To defend the rights of these workers will BENEFIT locals in the end. In many cases, even up to the level of mid-level managers, the only reason employers take foreigners over locals is cost, and no avenue to voice grievances. Once this is gone, there is no more reason to hire a foreigner over a local.

The beds are so close together. If there is afire at night…the smoke and total darkness and the narrow space create a certain death trap for these 400 wokers.

If one would look at the fire exits, I am pretty sure they are either block by chairs, tables and boxes or there are only narrow space between the beds and the fire exits.

Just imagine, if there is a fire and 100 of them are dead.

I am sure other domitories in Singapore could be worse.

Who will want to carry bricks for less than $20 a day for ten hours here? The govt clearly has allowed such modern day slavery in materialistic Singapore so that companies can build our skyscrapers at a low cost to maximise profits. They then make billions out of either reting or selling them out to others. Our govt also can grow it’s GDP.

Developed countries like Australia, US and Britian won;t allow such slavery to take place let alone legalising it. It may happen there though but illegally.

I only hope that we won’t reap what we have sown.

I am happy to read today ST that Tipper and others will be brought to court for ill-treating their foreign workers.

MOM has screwed up big time these few years in the FW issue and unless Mr Gan (Acting Mapower minister) does something radical, the paradox box of worms may be opened for all to see.

These foreign workers are responsible for wage depression in Singapore. You raise the working conditions and salary standards for these foreign workers, you also alleviate the wage depression situation in Singapore too. This is because these foreign workers compete with Singaporeans in the same local labour market. It is a win-win situation for Singaporeans and foreigners.

i wonder why.

Keep up the good work and pressure on the necessary ministries t ensure no one is left behind.

If no one helps the poor migrant, no one will help the fallen Singaporeans when it is our turn.

Thank you TOC.

Once MOM classified my quarrel with SICC, the greatest country club in our island Paradise as a dispute and I was given a blue slip. Then SICC very pai seh and malu to go to the Labour Court and used all its contacts to try to get me to accept a sum of money that is only slilighty more than its liability and which is my claim. I am not that stupid or idiotic and I said to the MOM officer during a four eyes meeting that let SICC pay me Sing 5000 and everything is forgotten and we good friends again. The MOM officer said Sing 500 but I will have to refer to SICC for confirmation.

At the end of it I went to the toilet and the head of MOM was beside me and he too was taking a good pee. During our pee he made his pitch and urged me to go for a out of court settlement. What a great pee coincidence and two men making a ritual and one party making a pitch and I believe on behalf of his master.

I no stupid. I was more determined than ever. Fight to the end. The bigger they are the harder they fall. This was not lost to me and it is uppermost in my mind.

Go Go Go to court. Die Die in court. Fight to the end. Hohapata you can die, but once, and you can die with a smile on your face.

I won my case in court.

SICC very malu. Even manipulated the press.

You see toc buddies I called all the papers, tv and even foreign news agencies to come to my court session and especially the last one when the labour judge gives the verdict and is who is the winner and who is the loser. They came. All the big names from the press fraternity. Then what happen? The ones that came were told not to publish. Then they call one Malay reporter from the Straits Times to contact me and this is the paper that did not send any reporter to cover this court case. I no stupid again as I anticipate that the people who do the manipulation know that I speak Malay like a Malay from Kedah and so they call this Melayu to interview me by phone.

I told him the truth. On the next day my story had eight paragraphs in the Sunday Times, albeit in a very low key fashion. That is the manipulation, to be sure of low key reporting. I should know about this as I used to report for The Star and Bernama.

It has taken me a long time to come to the ‘point’ but I swear I am not trying to sidetrack you. MOM is forever on the side of the employer. My case happened 12 years ago and it has not changed. Instead, they have deteriorated.

So, the case of the poor Bangladesh workers shows that it will persist and will go on and on. And now the MOM officers are dead scared of their lives and so they have fictitious names and I bet they live very quiet lives. Hiding. Come on there is nowhere to hide because you will be spotted and that will happen, sooner or later. I bet they might get bashed up and whose fault is it?

I feel that no matter how good info this blog provides, it cannot and will not be able to attract those not concerned about the policies they live under.

these are commonly known as the Apathetics and they are the majority , in my humble opinion based on the number of views / reads / comments found in this blog. 4.5 million vs a few k.

If we want to be a first world country as claimed by our Ministers, we should institute a minimum wage. Countries like the US, UK, AUstralia, Sweden etc — all first world countries we benchmark ourselves to — have minimum wages. They dont treat their own citizens like this and certainly do not bring in workers from third world countries under such terms and conditions.

SO much for being first world. First world joke, maybe. First world salaries for ministers, MPs, Army, civil servants etc, YES

i really think that foreign workers should have better treatment than their current state is.

if employers are treating foreign workers like dirt, what’s stopping the same employers from treating Singaporeans in the same manner? It is the perverse incentive to treat any human in such manner that we must fight against to safeguard employees from blatant abuse, foreign or local.

You asked: “Andrew and all at TOC, with all due respect, just what will ALL these noises do to the plight of the workers sent home poor and hungry?”

We can only do what we can and do it to the best of our ability.

The fact that it happens elsewhere does not mean that we be fatalistic about it when it happens here as well.

Andrew Loh

I would love to contact domestic maids who are in similar situations. Please email me if you know of any – theonlinecitizen@gmail.com .

Thanks.

Andrew