Even as the Singapore government embarks on steps to ensure that foreign workers are housed properly in purpose-built dormitories, a few employers continue to beat the system by housing them illegally in squalid and dilapidated conditions.
That was the case when the Labour Movement's Migrant Workers’ Centre (MWC) and enforcement officers from the Manpower Ministry (MOM) conducted a surprise visit to two apartments at Selegie Centre, off Mackenzie Road, at about 10.15pm on 18 November 2014.
The Midday Tip Off
The visit was a result of aggrieved workers who called MWC’s Helpline to complain about the living conditions provided by their employer Harri Engineering Private Limited.
They claimed that close to 120 workers from South Asia were being cramped in two apartments on the 6th and 8th floor of Selegie Centre.
They also complained of non-payment or under-payment of negotiated salaries on the contract papers.
The Site Inspection
The NTUC This Week team went behind the scenes with MWC and MOM during the surprise visit at Selegie Centre. Here are the details.
10.15pm: MWC officers and the accompanying media team meet at a coffeeshop along MacKenzie Road to discuss the plan to move into the two apartments. Information that the workers have started arriving back from their worksites is received.
10.30pm: Officers make their way to the apartments. In the meantime, some workers are seen coming down with their personal belongings. When questioned, they reveal that they have been asked to shift to another location. Obviously, someone had alerted the workers in the two apartments about a possible check by the authorities.
10.45pm: Officers visit the two apartments on the 6th and 8th floors of Selegie Centre. Each apartment has about 25 workers packed in. Personal belongings of the workers are strewn all over the place. Planks are seen outside the apartments near the stairways, being used by some workers to sleep on. A strong urine stench lines the stairways and exit staircase.
11.15pm: MWC officers question the workers present about their living conditions and working contracts, unfolding some startling information.
MWC – Be Swift, Strict
Speaking to the media at the end of the operations, MWC's Executive Director Bernard Menon said the Centre will continue to engage the workers to reach out to others hired in the company.
Mr Menon believed Harri Engineering is already on MOM's radar for previous infringements of living and working conditions for foreign workers.
Care And Protection
Workers have also been given the MWC's Helpline numbers they can call if they face any problems.
They were also assured that MWC would protect them and they would not have to worry about being unfairly repatriated or landing in any other kinds of trouble.
MWC has strongly urged the Ministry to take swift and strict action against this employer and stands ready to supplement any enforcement efforts by MOM. If the employer does not re-home the workers and action is taken against him, MWC is also ready to house these workers.
MWC's Chairman and NTUC Assistant Secretary-General Yeo Guat Kwang emphasised: "We have come out publicly many times, and our message is not only to this particular employer. Our message is to any employer who would consider depriving his foreign workers, their statutory entitlement in terms of care and protection.”
“Any employer who is irresponsible to do something like that, we have called on the Ministry of Manpower to come down very, very hard to make sure that enforcement against these irresponsible employers is swift and strict."
Source: NTUC This Week
