The four recent reported instances of migrant workers who endangered their own lives, and in one case who was found dead, is an alarm that the authorities should heed and respond to accordingly... Many of them still live in crowded conditions, face prolonged uncertainty over employment and income, risk of infection, it would be inevitable that their mental health would suffer. Furthermore, current conditions also risk exacerbating pre-existing health issues, disability and disease among these workers... Think Centre reminds the government that Singapore is a signatory to the recent ASEAN Consensus on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers which obliges Singapore as a Receiving State to "protect the fundamental human rights, promote the welfare and uphold the human dignity of migrant workers through appropriate measures that ensure fair treatment towards migrant workers and prevent abuses, exploitation and violence towards them"...
Keep Reading →Ever wondered how much the uncles and aunties who clean after we eat at food courts and hawker centres earn? The construction workers who build our homes, bridges and roads? Do we think that amount they get accurately reflects the true value of their contribution to our society and economy? 50 years of single-minded focus on economic development has made it almost impossible for a large segment of workers to find decent work and provide for their families. Most Singaporeans work amongst the longest hours in the world. Wages remain depressed and stagnant for many while companies continue to increase their profits. The only way for real productivity to increase is to strengthen and build the resilience of workers through real strategic investments in their skills and capability and not just as an afterthought. For the longest time, the benefit of a company’s increased profits has gone to shareholders and directors, who even with rising operational cost would rather pass the burden to the consumers and workers than deduct their own salaries, bonuses of directors and top management. We have enabled firms to make careless use of this cheap labour. To protect the workers adequately, we urge the government to harmonise the Labour Laws with International Labour Standards as reflected in the 1998 ILO Declaration which spells out the fundamental principles and rights at work. This is a similar call to many of the countries that made recommendations to our government at the recent Universal Periodic Review conducted by the United Nations in Geneva. Think Centre urges the Government to amend or remove outdated policies to protect the rights of all workers and their families.
Keep Reading →Singapore: Jobs are increasingly available but ironically many of the positions are in search for more foreigners to fill rather than Singaporeans.
Keep Reading →Half the 1.99 million working Singaporeans and permanent residents earn less than $2600. And the majority of workers who found new jobs this year were hired on contracts for less than three months.
Keep Reading →Pregnant worker terminated by MNC with no maternity benefits payout. Employment Act still unable to protect pregnant women workers adequately.
Keep Reading →Older unemployed workers in Singapore continue to face discriminatory hiring practices with less than adequate protection under current labour laws.
Keep Reading →Some 8,100 workers were either laid off in the fourth quarter of last year or facing retrenchments over the next few months.
Keep Reading →Civil Society Organisations and Trade Unions Join Forces for the first time to Table Recommendations on the Protection of the Rights of Migrant Workers to the Ministry of Manpower
Keep Reading →The Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (HOME) is calling for the Ministry of Manpower to include domestic workers under the Employment Act and to implement major reforms to protect the rights of migrant workers in Singapore.
Keep Reading →Under an amendment to the Trade Unions Act adopted on April 20, 2004, union members no longer have the power to accept or reject collective agreements negotiated between their union representatives and the employer.
Keep Reading →FOR sweeping and mopping two storeys of a Raffles Place building four hours a day, 51-year-old Michael Chan pockets $380 a month —about half of his monthly expenses like food and transport.
Keep Reading →ASEAN is forging ahead with the elaboration of an instrument for the protection and promotion of the rights of Migrant Workers. ASEAN needs to move forward with the harmonization of labour legislation in-line with regional integration.
Keep Reading →The rising number of pregnant employees seeking redress through MOM for unfair dismissal, with 90 per cent of claims substantiated, is evidence of discriminatory and unfair practices.
Keep Reading →Task Force on ASEAN Migrant Workers, FORUM-ASIA, and Migrant Forum in Asia jointly submitted a written statement to ASEAN member states to appeal for the ratification and implementation of the UN Treaties and ILO Conventions.
Keep Reading →The Vientiane Action Programme (VAP), under the goal of promoting human rights, includes a programme area dedicated to the "elaboration of an instrument for the protection and promotion of the rights of migrant workers". The commitment of ASEAN member States to such an instrument was recently re-affirmed at Cebu with the ASEAN Declaration on the protection and promotion of the rights of Migrant Workers.
Keep Reading →Wan Soon Construction was convicted and fine for non-payment of salary. The company faced 283 charges for failing to pay salaries to Indian migrant workers in 2004. In 2002, More then 200 Indian migrant workers protest against the non-payment.
Keep Reading →PREGNANT women who are unfairly sacked even before their sixth month of pregnancy — after which it becomes illegal for an employer to do so — can seek recourse from the Ministry of Manpower (MOM).
Keep Reading →While the employment contract stipulates the minimum one day off entitlement for the maid in a month, if the day off is not taken, the employer would have to compensate the maid in cash.
Keep Reading →The economic vulnerability of the migrants exposes them to social problems which form the crux of "Mobile." About 150,000 women work as maids in Singapore, most of them from impoverished villages in the Philippines, Indonesia and Sri Lanka.
Keep Reading →By excluding maids from its Employment Act, Singapore's labour laws fails to comply with international law.
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