Model ID: 17592714-f6bf-4378-9162-9626e83469ea
Sitecore Context Id: 17592714-f6bf-4378-9162-9626e83469ea;
The Migrant Workers’ Centre (MWC) will be delivering the first run of the Foreign Workers Settling-in Programme (FW SIP) in October 2018. This was announced at the MWC Mid-Autumn Festival Celebrations with SMRT bus captains at Westlite Woodlands Dormitory on Sunday, 23 September 2018.
The objective of the SIP is to familiarise migrant workers who are new to Singapore with our laws, as well as cultural and social norms. MWC also hopes to inform migrant workers of where they can go to seek help should they encounter issues while in Singapore, and assure them that they can rely on law enforcement agencies like the Ministry of Manpower(MOM) and the Singapore Police Force to treat any complaints they may have seriously and impartially.
In September 2018, MWC conducted a three-day trial run of the SIP for 110 migrant workers in Singapore. Feedback was positive – a majority of the attendees expressed that they found the programme useful and that they wished this information was shared with them when they first arrived in Singapore.With this, MWC will continue to deliver the SIP in six migrant workers’ native languages – English, Chinese, Tamil, Bengali, Thai and Burmese. Topics that will be covered include:
• Understanding Singapore
• Local practices and social norms
• Employment laws
• Employment and work injury compensation rights
• SGSecure and other key laws
Registration from 1 October 2018
From 1 October 2018, all first-time non-Malaysian Work Permit (WP) holders in the construction sector whose work pass application is submitted on or after this date are required to attend the SIP within 14 calendar days of arrival in Singapore. SIP will be progressively rolled out to WP holders from other sectors, such as marine, process, manufacturing and services.
Employers or employment agencies can create an account on the MWC SIP website (https://sip.mwc.org.sg, from 1 October 2018) to register their workers for SIP once they confirm the workers’ IPA approval and date of arrival. Employers who are unsure of whether their workers need to be signed-up for SIP can look at the In-Principal Approval letter from MOM, which will indicate if SIP is required. Employers should register for the SIP early to ensure that their workers get a training slot.
Mr Yeo Guat Kwang, Chairman of MWC, said, “It is important to integrate our migrant friends into society as they are far away from home and may not know how to navigate their new environments when they first arrive. With the SIP, we hope to ease some of the anxieties that come with settling in to a foreign land, and ensure our workers know they are not alone should they encounter any issues during their time in Singapore.”
e-Payment of Salary
In the past two years, more than half (roughly 65 per cent) of the 8,000 cases handled by MWC have involved some kind of salary arrears allegations. Of these, only a small proportion received their salaries via electronic payment. For workers who are electronically paid, their cases are often more straightforward to resolve. For workers who do not receive their salaries electronically, their cases rely on documentary evidences, which are often lacking.
As part of continued efforts to promote e-payment of salary, the MWC-POSB Membership programme was launched in April 2018 to facilitate the opening of bank accounts for our migrant workers, while at the same time offer meaningful benefits to migrant workers in Singapore. The tie-up was also part of MWC’s continuing efforts to promote e-payment of salaries.
Since the launch of the membership programme, about 38,000 migrant workers have signed up to date, with all of them opening bank accounts with POSB. A similar membership programme for foreign domestic workers will be announced in October 2018.
Reiterating the importance of salary e-payment, Mr Yeo said, “With more and more migrant workers having easy access to banking services, we hope it strengthens our push for e-payment of salaries to be mandated to minimise salary-related disputes between workers and employers. At the end of the day, having electronic records of salary payment will give workers peace of mind as they concentrate on fulfilling their work responsibilities in Singapore.”
Mid-Autumn Celebrations
The Mid-Autumn Festival Celebrations was organised by MWC as part of its efforts to bring some cheer to migrant workers, who are often away from their families during the festive periods. Union leaders from the National Transport Workers’ Union and senior management from SMRT also joined in the celebrations.
About 50 SMRT bus captains participated in making mooncakes, and wrote their personal wishes on lanterns. Mooncakes were also given out to about 600 SMRT bus captains who were not able to join in the celebrations due to their work shifts.
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