180 Bangladeshi workers from marine company Tipper Corporation abandoned at living quarters this month. Employer claimed two sub-contractors were responsible for workers and had abandoned them. They agreed to move to new dormitory after boss promised they would get their money.
FOUND DEAD IN DORM
Bangladeshi worker, believed to have been covered in a rash, found dead in dormitory at Tagore Industrial Estate on Sunday. Ten other workers, diagnosed with chicken pox, warded for observation at the Communicable Disease Centre. The dead man, Mr Mohd Kamaluddin, 28, had stayed in a dormitory with 400 other workers.
'FELL FROM FOURTH STOREY'
On 9 Dec, Bangladeshi worker, suffering from chicken pox for three days, found lying injured at the bottom of dormitory. Mr Khokon Mollah Abu Taher, 24, died hours later in hospital. The shipyard worker with Star Weld believed to have fallen from fourth storey of building at Tuas.
MP NOT SURPRISED TO SEE MORE SUCH CASES
Labour MP Halimah Yacob said that every time there is a downturn, cases of unpaid wages escalate in the non-unionised sector.
Madam Halimah said: 'The situation was the same in the last downturn and I am not surprised that we are seeing a repeat of it now that we are in a serious downturn.'
She said that such cases typically involve smaller companies that have lost contracts or face cashflow problems.
'Foreign workers tend to be worst affected because unlike locals they lack mobility and cannot just walk out of their jobs if their companies don't pay them...,' Madam Halimah said.
She said some may continue working without pay in the hope that things will get better and their companies will pay up.
'But we know that often does not happen,' she said.
This article was first published in The New Paper on December 31, 2008.
'FELL FROM FOURTH STOREY'
