Work Shadowing in Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics

Mr Jolovan Wham, Ms Valli, Esther Yen (myself), Tay An na and Wei Yang Mr Jolovan's Desk and workplace.

4 of the mainland chinese workers who lives in H.O.M.E
Wei Yang helping Xu Yue Ming translate a Chinese document into English

Work shadowing in Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (HOME) has been a remarkable experience. Words cannot fully describe how i feel towards the 4 days form 23 nov - 26 nov, when i was attached to them. HOME is a very humble, warm and caring social centre that helps migrant workers who are too frequently neglected in the goverment and citizens' eye. Till now, i am very apalled and emotionally affected by what these migrant workers face. Their struggles are incredibly hard to bear and i do not know how they still press on and fight with a positive mindset.

I have come to realise that almost all the chinese migrant workers doing jobs such as construction, factory work and food stockpiling work were all cheated to come here. They have to go through an agent in China to help them find a job in Singapore. These migrant workers have to pay a huge sum of 20,000 - 45,000 RMB (S$4,000 - 9,000) to their agents in order to come to Singapore to work. In ALL CASES which came to report to us, they said that the contract signed with the chinese agent was right before the time when their about to board the plane. Therefore, they did not have time to read the contract succintly and trusted their agents. The contents in the contract are totally unparallel to the employment act laws in Singapore.

These migrant workers are often not paid for their overtime hours, public holiday pay and are deprived of consistent salary. Some even do not get pay for more than 4 months! The companies are also irresponsible for work injury, if the migrant workers are sick or injured and the visit the hospital, they have to pay the medical fee. What is worst is that the company do not cover their medical leave salary! I found it ridiculous, how are these migrant workers ever going to make money? They might as well go back to China, even if the pay is low, they are not mistreated and have the support of their loved ones.

I also visited a dormitory in Seragoon. It housed 20 odd BHCC chinese workers. When i stepped in, i was revolted by the immense stench. The floors, which originally was white and green tiles were smeared with layers of dirt. The trash area was full and insects were crawling all over. Sorry, i wish i had some pictures but i used Mr Jolovan's camera to take. Maybe i can ask him for some them i show you all.

The bunk beds were infested with invisible bed bugs. These bunk beds are hard wooden planks. The toilets were rancid and very digusting. I had to bear that environment for 30 minutes, Mr Jolovan and I sat down with them in one room to talk about their problems as a whole group. I did not show that i was very uncomfortable because i did not want to put down these workers. I have come to realise that the chinese workers are smart and resourceful, they produce evidence with camera and record their working hours down. They even had a laptop! I didnt even have one till this year! haha. After the visitation, Mr Jolovan said that i should jump vigorously to brush of all the bed bugs. I SCREAMED for a while......hahah

Another meaningful encounter was when An na and i followed a man called Gong Furong to court to settle his salary issues. (picture below is Gong Furong)

I helped him tabulate his Saturday (180 over time) and Sunday (303) working hours in excel. All of these were NOT PAID!!!!! Talk about cheap labour! This is deliberate abuse! On top of this he had 2 months unpaid salary, unpaid medical fee and expenses, and was deducted S$1,500 without reason.

In the end, because Gong Furong wanted to return home to China as soon as possible, he did not wanted the court case to drag and settled for S$3181 instead of S$5000+ (actual calculated amount). Poor thing, he was a nice and friendly man who deserves much better. OH, can you believe it??? His boss of Gong Furong in the company he was attached to was a China man himself! Even they themselves do not protect their own fellow countrymen. An na and I had many complains about this court case, i think we blabbered about this for close to 30 minutes!

All in all, i was really glad that i had the chance to interact and understand more about migrant workers. I was completely oblivious to their plight before and now i am aware. I also learnt many employment act laws so next time my boss cannot cheat me of money! MUAHAHA