Diu the Papaya running dog traitors!
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Dec 28, 2008
30 years on and still there are complaints of...
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>No wages, no work, poor living conditions
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Advocacy groups fear foreign worker abuse may get worse, call for stiffer action </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Nur Dianah Suhaimi
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->It has been more than 30 years since Singapore first opened its doors to foreign unskilled workers.
Sadly, despite the generally good record of employers over the decades, there are cases of exploitation and abuse of foreign workers.
Just two weeks ago, 180 Bangladeshi workers found themselves in the lurch. Their employer, Tipper Corporation, later found out that their wages had not been paid by the sub-contractors.
With the recession likely to worsen, and more companies getting into the red or even keeling over, migrant worker advocacy groups fear that the abuse may get worse.
The most common complaints - non-payment of wages and poor living conditions - may spike.
Ms Braema Mathi, founder and former president of one such advocacy group, Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2), said: 'This problem has been with us for so many years. Whenever things go wrong, we keep making the workers pay the price because they are weak and powerless.
'We want workers to come here to build our HDB flats, roads, the IRs and look after our kids. But we are not putting in enough time and money to investigate the malpractices against them.'
How easy is it for workers to be exploited? Where are the loopholes in the system?
Social workers said in Singapore, welfare provisions and minimum standards of employment are quite comprehensive. But enforcing these laws may be a tougher nut to crack.
For example, it is difficult for workers to prove non-payment of salary in the Labour Court: They are often unable to produce documentary proof such as job contracts, salary vouchers or time cards.
Said Dr Noorashikin Abdul Rahman, TWC2's chairman of direct services: 'Our experience tells us that employers do not always furnish these documentary proofs in their human resources operations. Workers often do not have access to these documents as these are not given to them by employers.'
Aggrieved workers also find it hard to pursue claims as they often do not know who their main employers are. It is common for employers to get their workers from sub-contractors.
The workers know only 'the person who picks them up from the airport and manages their day-to-day welfare and payment of wages', DrNoorashikin said.
As may have happened to the 180 Bangladeshis, sub-contractors might wash their hands off them in bad times.
It is also believed that some employers, instead of directly hiring foreign workers themselves, use middlemen, and receive kickbacks, despite the authorities making kickbacks illegal since July.
One result of this illegal practice is oversupply as employers, seduced by the kickbacks, take on excess workers.
Said Mr Jolovan Wham, executive director of the Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (Home): 'It is difficult to prove money changed hands because there are no receipts or invoices for such illegal transactions.'
Employers found guilty can be fined up to $5,000, given six months' jail, or both, and barred from hiring foreign workers.
Observers also believe a major problem for foreign workers' woes starts at the source: the agents, who profit through high fees.
Agents' fees range from $8,000 to $10,000, depending on where the workers are from and how desperate they are to get jobs. The agents may even feed them false promises of high salaries here.
To raise the money, many would-be workers, mostly peasants, sell their land and borrow from illegal moneylenders - in the belief that they can pay off their debts within months of working here.
Many get a rude shock here. Those with jobs may have a long way to go to repay their debts; others with no jobs or who work illegally are eventually repatriated, with their debts mostly unpaid.
Said Mr Mohd Monir Hossain Abdul Jabbar, 34, a Bangladeshi worker here: 'Back home, we always hear of men who are sent home from Singapore without any money and later beaten to death by moneylenders. But we always think this will not happen to us.'
Social workers point to Singapore's work permit system, which holds foreign workers hostage to employers' whims, as a factor.
The workers are often too scared to complain to the authorities for fear of being sent home.
Ms Mathi said the work permit system makes it possible for dishonest employers to send their workers home without paying their wages.
'Some get security agencies to escort their workers to the airport to ensure that they board the plane. Why do the companies need to do that unless they have unfulfilled contracts?' she asked.
She urged the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) to conduct exit interviews or record their statements at the airport, before the workers return to their home countries.
'This is not foolproof but at least we would have done our part,' she said.
In October, Acting Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong told Parliament MOM was working with employment agents to see how the system here can be improved further.
He said his ministry has taken measures to ensure employers who hire foreign workers have work for them and pay them on time. For example, companies must show documentary proof of ongoing projects before getting work permits.
In the first nine months of this year, MOM fined nine employers for non-payment of salaries. Two of the cases involved foreign workers.
Workers who have not been paid their salaries or have other employment issues can lodge a complaint with MOM. 'Their complaints will be thoroughly investigated,' said a ministry spokesman.
But the overwhelming number of complaints here seem to suggest that many cases go unresolved.
The Bangladesh High Commission received more than 1,000 complaints in the first nine months of this year. Since September, TWC2 has registered about 200 complaints of non-payment of salaries from foreign workers.
Advocacy group Home has been getting salary-related complaints from foreign workers on an almost daily basis since July.
Social workers hope to see a re-look at the structural issues, including the tendering system for projects, marine and construction sector sub-contracting, and the interim permit approval process.
Dr Noorashikin said resorting to stiffer laws and penalties will just be inadequate stop-gap measures.
She urged MOM to work closely with the workers' home countries to weed out rogue middlemen and recruiters.
Ms Mathi agreed, adding: 'To what extent has recruiting foreign workers been improved in the decades that Singapore has been dealing with them? It is high time we make this a responsible business.'
[email protected] <!-- end of for each --><!-- Current Ratings : start --><!-- Current Ratings : end --><!-- vbbintegration : start --><!-- vbbintegration : end --><!-- dennis change request 20070424 : start --><!---Google ad - Start : Sun, 28 Dec 2008 04:27:36:936---><!-- AdSpace STI Google ad tag --><SCRIPT language=JavaScript1.1 src="http://ads.asia1.com.sg/js.ng/site=tsti&pagepos=20&size=10X10"> </SCRIPT>
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Dec 28, 2008
30 years on and still there are complaints of...
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>No wages, no work, poor living conditions
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Advocacy groups fear foreign worker abuse may get worse, call for stiffer action </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Nur Dianah Suhaimi
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->It has been more than 30 years since Singapore first opened its doors to foreign unskilled workers.
Sadly, despite the generally good record of employers over the decades, there are cases of exploitation and abuse of foreign workers.
Just two weeks ago, 180 Bangladeshi workers found themselves in the lurch. Their employer, Tipper Corporation, later found out that their wages had not been paid by the sub-contractors.
With the recession likely to worsen, and more companies getting into the red or even keeling over, migrant worker advocacy groups fear that the abuse may get worse.
The most common complaints - non-payment of wages and poor living conditions - may spike.
Ms Braema Mathi, founder and former president of one such advocacy group, Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2), said: 'This problem has been with us for so many years. Whenever things go wrong, we keep making the workers pay the price because they are weak and powerless.
'We want workers to come here to build our HDB flats, roads, the IRs and look after our kids. But we are not putting in enough time and money to investigate the malpractices against them.'
How easy is it for workers to be exploited? Where are the loopholes in the system?
Social workers said in Singapore, welfare provisions and minimum standards of employment are quite comprehensive. But enforcing these laws may be a tougher nut to crack.
For example, it is difficult for workers to prove non-payment of salary in the Labour Court: They are often unable to produce documentary proof such as job contracts, salary vouchers or time cards.
Said Dr Noorashikin Abdul Rahman, TWC2's chairman of direct services: 'Our experience tells us that employers do not always furnish these documentary proofs in their human resources operations. Workers often do not have access to these documents as these are not given to them by employers.'
Aggrieved workers also find it hard to pursue claims as they often do not know who their main employers are. It is common for employers to get their workers from sub-contractors.
The workers know only 'the person who picks them up from the airport and manages their day-to-day welfare and payment of wages', DrNoorashikin said.
As may have happened to the 180 Bangladeshis, sub-contractors might wash their hands off them in bad times.
It is also believed that some employers, instead of directly hiring foreign workers themselves, use middlemen, and receive kickbacks, despite the authorities making kickbacks illegal since July.
One result of this illegal practice is oversupply as employers, seduced by the kickbacks, take on excess workers.
Said Mr Jolovan Wham, executive director of the Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (Home): 'It is difficult to prove money changed hands because there are no receipts or invoices for such illegal transactions.'
Employers found guilty can be fined up to $5,000, given six months' jail, or both, and barred from hiring foreign workers.
Observers also believe a major problem for foreign workers' woes starts at the source: the agents, who profit through high fees.
Agents' fees range from $8,000 to $10,000, depending on where the workers are from and how desperate they are to get jobs. The agents may even feed them false promises of high salaries here.
To raise the money, many would-be workers, mostly peasants, sell their land and borrow from illegal moneylenders - in the belief that they can pay off their debts within months of working here.
Many get a rude shock here. Those with jobs may have a long way to go to repay their debts; others with no jobs or who work illegally are eventually repatriated, with their debts mostly unpaid.
Said Mr Mohd Monir Hossain Abdul Jabbar, 34, a Bangladeshi worker here: 'Back home, we always hear of men who are sent home from Singapore without any money and later beaten to death by moneylenders. But we always think this will not happen to us.'
Social workers point to Singapore's work permit system, which holds foreign workers hostage to employers' whims, as a factor.
The workers are often too scared to complain to the authorities for fear of being sent home.
Ms Mathi said the work permit system makes it possible for dishonest employers to send their workers home without paying their wages.
'Some get security agencies to escort their workers to the airport to ensure that they board the plane. Why do the companies need to do that unless they have unfulfilled contracts?' she asked.
She urged the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) to conduct exit interviews or record their statements at the airport, before the workers return to their home countries.
'This is not foolproof but at least we would have done our part,' she said.
In October, Acting Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong told Parliament MOM was working with employment agents to see how the system here can be improved further.
He said his ministry has taken measures to ensure employers who hire foreign workers have work for them and pay them on time. For example, companies must show documentary proof of ongoing projects before getting work permits.
In the first nine months of this year, MOM fined nine employers for non-payment of salaries. Two of the cases involved foreign workers.
Workers who have not been paid their salaries or have other employment issues can lodge a complaint with MOM. 'Their complaints will be thoroughly investigated,' said a ministry spokesman.
But the overwhelming number of complaints here seem to suggest that many cases go unresolved.
The Bangladesh High Commission received more than 1,000 complaints in the first nine months of this year. Since September, TWC2 has registered about 200 complaints of non-payment of salaries from foreign workers.
Advocacy group Home has been getting salary-related complaints from foreign workers on an almost daily basis since July.
Social workers hope to see a re-look at the structural issues, including the tendering system for projects, marine and construction sector sub-contracting, and the interim permit approval process.
Dr Noorashikin said resorting to stiffer laws and penalties will just be inadequate stop-gap measures.
She urged MOM to work closely with the workers' home countries to weed out rogue middlemen and recruiters.
Ms Mathi agreed, adding: 'To what extent has recruiting foreign workers been improved in the decades that Singapore has been dealing with them? It is high time we make this a responsible business.'
[email protected] <!-- end of for each --><!-- Current Ratings : start --><!-- Current Ratings : end --><!-- vbbintegration : start --><!-- vbbintegration : end --><!-- dennis change request 20070424 : start --><!---Google ad - Start : Sun, 28 Dec 2008 04:27:36:936---><!-- AdSpace STI Google ad tag --><SCRIPT language=JavaScript1.1 src="http://ads.asia1.com.sg/js.ng/site=tsti&pagepos=20&size=10X10"> </SCRIPT>
