20 April 2021

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The 320,000 migrant workers living in dormitories who help build and service the city came into focus last year as Covid-19 raged through their packed buildings, threatening to wreck the nation’s efforts to control the virus. The news turned a spotlight on their living and working conditions, which some labour organisations had been warning about for years. With a vaccine drive now in full swing, most dormitory residents remain largely segregated from the rest of the population, with permission for only limited trips away from their workplace or living quarters.

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While workers said they are glad of the medical support they get, their lives remain a far cry from that of most other residents in Singapore, who are able to shop, dine out, visit friends and even take cruises and attend concerts, with the virus all but eliminated locally. Human rights groups say the government should allow the workers similar freedom of movement and that long-term lessons should be learned from the pandemic about the need to provide better safeguards and conditions for migrant labour, especially in wealthy Singapore.

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Most the workers are employed in the marine, construction or processing sectors and the government is concerned that, until vaccination is widespread, dormitories remain potential sites for a fresh outbreak. The nation’s migrants account for almost 90 per cent of the 60,000 total coronavirus cases confirmed in the country since the pandemic began.

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While workers are frustrated about restrictions on where they can go and who they can meet, those that spoke for this article were mostly satisfied with the government response to the dormitory outbreaks. In December, the government said that there had been only two deaths attributed to the disease among those in dormitories.