Newsletter Tra nsient Workers Count Too Nov-Dec 2008
Issue 6, Volume 2
Editorial
Inside this issue:
In the July-August newsletter, we wrote of the problems likely to arise for migrant workers as a result of a worsening economic situation. In September came a crash in the financial world, and unfortunately, the consequences are already turning out as we feared. Migrant workers are being treated in much of the world as if they are disposable. Recruited to plug gaps in developed economies, concentrated in the low paid jobs with the worst conditions that locals refuse to accept, they receive all too little consideration in times of prosperity, so it is perhaps not surprising that their needs are largely ignored in the scramble to save on costs and protect local jobs and incomes. For the past decade, we’ve heard no end of talk about
globalization, and now states are sounding the alarm about the dangers of raising barriers, yet this is exactly what developed countries are already doing to migrant workers. This should not be the case. All human beings are entitled to some basic consideration and rights, including when they go to work in other countries. Migrant workers provided a foundation for much of the money-making of the years of economic expansion: by taking on jobs in cleaning, domestic service, construction, agriculture, service industries and other sectors, they provided a massive subsidy to the economies of receiving countries that would otherwise have faced the choice of making big salary payouts to locals or seeing entire sectors of business life shut down. They should be seen and treated as partners in good times and bad and our efforts to raise their status should not slacken. Many members and supporters have worries of their own about jobs and incomes, but we are confident that you will not waver in your commitment to our shared hopes and ideals.
Message from John… When asked about what TWC2 does, we always explain that we work for the wellbeing of migrant workers through three routes: advocacy, research and direct services. The past two years have seen a radical growth in our direct services. On International Migrants’ Day in December 2006, we launched our
helpline. Outreach work, word of mouth communication and media reports spread knowledge of it. Workers and sympathetic locals called in, and TWC2 built up a bank of information and experience in response, as well as a network of helpful contacts. Another leap in the growth of our direct services has come with our involvement in the 1
Cuff Road Project. It brought to our awareness many issues concerning male migrant workers of which we had little or no knowledge before, and there has been a great expansion of our practical activity with male migrant workers from Bangladesh, India and China. Meanwhile, our work with and for domestic workers continues. Continued…
Doing Good Through Advocacy Global Forum on Migration & Development Why do you pay to remit money?
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Annual General Meeting 2009
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Unimagined Consequences
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The changes in the past two years mean that direct services account for most of our time and effort as a society, and the economic troubles that are touching all countries will surely call for still greater commitment to meet pressing practical needs. Yet it would be a mistake for anyone to think that we have forgotten about advocacy and research.
of those who sustain our direct services only brings out the central importance of advocacy work: we can see where changes in policy and outlook could eliminate some problems and reduce the size of others. We would all prefer to prevent abuse and wrongful treatment of workers in the first place rather than apply bandages after they have happened.
So we go on with research that can inform public discussion and underpin our advocacy. We refine our advocacy through what we learn from our direct services. We hope that this will make TWC2 increasingly effective in securing a better deal for migrant workers in Singapore.
If anything, the experience
Doing Good Through Advocacy Willie Cheng, former managing director of Accenture Singapore, a management consultancy firm, and from 2003-2005 Chairman of the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre, is the writer of ‘Doing Good Well’. Carefully researched and thought out, its subject is summed up in its sub-title, ‘What does (and does not) make sense in the nonprofit world.’ In writing of the need for advocacy-based charities, he says:
“Advocacy is tough. It takes a long time and its results are less tangible.” - Willie Cheng, author or ‘Doing Good Well’
“Advocacy is tough. It takes a long time and its results are less tangible. When HOME’s (Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics) foreign worker shelters take care of an abused maid, people appreciate that. When maid welfare advocacy group TWC2 (Transient Workers Count Too) campaigns for a day off for maids, the public, employers, the Government and maid agencies do not think they are doing anyone a big service. But it is in dealing with root causes that you solve society’s problems for the long term.” It is often hard to explain to people who are keen to do something for migrant workers right now what TWC2 is trying to achieve through advocacy, but Willie Cheng captures it nicely (not that we’d like this to be taken as a criticism of HOME, with which we have a good working relationship!).
Welcome Anne!
Thanks to the Lee Foundation We’d like to thank the Lee Foundation for its generous donation to the Cuff Road Project. In response to our appeal for support, it has contributed enough to pay for meals for 200 men a week for six months. This goes a long way towards meeting the project’s current running costs. In November, the project was providing a meal a day for over 300 men, five days a week. We will need to do more fundraising for the project but this will take us a long way towards meeting need at current levels.
Anne Bergen-Aurand has been hired as our new Community Worker in November. She’s come to TWC2 with extensive experience from non-profit organizations. Anne will be coordinating the Cuff Road Project and manage policy reports in TWC2. Welcome Anne! 2
Cuff Road Project As reported in the SeptemberOctober newsletter, the threat that the project would have to be drastically cut back was staved off by the donations raised from many generous contributors. Side by side with the financial contributions came offers of help from institutions, including several churches, which were ready to provide focused support. In one instance, this meant sponsoring meals for a group of workers who were in particular need as a result of injuries. We hope to engage other partners in the project’s work in coming months. Possibilities include sponsoring
workers or sponsoring one particular meal of the week. Some volunteers have come forward to help with sustaining the project. The project still needs individuals who can commit time, morning or evening, to help: too much work continues to fall on too few people. TWC2 and our partner ONE (Singapore) provide support by raising money and giving organizational back-up. This means that all money raised specifically for the Cuff Road Project goes to the food programme, with no deductions for administration or other expenses. Volunteers make the project possible. It is currently at Sutha’s, a Little India restaurant that has cooperated in the initiative since its early days. Volunteers are needed for work such as checking that those
who come for free meals are entitled to do so: this is for those most in need and we owe it to them and to contributors to make sure that it stays that way. Sometimes workers raise problems they have encountered, and then the volunteers talk with them and, if need be, call on more experienced fellow volunteers or TWC2 staff for assistance. Some workers are in dispute with their employers. A few who have turned to us have suffered injuries at work and are trying to settle claims; we have tried to help them practically, so that they have been able to obtain treatment and care. We have no doubt that in several cases; men’s medical conditions would have deteriorated seriously without the intervention of members of our dedicated team.
Global Forum on Migration and Development
John attended Migrant Forum th Asia’s 11 Regional Conference on Migration on 24-25 October, and the GFMDCSO Forum on 27-28 October.
John Gee and Sha Najak represented TWC2 for two events that happened simultaneously in Philippines in October. The Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) is an intergovernmental initiative. It has been criticized by a number of NGOs concerned for concentrating on migrants as presenting a problem for recipient countries, and on how remittance earnings could be mobilized at a state level by sending countries. The rights of migrant workers to decent treatment in their homelands and abroad, and their
entitlement to make the most of their earnings for their own family and community needs have been treated as secondary issues. Some NGOs think that there is nothing to be gained for migrant workers from the GFMD; others argue that it is worth while to try to influence the GFMD’s discussions positively. TWC2 applied to attend the two-day GFMD-Civil Society Organisation forum and was one of the 200 NGOs worldwide that was accepted. 3
Meanwhile, Sha took part in a variety of activities organized by the People’s Global Alliance coalition outside the GFMD framework. This included attending discussions with the Global Alliance Against Trafficking in Women. Throughout, our concerns were to make a constructive contribution, to learn, and to build up a network of contacts that can help to create better lives for migrant workers wherever they are. We found out a lot, but we were pleasantly surprised to discover that TWC2 has built up a store of experience, knowledge and good practices that compare well with those of other migrant-worker related organizations globally.
Helpline Highlights By Anne Bergen-Aurand
“…Each of these men had paid around $9,000 to secure his job in Singapore…”
In October, several workers from a marine company approached us for help. After speaking to a few of the men, we understood that 36 Bangladeshi workers had left because of lack of work. Before leaving Bangladesh, we were told that recruiters had led them to believe that they would be working full time and being paid accordingly. The men had been with the company for varying lengths of time, but the average was about three months. During that time, they had had no work, little food and almost no money. Through our meetings with them, we understood that they have gone to the Ministry of Manpower three times but had not received their Special Passes yet. Each man had paid around $9, 000 to secure his job in Singapore, and none had received more than a $100 living allowance since his arrival. After contacting the employer, MOM gave the workers a hard choice: they could either return to the company who claimed to have new work for the men, or they could be repatriated without receiving any of the salary they were owed. MOM insisted that none of the workers would be issued Special Passes. The workers obviously felt that the ultimatum was unjust, but eventually some of them did decide to return to Bangladesh. At least half of the group chose to return to the company that was, according to MOM, under new management. The workers now have housing and food twice a day. But since their return in early November they have received only one other payment of $100. They had a few days of training but no regular work. The company promises a new job in January, but the workers are sceptical. One of the men was a primary school teacher in Bangladesh. His parents are no longer able to work and his only brother is a student. He reluctantly says he will wait one more month. But even though the $9, 000 debt still looms, he says if there is still no work in January, he will go home.
Talking About Foreign Workers Activities On the
Day
Off Campaign website www.dayoff.sg , there is a page where visitors can sign up to show their th support. In November, the 2000 supporter signed up. At the beginning of December, there were 2027 signatories: please encourage any possibly willing person you know who hasn’t signed up yet to support it. We
now
have
a
wallet-sized
Mandarin version of the helpcard. It is being distributed to workers from China, most of whom read little or no English. It should be useful to many in finding help and services. Our work with Chinese workers is expanding. We have a small team of volunteers who are able to speak, read and write Chinese, but more volunteers would definitely be welcome.
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Our second day school, held on 7 December, attracted 31 people. Russell Heng introduced and compered the programme. Braema Mathi spoke on Migrants' Rights and Human Rights', dealing with the international and the ASEAN context. Noorashikin Abdul Rahman spoke on ‘Migrant workers’ rights in Singapore’. The event was opened and closed by members of U60, an informal group that th has linked together many activities around the 60 anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. TWC2 bore in mind the th approaching UDHR anniversary on 10 December and International th Migrants Day on December 18 . Participants learnt more about issues and for some ideas to be floated and debated. It was also an opportunity for bringing together people of different backgrounds and experiences who, in some cases, found a basis for co-operating for the workers’ benefit.
Article Unimagined Consequences (This is an unpublished article, written to coincide with the discussion in Parliament in November on the amendment of the Employment Act. HOME drafted a series of proposals for amendments to the act that TWC2 endorsed, but none were adopted. It should be noted that in 2003, when The Working Committee Two discussed legal changes that could improve the status of domestic workers, we found that there were a few practical problems with simply extending the Employment Act to cover them and that was why its preferred choice was a new Foreign Domestic Workers Act.) Parliament's amendment of the Employment Act this week left the status of domestic workers unaltered. HOME and TWC2, societies concerned with their rights and wellbeing, had proposed that they should be brought under the coverage of the act, in the belief that its protective clauses could benefit domestic workers. The Employment Act was passed in 1968. Newly independent, Singapore faced an uncertain future. Over 50,000 workers were unemployed. 25,000 school leavers and graduates joined the workforce every year. One pillar of the economy was the British base facilities, accounting for 20 per cent of Singapore's income and many jobs. In January 1968, the British government announced that it would withdraw all its forces from Singapore by April 1971. The government sought ways to soak up unemployment. The most controversial clause of the Employment Bill mandated retirement at the age of 55. Proponents thought that this would open up more job opportunities for younger, unemployed workers, but critics said that most people were quite capable of working well beyond 55, and some needed to, as they had no savings. This seems like a far cry from presentday Singapore, worried about a shortage of local labour and tentatively discussing a higher retirement age. In 1968, the paid workforce was still largely male. Though a few women had succeeded in gaining well paid or intellectually rewarding posts, most jobseekers found work in low paid occupations associated with perceived female capabilities, such as nursing, shop work, and in the textiles and new electronics industry, where slender fingers and patience were seen as desirable. Women were most likely to do paid work on leaving school, and it was commonly expected that they would later marry, have children and stay at home to look after them. Paid domestic work was one possibility for women. The most well established domestic workers were the amahs who had come from China in the 1930s and 1940s, and who were regarded as highly dependable. There were young local women who became 'live-in maids', as well as older women who often worked on a daily basis, going home in the evenings and on Sundays. Some were able to negotiate part-time work
with hours and terms that suited them and their employers. Much of this employment was 'irregular', cash in hand, and largely invisible to official bodies. This included the employment of Malaysian women in domestic work; they came to Singapore as visitors, worked unofficially and returned whenever necessary across the causeway. When the Employment Act was under debate in 1968, Inche Abdul Aziz Karim, MP for Kallang, alluding to the views of the trade union movement, said that the Employment Bill 'falls short of expectations as seamen, domestic servants, watchmen and security guards do not come within the ambit of the Bill.' Responding for the government, Minister of Labour S. Rajaratnam did not mention 'domestic servants' specifically, but his answer plainly covered their exclusion: 'The reason is that the nature of the duties of this category of employees is not amenable to regulation by ordinary labour legislation. For instance, the normal working day of 8 hours for the average employee cannot possibly be applied to the working conditions of seamen, watchmen or security guards. The nature of their duties requires them, as a rule, to be "attached" to their place of work. Under the circumstances, it is best that conditions of employment for this category of workers be left to be determined by mutual agreement." This has remained the essential rationale behind the exclusion of domestic workers from coverage by the Employment Act. Exclusion meant that there was no legal set limit on working hours, no standard weekend days off or time off for public holidays, no condition of payment of overtime rates for labour performed outside normal hours and no sick leave. Excluded workers were not required to be provided with the proper living quarters and sanitary conditions set out in the Employment Act. Their contracts with employers (when they existed) were not protected, which among other things, left them vulnerable to termination without notice if they tried to assert their contractual rights. These workers lacked protections for the full and regular payment of their salary that other workers had. 5
As unfavourable as this exclusion was in 1968, its practical impact was mitigated by the conventions and social relations of the time. Women from Singapore and Malaysia were seen as being culturally close to their employers. The assumption of shared values influenced their treatment - as, no doubt, did the awareness that misbehaviour on the part of either employer or worker towards the other was likely to become common knowledge quickly. Local domestic workers had friends and family close at hand. They could ask them for help. Amahs expected time off as a matter of right and many others had some form of accepted limitation on working hours, as well as regular access to the outside world. Custom made good law's omissions, to a fair extent.
domestic workers live and labour in conditions and under terms that are far removed from those of other workers in Singapore. Inclusion under the Employment Act, with the allowances made for variability in working hours that the minister is permitted to make under the act, would have reduced this gap and provided more equitable conditions for these women. Perhaps, some day, it will. John Gee
TWC2 on the Internet
Changes in Singapore society since 1968 have altered the impact of the exclusion of 'domestic servants' from the Employment Act. In the 1970s, the booming economy absorbed the male unemployed and created a demand for women workers. New opportunities offered an alternative to paid domestic work just as more couples were deciding that they needed a domestic helper to free wives and mothers to go out to work. In 1978, the government authorised the employment of women from an approved list of other countries as domestic workers.
Ammado.com is the global online community of people who care. They connect nonprofits and socially engaged individuals dedicated to positive change on a global and local level. Ammado has a vision to build a community that will change our world. TWC2 recently joined in and as members of our group, you get to send donations to us if you sign up!
In that year, there were 15,435 people officially employed in domestic service and they were mostly locals; now there are 180,000, and they are foreign nationals. They have travelled far from home: their families can give them little support. They come encumbered by debt amounting to eight or more months of their salaries - a strong deterrent to insisting upon rights and agreed contract terms, or to walking out on a disagreeable employer. The threat of deportation hangs over them. Because they are foreign, it is often assumed that it is more acceptable to treat them less favourably than locals, according to the dubious rationalisations that they are better off than in their home country or that they are used to lower standards. Ties that linked many a worker and employer in the 1960s have gone and with them, a consideration that was widely taken to be natural and appropriate. Thus, while the exclusion of domestic workers from the protections of the Employment Act stands unaltered, social trends have worsened the impact of exclusion in ways that the political leaders of 1968 neither foresaw nor intended.
TWC2 also has a Facebook page with over 250 members. Come join us!
It is only fair to recognise that measures have been introduced to extend certain protections to domestic workers. They include conditions in the work permits issued under the Employment of Foreign Workers Act, and rules laid down by the Ministry of Manpower - in particular, on the timely payment of salaries - but there are still gaps in protection and what does exist is undermined by vague terms. The consequence is that
She has a day off but many workers don’t. Being covered by the Employment Act would be one way to ensure domestic workers get days off.
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International News Why do you pay to remit money?
Forthcoming Activities
The World Bank has published online data on the costs of remitting money back from 14 major remittancesending countries to 67 receiving countries. It reasons that, by making this information available, countries and companies will be encouraged to cut the cost of remitting money as workers seek out the service that offers the best terms for them and question why others are more costly or inconvenient.
As 2008 draws to a close, we can look back on a year of greatly expanded activity. We need to review it, decide on policy priorities and new projects as well as elect a new Executive Committee. This will be done at our next annual general meeting (AGM), due to take place by the end of March 2009. Seven out of nine current members are due to step down or stand for re-election.
Unfortunately, a lot of workers will not know that this information exists and many will either not have internet access or experience in using the internet to find information. In TWC2’s experience, workers are pretty good at passing around news of who is offering attractive terms, and they figure out what suits their needs best, taking into account not only charges, but exchange rates, speed of delivery and convenience for their families. From time to time, some workers fall victim to crooked remittance agents who attract business by offering appealing terms, building up their clientele over a few months, and then running away with all the money they receive over a busy few days from their big customer base. As usual, the warning here has to be: if it looks too good to be true, it probably is. Workers can give themselves some protection by being cautious, comparing information with other workers and, if they are cheated, reporting what happened to the police – otherwise, the crooked remittance agent will do the same thing all over again. If you want to take a look at how the World Bank compares the genuine remittance businesses, you can go to: http://remittanceprices.worldbank.org
Annual General Meeting 2009
In the next newsletter, the date of the AGM will be announced. We hope that between now and March, there can be some discussion and exchanges of ideas on TWC2’s record and future work. We’d be very pleased to hear from anyone who is ready to consider standing for the committee. Our next Executive Committee meeting is provisionally due to take place on th Tuesday 6 January, so if you’d like to get an idea of how it works while thinking about whether you might be ready to stand for it, that might be a date to bear in mind for looking in.
TWC2 is located at: 5001 Beach Road #06-27 Golden Mile Complex Singapore 199588 Tel: 6247 7001 Fax: 6396 0759 info@twc2.org.sg www.twc2.org.sg
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Letter from Durai Raj, beneficiary of the Cuff Road Project
Durai Raj is now back in Tamil Nadu, India. 8