Singapore - A Singapore sub-contactor is sending back 55
Bangladeshi workers, citing lack of work and projects due to the
economic slowdown, according to a news report Wednesday.
Tunnel & Shaft said it has worked out compensation of 1,000
Singapore dollars (673 US dollars) per worker. However, the workers
would have to return 500 Singapore dollars (336 US dollars) if
re-employed.
The company was sending the workers home for two months and hopes
to bring them back when the economy picks up, according to the
Straits Times.
The Bangladeshis were recruited last year, with some of them just
two months into employment. Some were quoted as saying they were
left with an outstanding debt of 8,000 Singapore dollars (5,386 US
dollars) taken as a loan to pay for their Singapore job.
Meanwhile, the Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics
said hundreds of foreign workers had approached it with payment and
employment issues.
The organization spokesman Jolovan Wham cited a case of 30
Bangladeshi workers who were due to leave for home this week after
their employers said there was no more work for them. But they only
received their wages when the Manpower Ministry intervened.
He said foreign workers were being given little real protection as
once their work permit was cancelled they were compelled to leave
Singapore.
Singapore depends heavily on hundreds of thousands Asian labourers
to carry out construction, shipyard, services and cleaning services.
But the economic recession has delayed a number of projects and
contracts.
USA
Your Talkback on this Story