<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Foreign workers get help from Shell
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Melissa Sim
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->ANOTHER big corporate name in Singapore has come forward to help foreign workers.
Shell, together with 24 contractors, yesterday donated $287,000 to two non-profit organisations that assist foreign workers here. This comes on the back of NTUC FairPrice Foundation's $300,000 donation last week to another group that provides packed lunches to more than 100 migrant workers.
These companies and organisations recognise the contribution of foreign workers and are looking out for their welfare during the economic slowdown.
Oil giant Shell made the donation to mark the achievement of a safety milestone - about nine months of construction on the Shell Eastern Petrochemicals Complex project, without any injuries that may have caused workers to stop work.
Mr Simon Lam, venture director for the project, said safety milestones are usually marked by rewarding the staff, but after consultation, the management decided to give the money to charity instead.
One beneficiary is the Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (Home), which aids abused and neglected foreign workers. It was chosen because it has 'become almost synonymous with migrants workers welfare in Singapore', said Mr Lam.
The other beneficiary is Lighthouse Club (LHC) Singapore, a construction industry charity which helps local and foreign workers and their families. In particular the victims of workplace accidents.
Drawing the link between welfare and safety, Mr Lam said: 'We strongly believe that by looking after workers' welfare, they stay healthy, happy and motivated to work safely.'
A spokesman from contractor Plant Engineering Construction, which donated $10,000, added that while companies care for their workers individually, it is 'good to have a combined effort to make sure they are taken care of'.
Both beneficiaries said the money will be put to good use. Ms Bridget Lew, president of Home, called the $100,000 donation 'timely and generous', adding that the money comes at a point when the group is 'extremely stretched'.
For LHC, the $187,000 contribution is the largest donation it has ever received. Its president, Ms Punitha Govindasamy, said all the money will go to welfare support for families or hardship cases, where the workers need cash to supplement their income. Ms Punitha said she had expected donations to fall this year, but so far that has not happened. 'It's very heartwarming to see companies still giving back to society,' she said.
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Melissa Sim
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->ANOTHER big corporate name in Singapore has come forward to help foreign workers.
Shell, together with 24 contractors, yesterday donated $287,000 to two non-profit organisations that assist foreign workers here. This comes on the back of NTUC FairPrice Foundation's $300,000 donation last week to another group that provides packed lunches to more than 100 migrant workers.
These companies and organisations recognise the contribution of foreign workers and are looking out for their welfare during the economic slowdown.
Oil giant Shell made the donation to mark the achievement of a safety milestone - about nine months of construction on the Shell Eastern Petrochemicals Complex project, without any injuries that may have caused workers to stop work.
Mr Simon Lam, venture director for the project, said safety milestones are usually marked by rewarding the staff, but after consultation, the management decided to give the money to charity instead.
One beneficiary is the Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (Home), which aids abused and neglected foreign workers. It was chosen because it has 'become almost synonymous with migrants workers welfare in Singapore', said Mr Lam.
The other beneficiary is Lighthouse Club (LHC) Singapore, a construction industry charity which helps local and foreign workers and their families. In particular the victims of workplace accidents.
Drawing the link between welfare and safety, Mr Lam said: 'We strongly believe that by looking after workers' welfare, they stay healthy, happy and motivated to work safely.'
A spokesman from contractor Plant Engineering Construction, which donated $10,000, added that while companies care for their workers individually, it is 'good to have a combined effort to make sure they are taken care of'.
Both beneficiaries said the money will be put to good use. Ms Bridget Lew, president of Home, called the $100,000 donation 'timely and generous', adding that the money comes at a point when the group is 'extremely stretched'.
For LHC, the $187,000 contribution is the largest donation it has ever received. Its president, Ms Punitha Govindasamy, said all the money will go to welfare support for families or hardship cases, where the workers need cash to supplement their income. Ms Punitha said she had expected donations to fall this year, but so far that has not happened. 'It's very heartwarming to see companies still giving back to society,' she said.
