Embedded Files
"Singapore’s Work Permit system gives wide powers to bosses to hire and fire at will, and the huge recruitment fees that workers have to pay ... have created an ecosystem where the exploited cannot even voice out their dissatisfaction without severe consequences." (Alex Au, Vice-President, Transient Workers Count Too)
"Singapore’s Work Permit system gives wide powers to bosses to hire and fire at will, and the huge recruitment fees that workers have to pay ... have created an ecosystem where the exploited cannot even voice out their dissatisfaction without severe consequences." (Alex Au, Vice-President, Transient Workers Count Too)
Construction Workers
Which local organisations do we work with that are trying to alleviate the problems faced by migrant workers?
A conversation with Debbie Fordyce, TWC2 President
A powerfully informative interview with Debbie Fordyce, a UWCSEA alumna, who has been working with Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) since 2005.
This candid article identifies three key financial problems that haunt migrant workers in Singapore.
Migrant workers' problems often start with a large debt. Moneylenders threaten their families if repayments are not regular. As a result, workers stay silent about any abuse of their welfare.
TWC president Debbie Fordyce argues that migrant workers are often dangerously sleep-deprived due to inadequate transport arrangements.
Many low wage migrant workers fear that lodging any complaint with the authorities will damage their job prospects. Are their fears justified?
A fact-filled article that explodes three common myths about migrant workers here — myths that are "counter-productive to the struggle to reform the laws that regulate the employment of migrant workers".
A Singaporean journalist argues that the country profits from an "exploitative model that pretends migrant workers aren’t really part of the local population".
Migrant Domestic Workers
A playlist of videos by our partner organisation Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (HOME).
A short factsheet giving numbers and nationalities of foreign domestic workers (FDWs) in 2010. This MOM page includes more up-to-date statistics. In Dec. 2019 there were 261,800 FDWs.
A series of six short videos by International Organisation for Migration (IOMx) giving voice to migrant workers. Themes include 'We are real people', 'Laws domestic workers need to know' and 'What I have achieved for my family'.
The film follows domestic workers who are trapped in a system in which the employer is master and the worker the property.
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Marie moves to Singapore in hopes of earning enough to open a business in the Philippines. Yet, one hurdle after another confronts her, including the deduction of eight months of her wages to cover the entire cost of her migration to Singapore.
A newspaper summary of a Jan 2019 report by HOME and the anti-trafficking group Liberty Shared.
In 'Our Homes, Our Stories' Singapore-based migrant domestic workers share stories of their rural childhoods, rogue employment agents, difficult employers and the pain of living their families behind. But there are positive tales, too, of close relationships with employers and planning for the future.
Since 2004 HOME has championed the rights of migrant workers in Singapore. It conducts research, and uses the findings to advocate for changes in policies, laws, and attitudes. UWCSEA students do various services with women from the HOME shelter.
On 8 December 2024, HOME celbrated International Migrant Workers Day and its own 20th anniversary at UWCSEA Dover.
Domestic workers are the invisible women who help keep the Californian economy afloat. But the presenter argues that the picture is not simply one of rich and poor. While domestic workers organize for a living wage, some of their employers are also struggling.
A DW (Germany's international TV station) report on the abuse of domestic workers. The article quotes the director of HOME, our partner organisation.
An article about how some local agencies use advertising language that treats domestic helpers as "goods".
Miscellaneous Resources
FDW, foreign worker levy, employment pass, work permit ... The terms and acronyms associated with migrant workers in Singapore can be enough to make your head spin. Let TWC2 explain ...
TWC2 provides direct help to migrant workers in the form of meals, legal advice etc, but an important part of its work is to conduct research and lobby the government for changes to the law.
An enlightening piece of research conducted by two Singaporean polytechnic students during the 2020 pandemic.
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