Singapore to Aid 400 Migrant Workers Unpaid for Months

Around 400 migrant workers, mostly from India and Bangladesh, not paid wages by their employers for three to four months, will receive SGD 200 in cash and vouchers from the Singapore government, it was announced Wednesday.

The National Trade Union Congress' (NTUC) secretary-general and labour chief Ng Chee Meng said the largest labour movement in Singapore and NGO Migrant Workers' Centre (MWC) will give each worker SGD 100 in cash and SGD 100 in FairPrice (Supermarket) vouchers to help meet daily expenses.

The NTUC has also found 150 construction job vacancies from around 40 employers in the past two days, Ng added. Speaking to the media at Tuas



View Dormitory, where most of the workers are currently housed, Ng said the labour movement has also discussed with the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) on recovering the workers' salaries. 

"The practice of abandoning the workers and not paying salaries is not something that NTUC will stand without acting upon," Channel News Asia quoted Ng as saying.

Earlier on Monday, more than 100 migrant workers employed by KPA Engineering and its related firm SK Industries turned up at MOM's services centre seeking help, having gone unpaid for months. Workers said they had been unable to contact their bosses over the pending wages, according to the Channel report.