N e w s l e t t e rVolume 6, Issue 2 March-April 2011

Editorial

This newsletter is being sent out just after nomination day in Singapore’s mosthotly-contested election in the recent past.

TWC2 as a society does not take a stand for or against participating parties; it isfor members and supporters to make up their own minds.

The issue of ‘foreigners’ who come to work in Singapore will figure in the electioncampaign. It features in all the party manifestos, mainly in connection with thoseemployed in highly paid posts.

This should be discussed, but as a society that works for the rights and well-beingof migrant workers, TWC2 hopes that all parties and candidates will deal with theissue reasonably and without resorting to inflammatory language or images.

When the election is over, perhaps there can be a constructive dialogue on the roleand rights of migrant workers in which migrant workers themselves will also begiven a voice.

Letter from Russell

Dear friends,

At the 20th March AGM, I replaced John Gee as President. John stepped downbecause the TWC2 Constitution stipulates that he has to after holding office for twoconsecutive terms. In this, my inaugural piece for the newsletter, readers may beexpecting the customary words of thanks to those who have supported mycandidacy and possibly a rousing statement of sorts setting down shimmering newgoals for the association. There will be none.

Remember me as the reluctant President, enjoined by TWC2 colleagues to bearan office that everybody, including myself, does not really covet. How was I finally

persuaded to take up the onerous task? Well, I have been around a long time -since the early months of the association’s founding - and know quite a lot aboutthe organization’s workings, having done stints as Secretary, Treasurer and Vice-President. At 60, I am retired and can afford the time that most other Excomembers cannot.

Above all, giving in to the cajoling to be President is my appreciation that somecore TWC2 activities should continue because they make life for many foreignworkers less awful. Everyday TWC2’s Cuff Road Food Programme feeds morethan 200 hungry workers. They will go hungry if we do not continue this. At anyone time, a TWC2 social worker and a handful of volunteers doggedly helpworkers to get a fair resolution to their problems. I call this frontline work andhaving tried my hand at it, know it takes courage and perseverance that I do nothave. What I can do is to keep the organization running so that my wonderfulcolleagues can continue doing what they need to do. At the core of this painstakingwork is the information gathered for the all-important advocacy work that enablesTWC2 to speak truth to tardy official policies and inept implementation.

Thus you can also call me the administrative President, making sure things runfrom one month to the next so that the important frontline work can be done. Mymost pressing task ahead is to raise funds to take the organization into 2012. Ihope to roll out some fund-raising ideas in the months ahead. For a start there is aneed to find $12,000 between now and September this year, when the rental leasefor our office is up for renewal. If I do not have that amount, TWC2 will be without aroof over its head.

I have always been curious to know if a newsletter such as this is read at all. Andhow much of a response can I hope to get after a call goes out for help? So dearmembers and supporters, if you have read this and want to help in any way withthe urgent business of fundraising, please get in touch with me atpresident@exco.twc2.org.sg. Here, then, is hoping I can persuade you toovercome your reluctance.

Russell Heng Hiang KhngPresident

Letter From John

I’ve been writing a letter in each issue of the newsletter for the past few years inmy role as President of TWC2. At our AGM in March, I stepped down from that roleand Russell Heng was elected as TWC2’s new president. I’m sure he’ll make agood job of it.

So, with this issue, I’ll hand over the ‘Message from…’ column to him. I’ll still bearound as a member of the new TWC2 committee, with the title of ‘Immediate PastPresident’. I hope to give more of my time to the Research Sub-Committee in thenext couple of years.

TWC2 is the work of many hands. That’s how it should be. I want to express myappreciation for the commitment shown by people who joined TWC2, whovolunteered with it and otherwise contributed to its work. I found that veryheartening.

So please, renew your membership if it is due, and support TWC2’s activities inwhatever way you can. And thank you.

John

Activities

AGM

Held on 20th March, this year’s AGM started late because of a low attendance,which also prevented a constitutional change going through. Otherwise, it did allthat it needed to do: reports on last year’s work were delivered, our financialposition was reviewed and some proposals for activities in the coming year wereadopted, subject to the society being able to raise the money needed.

A new Executive Committee was elected. The line up is:President: Russell Heng; Vice President: Noorashikin Abdul Rahman; Secretary:Yew Kong Leong; Treasurer: Alex Au; Ordinary members: Eng Eng Wang, ShelleyThio, Debbie Fordyce, John Gee, Roderick Chia.

TWC2 Speaks

John Gee and Debbie Fordyce spoke to students at the Singapore site of theUniversity of Newcastle/Australia on 21st February. Debbie illustrated the workhazards migrant construction workers can face and the problems that can follow

when they need extended medical care. A panel that included Alex Au, StephanieChok and Shelley Thio, as well as Melanie from HOME, spoke to a group of over30 visiting students from Liverpool University on 12th April. TWC2 speakers havetaken part in the programme of talks at The Pigeonhole café twice in the past twomonths, as well as at several other venues.

Domestic Workers’ Convention

On April 23rd-25th, a regional meeting to prepare for the International LabourConference in June was held in Singapore. Around 70 people from 12 countriesand territories took part; 37 organisations were represented. TWC2 was one of theSingapore participants.

Day Off Website

The joint Unifem-Singapore, HOME, TWC2 Day Off website could do withupdating, but slowly continues to attract signatories. At the time of writing, ithas 2,569. If you’d like to show support for its aims and have not signed upso far, you can do so at www.dayoff.sg/ Maybe you could persuade friendsto sign up too?

Days Off for Domestic Workers

A Day Out From the Shelter

On Friday, 22 April 2010 I organised a picnic for the girls from Keramat shelter, adormitory for foreign workers who have problems with their working conditions, suchabuse by an employer, not being given their salary, jumping down from theemployer’s house, working at a spa or market and many more.

First, I knew them by phone through Shelly. She needed someone to do translation,because some of them did not speak English. I just put myself onto this. For a fewweeks we kept in touch by ‘phone. Some of them were really stressed out facing theirproblems and with it taking a long time to finish their cases. One of them kept oncalling or sms-ing me saying she can’t take it anymore, staying in the shelter anddoing nothing, with no income.

In this state, they really miss their families back home. As I’ve been doing hotlinecounselling for quite some time and listen to a lot of different stories from differentgirls, I try to calm them down and give them advice, support and care. This is a bigthing for them, they really need all of that.I can’t do much for them. It’s only care, being a good listener and giving love: that’sall I can do. I pray for them to be finished with their cases as quickly as possible.

One day, I suggested to Shelly taking the girls out for picnic. This was just a lastminute suggestion, because I was thinking that week that it’s going to be a longweekend for me, so I decided to take the girls out and spend time with them.

In my mind, meeting them for the first time was really exciting, after some time onlytalking on the phone. I hoped to make less worrying and stress for them.

The picnic was not arranged well ahead, but thanks to ANNA who has been helpingme to prepare the food and the games. And yes, finally we met each other; this is theday I have been waiting for, going to have fun with them.

The day ran smoothly with some activities, such as games. We laughed together aswe shared together. It was such wonderful day for all of us playing under the sun.

And we really enjoyed the day. Thanks to all of my friends from the IndonesianFamily Network ladies and to Kak Noor and the other ladies who came down andsupported the picnic.

It’s really nice to see the smiles and laughs that we shared with the ladies fromKeramat shelter.

Ummai(Ummai is an Indonesian domestic worker who volunteers with TWC2’s Help Deskduring her time off)

Day Off a ‘Perk’?

Dear STForum,The feature by Radha Basu and Nuria Ling in Saturday's issue on the

reasons why fewer Indonesians are choosing to come to Singapore as domesticworkers ('Behind the Crunch', 26th March 2011) was well researched andthorough. I just wish that the table accompanying the feature hadn't referred to'Indonesian Worker Pay and Perks', apparently treating a day off as a 'perk'. Isthere any other job in which having a regular day off would be considered a perkrather than a right?

Yours sincerely,

John Gee (Immediate Past President, Transient Workers Count Too)

(Sent to ‘Straits Times’ on 28th March; published on ST’s Online Forum on March30th)

The Cuff Road Project-Three Years On

(This is the text of a speech given by Debbie Fordyce, Co-ordinator of The CuffRoad Project, on accepting the American Women’s Association-Singapore’sInternational Woman of the Year award on 4 March 2011)

Thanks to AWA for organizing this event. I’m honoured and grateful to receive thisaward.

I’d like to recognize those that make the Cuff Road Project possible: TWC2 staffand board for their support, volunteers for their dedication and enthusiasm, ourdonors, and Michael from One Singapore who inspired and encouraged me to startthis program, and Mohsin, the journalist who publishes a regular paper in Bengalifor the Bangladeshi workers* and who has helped me to understand their situation.

I‘ll tell you how this program got started: In March 2008 a few friends met atmidnight on Cuff Road because we were curious about why the men were sleepingon the street. We found about 50-60 Indian men sleeping on the five foot way andasked how they came to wind up there. Their answers weren’t clear, but werealized that they had come to work and now were without work, some injured, andthey weren’t able to return home. I asked if they’d come to free breakfasts and theyreadily agreed. After a few days of asking restaurants to provide the breakfasts, weasked at Sutha’s and they readily agreed. The first day we had 50 men. I askedthem to invite others in similar situations to come, and for the first few months ournumbers were steady at 80-90 every morning. I funded the project for about amonth until it was running smoothly enough that we were able to ask donors tocontribute.

After about six months we reached out to the Bangladeshi men closer to Mustafa’sand began serving dinner in a Bangladeshi restaurant.

The Cuff Road Project serves about 2000 meals every week to 500-600individuals. We also provide assistance with their legal and medical cases whenwe can and when we’re asked. All the men we serve are awaiting resolution to amedical or legal problem, a complaint against their company. None of them arehoused by their employers and because of their situation, none of them allowed towork.

I had a comfortable upbringing in Missouri - salary commensurate to value tosociety, people earned what they deserved and poor people had less because theydidn’t work hard enough - I don’t believe this any more.

Let me talk about a few of the men I’ve met through the program, men who aretypical of the men who we see every day at TCRP.

Boominathan had his leg crushed by a forklift and underwent multiple operationsincluding bone grafts, muscle grafts, and skin grafts. He was sent back to thecompany housing after discharge from the hospital, expected to come to the officeand do light duty, when he couldn’t walk or care for himself. Possibly because thecompany wanted to preserve its safety record by not reporting the accident.Several months later he left the care of the company afraid he’d be repatriatedwithout compensation. He supported himself in Little India and went home twoyears after the accident with $27,000 in compensation. He can walk well enoughbut has lost strength in that leg.

Another man, Delwar, called his wife and daughter every day to talk and tell themhe was fine, including the day that his knees were crushed by a lorry that backedinto him. He finally had to admit to the problem when news trickled back to hisfamily, but never told them how serious it was to spare them the worry.

Dipak came to work at a Marine company. The first month he and his co-workersreceived $100 for training allowance, but no salary. The second month, theyreceived basic salary of $400 and had deductions for food, uniforms, equipmentand Dipak had a $220 fine for smoking in the toilet during his lunch hour. His netpay was in negative numbers and the company had to start loaning him money inorder to continue the deductions. He paid over $8,000 for the job. He knew menwho’d worked over nine months for this company and earned only $200.

This payment of $8,000 or $9,000 is what most of the men pay, and the reasonthat they endure so much before they complain.

1.1 million migrant workers now work in Singapore, about a third of the work force.People in Singapore see foreign workers as menacing or threatening, the way theygather in large numbers on their day off, take up seats on buses and the MRT intheir work clothes, crowd public areas and open spaces eating and talking on theirday off.

When you think of these workers, think of them as fathers, sons, husbands andbrothers, whose families depend on them, miss them, and grieve when things gowrong. Many of them are the age of my own children, young men who weren’tbrought up to do manual labour, who lie about the nature of the job to keep thefamily from suffering shame and indignity. Then they lie again when they’re injuredand can’t continue working, and when the agent and the employer cheat them.They deserve better recuperative facilities and better protection against employerswho don’t provide work. Besides treating them like the welcomed guests in thiscountry, we should also offer them respect, dignity and recognition for theirsacrifice.

Many thanks again to AWA-S for giving me the opportunity to bring attention to thisproblem.

*Banglar Kantha

Trends and Issues

Contract Renewal

One of the concerns TWC2 referred to the Ministry of Manpower in 2010 was aboutcompanies that charge workers for renewing their contracts at the end of one year’semployment. Given that many male workers can take a year or more to pay off theirplacement costs, the imposition of further charges for contract renewal can mean that a

worker is several months into his second year of employment before he can send anymoney home to his family – sometimes nearly three-quarters of the way through a twoyear placement.

The past norm was for a worker to sign a two-year contract, which ought to be renewedwithout charge at its expiry by any company that wishes the worker to stay on. TheMinistry of Manpower (MOM) does not charge for the renewal of a work permit and it is asimple matter to renew a contract. MOM told TWC2 that making workers pay to havetheir contracts renewed in the way reported is illegal.

Our Cuff Road volunteers have amassed a long list of companies that have charged forthe renewal of the Work Permit, both after one year and after two. Many of the workerswho have come there with a salary complaint and who have been with their company formore than one year will have been charged for the Work Permit renewal.

We have received numerous reports from workers of many companies that followed thispractice. These included complaints from 36 employees at one company, 22 at anotherand 18 at a third. The names of the companies concerned were passed on to the MOM.

Reported by the Direct Services Subcommittee. The decision to convert theHelpline Subcommittee to a Direct Services Subcommittee was made at the 2010AGM. The Subcommittee is up and running with reps from the Exco, Secretariat,Cuff Road and caseworkers. It is chaired by Shelley Thio, Exco Member, who canbe reached through the office if you wish to find out more.

This one runs and runs…

Domestic worker employers received a letter recently from the National Council onProblem Gambling (NCPG). Dated 11/04/2011, it was headed ‘Voluntary CasinoSelf-Exclusion for Foreign Domestic Workers’. We commented in the lastnewsletter that we had so far not heard of any domestic workers going to thecasino, let alone losing money there, so it seems a bit of a mystery why this hasbecome an issue. Is this another example of exaggerated fears about whatdomestic workers might do on their days off?

The NCPG letter explained that it was to ‘inform employers that all foreigndomestic workers aged 21 years and above may apply for exclusion from thecasinos’, and yet the legal minimum age for a domestic worker in Singapore is 23.Is this a recognition that the law is frequently broken and also that many employersinsist on controlling domestic workers’ communication with the outside world?Wouldn’t it have been more respectful of workers to send the letter to them, as thedecision should be theirs?

If the NCPG sent this letter to all the employers of Singapore’s 200,000 domesticworkers, it must have been an expensive exercise, and a misdirected one, sinceemployers themselves are more likely to be the ones with gambling problems.

The intentions were no doubt good, but some research with organizations thathave strong links with migrant workers could have helped NCPG in this case.

Note: This issue of the newsletter had to be completed on animprovised basis; we’ll be back to normal next time.

Transient Workers Count Too, 5001 Beach Road, #06-27, Golden Mile Complex,Singapore 199588.

Tel: (65) 6247 7001 Fax (65) 6396 0759Website: www.twc2.org.sg Email: info@twc2.org.sg