Owed salaries – this is one of the biggest issues plaguing the migrant workers’ industry.
Several errant employers have been exploiting migrant workers by withholding their salaries.
In one case in 2017, a foreign employer owed about 80 workers at least $4,000 each (four months worth of salary) and returned to China without paying the workers.
Migrant workers are also covered by company’s insurance so they can claim via their employer if there’re any workplace injuries.
However, they are not protected outside of work.
Meaning to say, if they suffer from serious injury or death not arising from work, they will not receive any compensation.
For example, a 25-year-old Bangladeshi foreign worker died in a road accident last year.
If he had no insurance coverage outside of work, his family in Bangladesh would not receive any compensation.
But all of these are about to change.
Yesterday, the Migrant Workers’ Centre (MWC) launched a membership card, in collaboration with POSB to provide more protection for migrant workers.
The MWC-POSB free membership programme is basically a tie-up between MWC and POSB.
Currently, employers are given an option to open POSB bank accounts for their workers when they apply for their work permits.
When they opt in, they will have to pay their workers salary through the POSB bank account.
From April 1, new migrant workers who have a POSB bank account, will receive an ATM card that doubles up as a membership card.
Migrant workers can check their monthly salaries through the POSB jolly app and also use the app to send money back home.
When they remit money back to their hometowns, they can do it via the app without incurring any extra charges.
They will also be able to sign up for telco services, insurance coverage, travel perks and even rental of oBike.
These are essential services for migrant workers who are concerned about receiving their monthly paycheck, sending money back home, making overseas calls at affordable rates and even finding cheap air tickets to fly back home.
When employers opt to pay migrant workers through the bank, it’d easy to check if they have paid the workers or not.
In the event that they withhold workers’ payment, the transaction history can be used as evidence in court.
This collaboration helps migrant workers to be better protected and have their needs well taken care of.
Existing migrant workers can sign up for the MWC-POSB membership once the self-service option is ready in the app in the fourth quarter of the year.
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