MIGRANT WORKERS IN #SINGAPORE DURING #COVID19—THREAD:
Since I've been tweeting about this so much I've decided that I should just put together a thread so everything is in one place for everyone. I have no idea how long this thread will go, but let's see, shall we? ⬇️
Since I've been tweeting about this so much I've decided that I should just put together a thread so everything is in one place for everyone. I have no idea how long this thread will go, but let's see, shall we? ⬇️
First off: who are these migrant workers? #Singapore has close to 1 million work permit holders, men and women. Here we're talking about male migrant workers who work on construction sites, shipyards, petrochemical refineries, etc., mostly from #India and #Bangladesh.
On 5 April, the #Singapore government first gazetted two dormitories—S11 Dormitory @ Punggol and Westlite Toh Guan dormitory—as isolation areas for 14 days. This meant that about 20,000 men were confined to their rooms. #COVID19
The next morning, @stcom published a story in which workers at S11 described overcrowded, unhygienic conditions in their dormitories, pointing out that safe distancing against #COVID19 just isn't possible. straitstimes.com/singapore/manp…
That story, plus general shock at the idea of essentially turning dorms into prisons, brought lots of public attention to the conditions in dorms. The Ministry of Manpower responded to say they're working to improve the situation: facebook.com/Josephine.LM.T…
#COVID19 clusters have been found in multiple dormitories across #Singapore island. On 7 April, a third dormitory, Toh Guan dormitory, was declared an isolation area: sg.news.yahoo.com/covid-19-toh-g…
This is all part of the #Singapore government's strategy to deal with #COVID19. They've classified locally transmitted cases into two categories: migrant workers, and cases within "our own community". sgpc.gov.sg/sgpcmedia/medi…
For my report for @AJEnglish, Dr Paul Tambyah told me that this policy of ring-fencing the dorms "is actually the Diamond Princess all over again." People outside the dorms might be protected, but those inside are vulnerable to getting #COVID19. aljazeera.com/news/2020/04/s…
Today, Sungei Tengah Lodge has become the fourth dormitory to be gazetted as an isolation area. Its website claims that it's #Singapore's largest dorm, which can accommodate up to 25,000 people. (I don't know if there are 25,000 workers living in it.) sg.news.yahoo.com/covid-19-sunge…
Migrant labour rights NGO @twc2sg has called for #COVID19 testing to be drastically ramped up so that workers can be moved out of the dorms, because reducing the density within dormitories is a matter of urgent concern: wethecitizens.substack.com/p/twc2-calls-f…
Singaporeans have been stepping up to show solidarity and figure out how they can help. There's currently a petition aimed at raising public awareness and showing support for migrant workers: change.org/p/minister-jos… #COVID19 #Singapore
A fundraiser for @healthservesg and @twc2sg launched by @plspreeti, @subhasmusic and friends yesterday surpassed their S$100k goal within a day: give.asia/campaign/preet…
If you'd like to donate to @home_migrantssg as well, here's the link: giving.sg/web/humanitari… #Singapore
If you'd like to donate to @home_migrantssg as well, here's the link: giving.sg/web/humanitari… #Singapore
The Ministry of Manpower says they are working continuously to improve cleanliness and food quality: mom.gov.sg/newsroom/press…
These are photos of the meals that workers in one of the quarantined dorms have been provided today. They say it's much better than yesterday.
These are photos of the meals that workers in one of the quarantined dorms have been provided today. They say it's much better than yesterday.
I've been alerted to posts on Facebook that are accusing me and others of spreading fake news about the workers' conditions. I've responded:
Please also read this by @laavy_k on @acadsingapore: academia.sg/academic-views… "We must use this current imperative for change to demand more lasting structural amendments that recognize our migrant workers are an integral part of building resilience as a nation."
To give more context to how low we're talking when we say "low wage migrant worker", @twc2sg's statement points out that while the govt will give employers S$100 per quarantined worker per day as an allowance, workers are usually paid $20 to $30 a day. twc2.org.sg/2020/04/08/cov…
.@twc2sg recommends that at least 70% of the S$100 allowance goes to the workers, and to guard against situations where "the more scrooge-like the employer is and the more depressed his average salary per worker is, the more he will benefit from the government’s support."
Thank you to everyone, in #Singapore or out, Singaporean or not, who contributed to these efforts. todayonline.com/singapore/spor…
#Singapore hit another new high (breaking yesterday’s record) of 287 new cases today. 219 of them are migrant workers. The armed forces and police have been mobilised as part of a separate task force to address #COVID19 among migrant workers. todayonline.com/singapore/covi…
The government does seem to be taking @twc2sg’s advice to move workers who are well out and reduce density in dorms. todayonline.com/singapore/covi…
I’m disturbed by this framing of “two separate infections”: there’s only one #COVID19, and it spread among workers ‘cos of the crowded conditions they live in. I worry this framing will further stigmatise workers as carriers and spreaders of the virus. todayonline.com/singapore/covi…
.@home_migrantssg has set up a specific fundraiser to help them support migrant workers through #COVID19: giving.sg/humanitarian-o…
Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong said that if he'd known that #COVID19 would explode in big clusters in dorms, he would have done things differently. mothership.sg/2020/04/lawren… ⬇️
Migrant rights groups have been sounding the alarm for a long time. When I interviewed Luke Tan of @home_migrantssg earlier this week, he said, "It doesn't need to take a pandemic to expose these issues. Any outbreak of TB or any other contagious virus will have the same effect."
On 23 March, before the big clusters exploded this month, @twc2sg wrote a forum letter to @STcom warning about precisely this: "The risk of a new cluster among this group remains undeniable." twc2.org.sg/2020/03/23/str…
A fifth dormitory has been declared an isolation area. Tampines Dormitory has a total of 38 confirmed #COVID19 cases so far. Yesterday 2 blocks at Sungei Tengah Dormitory were gazetted—now the other 8 have been too. channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore…
Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong says #Singapore is dealing with "two separate infections" of #COVID19: one among the migrant worker population (exploding) and one among the local population (stable for now). But migrant workers *are* part of the local population.
How about... workers should not be transported ferried in the back of lorries? straitstimes.com/singapore/coro…
Again, this issue of workers being crowded into the back of lorries has been raised *repeatedly* over the years by migrant rights groups as a hazard: straitstimes.com/singapore/migr…
Again, this issue of workers being crowded into the back of lorries has been raised *repeatedly* over the years by migrant rights groups as a hazard: straitstimes.com/singapore/migr…
A thread on how to help:
The reason migrant rights groups have said that it's a matter of urgency that density is reduced in the dormitories is because it's just not possible to really do safe distancing right now, even in dorms that have been quarantined. The government is now working on this. #COVID19
I've been sent/asked multiple times about a video of migrant workers in what appears to be an empty multi-storey car park, where bunk beds have been set up. I'm not sharing that video because I haven't been able to verify it, nor do I know the context of what's happening there.
Give them a living wage, good accommodation, and the right to unionise (properly, not NTUC-ly)
