Migrant Workers' Centre spares no effort in helping migrant workers through COVID-19

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, National Trades Union Congress’ (NTUC) Migrant Workers’ Centre (MWC) has actively responded to the varying needs of migrant workers. MWC’s help and assistance have also expanded and evolved greatly due to the earlier Circuit Breaker measures and current safe management measures at dormitories and workplaces.

Key Highlights of MWC’s Assistance Efforts to Fight COVID-19

In 2020 alone, MWC has reached out to more than 650,000 migrant workers – the largest number of migrant workers helped in a year. Working with the Labour Movement, like-minded partners and donors, MWC has ramped up its COVID-19-related support in the following key areas:

1. Distributed more than 5 million essential items comprising surgical masks, reusable masks, hand sanitisers, bath soap bars and laundry soap bars to migrant workers staying in purpose-built dormitories (PBDs), factory-converted dormitories (FCDs), decant sites and construction temporary quarters (CTQs).
2. Provided close to 1 million meals for some 10,000 migrant workers living in FCDs.
3. Initiated the “Migrants We Care” fundraising campaign to help migrant workers affected by COVID-19. Using the funds raised, MWC managed to support the provision of essential items to more than 1,000 dormitories island-wide, provided financial support to migrant workers who fell victim to COVID-19 and strengthened support to migrant workers with employment-related claims and disputes.
4. Realising that many migrant workers were receiving inaccurate information, MWC started to provide timely and factual updates to migrant workers in their native languages on COVID-19-related information and advisories. This has been done even before the DORSCON level was raised to orange till now.
5. Supported in the deployment of 130 telemedicine kiosks to more than 120 PBDs, FCDs and CTQs to provide migrant workers direct access to medical help and support.

Leveraging MWC Grassroots Ambassadors to Help Migrant Workers

Due to the pandemic, MWC saw nearly a four-fold increase in the number of assistance cases and most were COVID-19-related. To provide additional support, MWC initiated the Careline Project in April 2020 to proactively reach out to and help migrant workers staying in PBDs, FCDs, decant sites and CTQs. 20 of MWC’s most senior Grassroots Ambassadors, who are migrant workers themselves, made up to 1,000 video calls daily to follow-up on cases referred by the Forward Assurance and Support Teams, or enquiries that came from MWC’s 24-hour helpline. The intention of these calls was meant to check in on fellow migrant workers, lend them a listening ear and help surface concerns or issues they may face. Especially for employment-related issues, such as non-payment of salaries or unfair termination of work permit passes, these would be escalated immediately to MWC for their follow-up.

COVID-19 highlighted the importance of having a strong grassroot network of migrant workers so as to facilitate timely two-way communication and feedback to and from the migrant community. This community has also been useful in providing support mental and emotional support to migrant workers. While MWC Grassroots Ambassadors are currently present in all PBDs and half of the smaller migrant worker housing facilities and FCDs, MWC will be expanding the grassroot network to cover all FCDs by end of 2021. In addition to MWC Grassroots Ambassadors being trained in para-counselling, MWC will also continue with the Careline Project to provide migrant workers with the necessary support.

MWC’s International Migrants’ Day Celebrations to Recognise Their Contributions

Working around the current safe management measures, MWC will be adopting a hybrid approach for this year’s International Migrants’ Day (IMD) Celebrations. Through these celebrations, MWC aims to reach out to more than 20,000 migrant workers to thank them for their contributions towards Singapore.

On 13 and 27 December 2020, MWC together with co-organiser Singtel, will be hosting a digital roadshow on their Facebook page and this will be simultaneously broadcasted to Facebook pages with substantial migrant workers following and at various dormitories. The programme will open with a heartfelt IMD message from NTUC Deputy Secretary-General (DSG) Koh Poh Koon and feature well-wishes videos from various schools and MWC partner organisations. Throughout the digital roadshow, there will be performances by Bangladeshi and Indian celebrities as well as attractive games and prizes to be won. At the digital roadshow, MWC will also be presenting their annual recognition award to 20 Grassroots Ambassadors. Apart from their active participation in MWC’s events and outstanding contributions to the migrant community, these ambassadors are, more importantly, recognised for having gone above and beyond to help fellow workers during the Circuit Breaker period.

In addition to the digital roadshows, MWC will be hosting physical roadshows at the MWC Recreation Centre at Soon Lee. From 18 to 20 December 2020, migrant workers with an Exit Pass will be able to visit the physical roadshow where special IMD discounts and promotions will be offered by participating vendors and partners.

NTUC DSG Koh said, “I understand that it has been a very difficult year for many of our migrant workers. With the COVID-19 regulations, all of them had to adjust the way they live and work. For our migrant workers who are in the essential services sector, many of them have put their safety on the line to safeguard the health and safety of fellow migrant workers and Singaporeans. On behalf of the Labour Movement and MWC, I would like to extend our deepest appreciation and thank them for weathering through the challenging times with Singapore. Just as they have contributed to our nation’s development, I want to reassure them that NTUC and MWC will continue to take care of their welfare and safety.”

For more details on MWC’s IMD celebrations, please refer to Annex A.