Article
Singapore: Migrant workers struggle with low wages absent a minimum wage law; incidences of non-payment are common
"Singapore's migrant workers struggle to get paid", 25 February 2018
Singapore's constant construction boosts the economy, and relies on a large foreign labor force. As of June 2017, Singapore had about 296,700 migrant workers in the construction industry, from countries like Bangladesh, India, Myanmar and China...
Working in a city without a minimum wage...for some it's a huge struggle to get paid.
Sardar Md Insan Ali from Bangladesh hoped his earnings from Singapore's construction sector would translate to a better life...
He...was promised he would be paid S$1,600 (US$1,173) a month.
...[H]e discovered his wage would be just S$18 ($13) per day. His employer chose not to pay him in full for eight months.
Singapore's Ministry of Manpower said it had received 9,000 salary-related claims involving 4,500 employers. These figures include both local and migrant workers.
...95% of those cases were resolved either through mediation or in the Labor Court. He added that 158 employers had been prosecuted and convicted over the last three years for not paying wages.
However...a social work executive at the Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (HOME), said that number is low, because the ministry favors "a conciliatory approach over a punitive one in resolving salary claims" to maintain its business-friendly reputation.
Singapore's Ministry of Manpower said... =it prosecutes employers who willfully refuse to pay workers their owed salaries and said that it has been able to recover salaries in full for 90% of cases.
However, it said it didn't criminalize every case of salary non-payment, especially those borne out of business failure...
...Filing a complaint against one's boss can trigger repercussions. Under Singaporean law, migrant workers' permits are tied to their employers, who can terminate work permits at any time.