Debbie Fordyce on Migrant Workers in Singapore

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In this podcast, published on International Migrants Day 2019, Debbie Fordyce, President of Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) talks to IHRB's Francesca Fairbairn about how large recruitment fees paid by migrant workers for low paid jobs in Singapore can lead to excessive overtime that can undermine their health and safety.

There are just under a million 'work permit' migrant workers in Singapore.  This is the lowest category of visa entry, and places many restrictions on the workers (although there is no minimum wage restriction).  Many of these workers pay large recruitment fees in their country of origin for such low wage jobs, and arrive in Singapore to work in the domestic, construction or shipyard industries already in considerable debt.  These debts, together with heavy government levies on the employers, often lead to excessive overtime (sometimes up to 15 hours a day, seven days a week), with the concomitant health and safety risks associated with working long hours. When workers are injured, they often struggle to get treatment, help or compensation from their employers. 

TWC2 is an NGO in Singapore committed to assisting migrant workers in the shipyard industry who are unable to work yet unable to leave Singapore, providing hot food and sometimes advice to over 2,000 a year mainly Bangladeshi and Indian shipyard workers. Debbie began working with resettlement of Indochinese refugees in the USA in 1979, before coming to work with the Indochina refugee resettlement program in Singapore and Indonesia in 1980. She began volunteering with TWC2 in 2005, and now coordinates its Cuff Road project She also heads the subcommittee that oversees medical assistance for injured and ill clients.