being from a land-locked country, the Nepalis were not used to life at sea and were seasick during the first few days. Some asked to leave the ship, and he duly paid for their air tickets home. Mr Lim added that his agency collects fees from ship owners, and not the workers.
According to a shipping industry veteran who declined to be named, stories of torture at sea are not new. It boils down to agents seeking a quick buck who recruit unsuitable workers, said the veteran who was a seaman for 12 years and now works for a shipping agency.
In his 30 years in the industry, he has never encountered Nepali seafarers. Conditions on board fishing vessels are also among the “worst you can have”, he said. “It’s like a sampan in a choppy sea.”
According to the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) - with 653 member unions representing 4.5 million workers worldwide - the fishing industry has “some of the worst examples of workplace abuse”. This is because of the prevalence of flag of convenience (FOC) ships, which fly the flag of a country other than the country of ownership. This allows owners to dodge taxes and hire non-unionised workers, opening the door to exploitation.
“The dominance of FOC vessels means that many fishing crews are exposed to physical abuse and callous treatment by employers, and lack the protection of the most basic contract of employment,” said the ITF on its website. “Crew have been cheated out of wages ... or abandoned in foreign ports if they complain.”
Beverly’s Mr Lim said the workers were employed by a Taiwanese fishing company. He declined to put Today in touch with the Taiwanese company.
Should Beverly be liable for the workers’ welfare? The shipping industry veteran said it was hard to say as everything hinges on the contracts between the ship owner and agent, as well as the agents and the workers.
According to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), Beverly Agency is not one of its licensed employment agencies. Any company which conducts recruitment or placement activities in Singapore needs to obtain an employment agency licence.
“Persons who operate employment agencies without a valid licence from MOM infringe the Employment Agency Act,” said a spokeswoman.
The penalty for such an offence is a fine of up to $5,000 for first-time offenders.
Friday, May 8, 2009
BBC reporter on impact of global economic crisis on migrant workers in Singapore
The following excerpt was first published on the BBC website. It has three parts, and Part 1 is reproduced here. To read the full article and view the video clip, click here.
The BBC's Claire Bolderson travels to Singapore and Indonesia to look at the impact of the global economic crisis on peoples' lives.
Part One: Singapore
Reproduced photo caption:There are tens of thousands of migrant workers in Singapore
One day into my first trip to East Asia in eight years and I'm wondering, what does "recession" really mean?
Okay I've heard the strict economists' version a thousand times (two successive quarters of negative growth) but in practice it's much harder to define.
Take Singapore. On paper it looks terrible.
The economy's expected to contract by up to nine percent this year because of crashing exports.
But you wouldn't know it if you popped in to one of the numerous shopping malls here or stopped off at any of the thriving restaurants or bars.
Yes some will tell you business has dropped off a bit. And the vast numbers of ships laid up in the coastal waters are a sign of the big slow down in trade.
But Singapore feels almost as vibrant and just as confident as I remember it in the 1990s.
Belt-tightening
The government isn't saddled by debt so it can happily spend.
There's no sub-prime type crisis either because 85% of people live in government developed properties where sales are tightly contolled.
So a bit of belt tightening here and there, a bit of being careful, but Singapore's basically okay.
Except that is if you're an unskilled migrant worker.
There are tens of thousands of them here and just as they were amongst the first to feel the benefits of globalisation, so they're now the first to feel its reversal.
They're amongst the people I've been talking to for our live broadcast from Jakarta this month.
More details to come so watch this space.
The BBC's Claire Bolderson travels to Singapore and Indonesia to look at the impact of the global economic crisis on peoples' lives.
Part One: Singapore
Reproduced photo caption:There are tens of thousands of migrant workers in Singapore
One day into my first trip to East Asia in eight years and I'm wondering, what does "recession" really mean?
Okay I've heard the strict economists' version a thousand times (two successive quarters of negative growth) but in practice it's much harder to define.
Take Singapore. On paper it looks terrible.
The economy's expected to contract by up to nine percent this year because of crashing exports.
But you wouldn't know it if you popped in to one of the numerous shopping malls here or stopped off at any of the thriving restaurants or bars.
Yes some will tell you business has dropped off a bit. And the vast numbers of ships laid up in the coastal waters are a sign of the big slow down in trade.
But Singapore feels almost as vibrant and just as confident as I remember it in the 1990s.
Belt-tightening
The government isn't saddled by debt so it can happily spend.
There's no sub-prime type crisis either because 85% of people live in government developed properties where sales are tightly contolled.
So a bit of belt tightening here and there, a bit of being careful, but Singapore's basically okay.
Except that is if you're an unskilled migrant worker.
There are tens of thousands of them here and just as they were amongst the first to feel the benefits of globalisation, so they're now the first to feel its reversal.
They're amongst the people I've been talking to for our live broadcast from Jakarta this month.
More details to come so watch this space.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Stranded workers settle claims
The following article was published in the Straits Times on 7 May 2009.
Stranded workers settle claims
By Goh Yi Han
About 420 to return to China, while 66 opt to stay and find other jobs
MORE than 400 Chinese foreign workers left stranded by their errant
employers have accepted a settlement offered by their employers'
representatives.
Over the past two days, former employees of Hokh Contract Services and
Raffles Contractors with salary claims and fee payment issues have
been turning up at the Ministry of Manpower's (MOM's) offices in Kim
Seng Road, where they are informed of the terms of the settlement.
MOM said that 83 per cent, or about 420 workers, agreed to accept the
settlement and be repatriated to China, while 66 others chose to stay
in Singapore to find another job.
The Straits Times understands that most individuals have accepted a
lump sum of more than $1,000, as well as an air ticket back home to
China within the next week.
Workers who opt to stay to find new jobs will be interviewed by
companies liaising with MOM, and be paid a smaller sum in
compensation. Those not eventually hired will still be paid the
smaller sum.
The workers, whose work permits were abruptly cancelled last month,
have been trying to claim unpaid salaries and fees owed to them by
their employers. These are understood to amount to at least $5,700
each.
Last Monday, a large group of them gathered outside the MOM building
in Havelock Road seeking help and some answers from the ministry on
the issue, and dispersed only after the police were called in. Their
case is, in fact, just one of several that have surfaced since January
this year.
As the economic downturn persists, many foreign workers have been
seeking help from MOM and the authorities with regard to issues such
as non-payment of salaries and fees, or problems with accommodation.
An MOM task force, set up this year to detect employer malpractice and
cash-flow problems, has so far found at least 48 errant companies.
In order to better protect foreign workers' welfare, the National
Trades Union Congress and the Singapore National Employers Federation
jointly launched a Migrant Workers Centre last month to help workers
with employment-related issues, as well as promote good employment
practices.
As far as the workers involved in this latest incident are concerned,
the settlement closes a chapter on weeks of angst over their jobs and
salary.
However, many still harboured mixed feelings about the solution offered to them.
'I'm not totally satisfied with the arrangement, but I don't have a
choice. I don't have money to continue staying in Singapore much
longer to find another job anyway,' said 43-year-old Mr Zhu Shulin
from Zhejiang province in China, who came to Singapore about five
months ago.
He was hoping to get back the one month's pay his former employer
Raffles Contractors owed him, as well as his agent fees. The payout,
though, would not fully cover these, he said.
Another worker from China, who wished to be known only as Mr Jiang,
said he was disappointed that more could not be done.
'I paid almost $10,000 to come here, but I can get only a small
portion of it back now. If I tried to stay to find work, I might end
up getting even less than that,' he said. 'I think I'll just go home.'
MOM said that it was currently investigating Hokh Contract Services
and Raffles Contractors for failing to pay their workers.
If found guilty of not paying their employees' salaries, the people
behind the companies could be fined up to $5,000 and jailed for up to
six months for each foreign worker. Both firms have also been barred
from hiring new foreign workers.
The ministry urged foreign workers to report salary arrears promptly,
to allow for early intervention and quicker resolution of their
problems.
Help sought
Late March: MOM begins investigating Hokh Contract Services, Raffles Contractors and Neo-Built for errant practices.
April 13: MOM revokes work permits of all three companies' foreign workers.
April 23: Over 800 Chinese workers gather at agent's office to claim fees and unpaid salaries.
April 27: About 200 workers gather outside MOM seeking answers and help.
May 5-6: More than 400 workers with claims issues are offered settlements at the MOM office.
Stranded workers settle claims
By Goh Yi Han
About 420 to return to China, while 66 opt to stay and find other jobs
MORE than 400 Chinese foreign workers left stranded by their errant
employers have accepted a settlement offered by their employers'
representatives.
Over the past two days, former employees of Hokh Contract Services and
Raffles Contractors with salary claims and fee payment issues have
been turning up at the Ministry of Manpower's (MOM's) offices in Kim
Seng Road, where they are informed of the terms of the settlement.
MOM said that 83 per cent, or about 420 workers, agreed to accept the
settlement and be repatriated to China, while 66 others chose to stay
in Singapore to find another job.
The Straits Times understands that most individuals have accepted a
lump sum of more than $1,000, as well as an air ticket back home to
China within the next week.
Workers who opt to stay to find new jobs will be interviewed by
companies liaising with MOM, and be paid a smaller sum in
compensation. Those not eventually hired will still be paid the
smaller sum.
The workers, whose work permits were abruptly cancelled last month,
have been trying to claim unpaid salaries and fees owed to them by
their employers. These are understood to amount to at least $5,700
each.
Last Monday, a large group of them gathered outside the MOM building
in Havelock Road seeking help and some answers from the ministry on
the issue, and dispersed only after the police were called in. Their
case is, in fact, just one of several that have surfaced since January
this year.
As the economic downturn persists, many foreign workers have been
seeking help from MOM and the authorities with regard to issues such
as non-payment of salaries and fees, or problems with accommodation.
An MOM task force, set up this year to detect employer malpractice and
cash-flow problems, has so far found at least 48 errant companies.
In order to better protect foreign workers' welfare, the National
Trades Union Congress and the Singapore National Employers Federation
jointly launched a Migrant Workers Centre last month to help workers
with employment-related issues, as well as promote good employment
practices.
As far as the workers involved in this latest incident are concerned,
the settlement closes a chapter on weeks of angst over their jobs and
salary.
However, many still harboured mixed feelings about the solution offered to them.
'I'm not totally satisfied with the arrangement, but I don't have a
choice. I don't have money to continue staying in Singapore much
longer to find another job anyway,' said 43-year-old Mr Zhu Shulin
from Zhejiang province in China, who came to Singapore about five
months ago.
He was hoping to get back the one month's pay his former employer
Raffles Contractors owed him, as well as his agent fees. The payout,
though, would not fully cover these, he said.
Another worker from China, who wished to be known only as Mr Jiang,
said he was disappointed that more could not be done.
'I paid almost $10,000 to come here, but I can get only a small
portion of it back now. If I tried to stay to find work, I might end
up getting even less than that,' he said. 'I think I'll just go home.'
MOM said that it was currently investigating Hokh Contract Services
and Raffles Contractors for failing to pay their workers.
If found guilty of not paying their employees' salaries, the people
behind the companies could be fined up to $5,000 and jailed for up to
six months for each foreign worker. Both firms have also been barred
from hiring new foreign workers.
The ministry urged foreign workers to report salary arrears promptly,
to allow for early intervention and quicker resolution of their
problems.
Help sought
Late March: MOM begins investigating Hokh Contract Services, Raffles Contractors and Neo-Built for errant practices.
April 13: MOM revokes work permits of all three companies' foreign workers.
April 23: Over 800 Chinese workers gather at agent's office to claim fees and unpaid salaries.
April 27: About 200 workers gather outside MOM seeking answers and help.
May 5-6: More than 400 workers with claims issues are offered settlements at the MOM office.
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