Policy Brief: Protecting Migrant Workers’ Rights in the Midst of Covid-19
15 July 2020
The Covid-19 pandemic has affected people from different walks of life, but low-wage migrant workers, together with other marginalised groups, have been affected disproportionately. Particularly, a large majority of reported cases have come from clusters in dormitories for migrant workers.
This policy brief is prepared by HOME to ensure that the welfare and rights of workers are upheld during this period and beyond. Migrant workers play an important part in our community and economy. We are guided by the principles of equality and non-discrimination in the areas that we have identified which need to be addressed. The issues we raise are based on feedback from workers to whom HOME provides assistance. We are approached by an average of 100 workers a month for employment advice, counselling and financial assistance. We also run a shelter for domestic workers which houses an average of 50 to 60 persons.
As the situation is constantly evolving, the issues we have raised and our recommendations may change, depending on the circumstances.
Areas of concern for migrant workers (Construction, Marine, Services sectors and S Pass holders)
a) Loss of income / employment of migrant workers and employer refusing to pay for upkeep;
b) Migrant workers are vulnerable to infection due to congested dormitory living and sometimes unsanitary living conditions;
c) Impossible to implement social distancing and hygiene practices in cramped crowded settings;
d) Increased stress due to uncertainty about their jobs, anxiety about home / onsite quarantining and worries about families back home;
e) Inequitable access to support - workers living in smaller dormitories (factory converted dormitories) and shared accommodations who are at risk of getting ‘left behind’ and not getting the resources being deployed to the purpose-built dormitories;
f) Lack of access to medical care, some for critical illnesses;
g) Heavy restrictions, costs or inability to travel back to country of origin after loss of employment; and
h) Inadequate and low quality food due to poor preparation and low cost.
Areas of concern for migrant domestic workers (MDWs)
a) Increase in MDWs requiring accommodation and protection assistance due to abuse or unexpected loss of employment;
b) Heavy restrictions, costs or inability to travel back to country of origin after loss of employment;
c) Increase in cases of abuse of MDWs requiring crisis intervention and mediation services;
d) Many on Temporary Job Scheme unable to find work or on Special Pass who are required to remain in country to support investigations and legally not permitted to work;
e) Inadequate rest for workers due to increased heavy work loads of many MDWs, due to additional cleaning, food prep, child minding, no day off and marketing, and other well-being issues such as restriction of mobile phone usage and increased surveillance of MDWs at home; and
f) Increased workplace stress due to home quarantining of family members.
Recommendations
1. Step up testing
We acknowledge resource constraints on mass testing. But the high density and vulnerability of residents in mega dorms demand decisive pre-emptive action. Isolating residents with symptoms is insufficient for two reasons: (1) asymptomatic transmisibility of Covid-19 and (2) population density in dormitories.
2. Access to health care and vulnerability to asymptomatic infection
HOME still sees cases where employers not only refused to cover workers’ medical expenses, but also discouraged or even punished workers for seeing a doctor when unwell. Unsurprisingly, workers usually see a doctor only when their symptoms are sustained or more serious. Workers' poor access to timely medical care means those infected may go undetected until much later: lengthening the period that the virus may be transmitted.
In the current circumstances, deterring migrant workers from medical care also endangers the broader community. Similarly, MDWs should be encouraged to report to their agents and employers if they are feeling unwell and see a doctor. Medical expenses and accommodation costs should be borne by the employer or the agent and should not be shouldered by the MDW.
HOME urges MOM to take stern action against employers who violate their healthcare obligations to the workers as provided by the law. Given the public health situation, migrant workers’ access to healthcare is even more important. Migrant workers should also be paid their salaries while on medical leave, or serving SHN, LOA or quarantined.
While workers may get MOM’s help to recover medical expenses, they should not be discouraged from seeing a doctor in the first place. Proactive enforcement of existing laws in the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act is key to ensuring that employers act responsibly towards both their workers and the community.
3. Address density in worker’s dorms
Mega dormitories house tens of thousands of workers. At any one time, residents have to share facilities, such as toilets and eating areas, with dozens of people. Even in licensed commercial dormitories that adhere to the authorities' standards for housing migrant workers, the small amount of space allocated per resident means safe physical distancing is extremely difficult. Conditions are often worse in the unlicensed accommodation that many employers house their workers in, such as converted industrial premises. Measures to stagger facility usage are not sufficient when the usage is still so high. Workers should actively be re-located to disused or vacant buildings and army barracks. Partnership with hotels to accommodate some of these workers should also be considered, so that over crowding does not happen.
4. Workers in other living quarters
A lot of attention is focused on the 44 purpose built dormitories and the factory converted dormitories. There is a significant number of workers who live in poor conditions on construction sites, shophouses, and private apartments. Welfare assistance, tests and outreach needs to be extended to them too. ,
5. Access to timely and reliable information
It is not easy for migrant workers to access information in a rapidly evolving situation, especially if they speak regional languages like Burmese, Thai etc. For instance, the advisory issued on 23 March 2020 allows only restricted entry/ return of work pass holders, including their dependents, limited to those providing essential services, such as in healthcare and transport. This is an update from earlier when all work pass holders and their dependents could enter Singapore after obtaining prior approval from MOM before commencing their journey. Employers and employment agencies need to communicate with their counterparts in the countries of origin, and to the workers themselves, to ensure that timely and reliable information reaches migrant workers in home countries before they commence their journey. Migrant workers should also be informed by employers of social distancing measures implemented by the authorities, and the consequences (e.g. work passes may be revoked) of non-compliance.
MOM can consider appointing some workers in each dormitory, who can educate and monitor their peers with regard to the enhanced measures. Our experience shows that peer learning and leadership are highly effective strategies in influencing group norms.
It is important to consider the imbalance of power between employers and low wage migrant workers on work permit. Many migrant workers rely on their employers to provide accurate and timely information on government advisories and laws. Indeed, it is the responsibility of employers to keep them informed. It is difficult for workers to be kept up to date on these matters, when most of the announcements are made in languages which the worker may not understand. From HOME’s experience, most workers may not have access to media outlets carrying these messages. If an employer expects a worker to be at work, they may feel obliged to comply for fear of displeasing them or of losing their jobs. If the worker has debts due to recruitment fees, this pressure is intensified.
Similarly, MDWs may have concerns regarding their own well-being if they are living and working with a family served with a SHN. Information and guidelines should also be provided to MDWs living in their employers’ residence to ensure that they are informed of their rights and are practising good hygiene behaviour.
We urge the government to work with civil society and community groups with access to workers and telecom companies which have a register of the workers’ mobile numbers and nationality to disseminate timely information in the various languages so that information and knowledge of their rights can be quickly disseminated.
6. Assuring workers that they will be paid
Many workers have contacted us that they are concerned that with the stop work orders and circuit breakers, they will not be paid. It is important for the Ministry of Manpower to assure them that they will still receive their basic salaries, as provided for under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act even when their companies do not have jobs for them. Advisories about payment of salaries during the circuit-breaker period and requirements that salaries must be now paid electronically should be communicated to workers in their native languages. Strong enforcement of such policies are needed, as this will assure workers who are worried about their income and employment stability, bearing in mind that many of them are sole breadwinners of their families back home. While wage deductions for food, accommodation and utilities are usually permitted for migrant workers, in these extraordinary circumstances, these should not be allowed.
7. Upkeep and maintenance
There have been reports of poor food and insufficient masks, especially in the locked down dormitories. Steps must be taken to ensure that face masks and hand sanitisers are sufficient, and that the food given to workers are sufficient, nutritious and culturally appropriate. For those unable to return home due to travel restrictions, their employers’ responsibility to provide their upkeep in Singapore must be enforced. The government must put aside more resources to support workers in these situations who are unable to remain in the care of their employers, including shelter for domestic workers in distress.
8. Prevent termination of employment for those affected by the circuit breaker
We are concerned that some employers may unfairly cancel their employee’s work permits and repatriate workers during this period in order to reduce their responsibility and cut costs, to the detriment of worker’s rights. We urge the Ministry of Manpower to monitor work permit cancellations closely and ensure that workers are not being sent home because of the impact of Covid-19.
9. Liberalising employment mobility
We urge MOM to consider liberalising migrant workers’ ability to switch employers, at least in the short term, given that there are restrictions in bringing in migrant workers to Singapore. This will allow workers who are terminated by their employers to seek new employment regardless of their previous employers’ permission. Recognizing workers’ autonomy in seeking employment will more effectively mitigate the unprecedented current challenges faced by both workers and business due to restrictions in labor migration in current circumstances. Our migrant workers are resourceful and tenacious. Now that circumstances force us to recognize that they are not fungible, MOM policy should duly give effect to their autonomy to meet Singapore's labour needs.
10. Migrant domestic workers and rest days
The Ministry of Manpower announced on 11 April 2020 that migrant domestic workers must stay home on rest days, save for essential errands. Live in domestic work makes it difficult for workers to rest as unlike regular employees, they have no fixed hours of work. We urge the government to send advisories to employers not to assign chores and to make it clear to domestic workers that they need not work on rest days. In the event that they are asked to work and are not paid their rest day in lieu compensation, they should be allowed to file these claims and granted the right to switch employers within a reasonable time frame so that they are not discouraged from filing complaints for fear of losing employment. MDWs should also be given their own space to rest and relax in their employers’ houses during their rest days, so that they feel comfortable spending their rest days at their employers’ houses. We urge MOM to clearly define a rest day as being 24 hours to minimise disputes over rest day compensation.
11. Levy waiver and subsidies for employers
Employers face mounting costs as a result of Covid-19. Not only are they incurring losses because of the stoppage of work and services, they are also responsible for the costs of upkeep and maintenance of their workers. We urge the government to waive levy payment during this period as the costs can be prohibitive. The levy for each worker can be as high as $900. The government should also consider subsidising the wage bill of each foreign worker in the same way that it has done for Singaporeans and Permanent Residents.
12. Punishment of breaching circuit breaker and other government directives should be fair, non-discriminatory and proportionate.
On 13 April 2020, 24 work pass holders have been permanently barred for allegedly flouting circuit breaker measures. Considering that these were first-time violations (in the absence of information to the contrary), HOME considers these measures to be harsh and disproportionate, and urges MOM to weigh the seriousness of the violations against the workers’ plight amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.
In contrast to the sanctions meted out to these workers, Singapore residents who have flouted the enhanced safe distancing measures have only been issued $300 fines or written advisories. It is unclear to us why work pass holders are punished so much more severely. If the intention is to “send a clear signal of the seriousness of the offense”, as MOM has said in its statement, these standards should be applied evenly across everyone regardless of nationality and residential status.
It is important that the government’s response is fair and proportionate to all who live here and have a shared social responsibility to contain this virus. Given the chaos in workers’ lives at the moment, as well as the measures that prevent them from leaving their dormitories, it is unclear that these punishments will be communicated widely enough to act as deterrents either.
As mentioned above, it is our view that better communication about the measures, in workers’ native languages, and improved living conditions, will go a much longer way in supporting workers to comply with the measures, rather than such punitive actions. MOM can consider appointing some workers in each dormitory as circuit-breaker ambassadors, who can educate and monitor their peers with regard to the enhanced measures. Our experience shows that peer learning and leadership are highly effective strategies in influencing group norms.
When workers are found to be in breach of the rules, we ask that officers give them a chance to explain their circumstances. There are realities we might not be able to see from where we stand, and listening to their perspectives will enable us to better conceive of ways to ensure compliance.
13. Involve migrant workers in decision making processes
The government, employers and dormitory operators should facilitate conversations with workers, especially those at the affected dormitories. Peer leaders can be elected among workers so that so that they can effectively represent the needs of workers.
Addressing long term issues
1. Poor Living Conditions
Housing workers in big, purpose-built dormitories may resolve some accommodation issues. But it makes the workers extremely vulnerable. From our experience of visiting dormitories, the space allotted according to the guidelines is still too cramped, in our view. They are unable to protect themselves with safe distancing. There is also a disparity in standards for workers in dormitories of different sizes and those who live in factory converted dormitories and on-site housing.
Looking to the future, we hope for structural changes so that migrant workers will be in a better position to protect themselves and the community around them. Keeping them in such living conditions creates systemic vulnerabilities waiting to erupt. This endangers the workers and the broader community: not only during pandemics, but even with smaller-scale disease outbreak such as tuberculosis. Singapore has benefited so much from enjoying the fruits of their labour while keeping their cost low. We owe it to them and their families to spare no effort to protect them.
Workers should be housed according to international standards. We urge the government to consult the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the United Nations Committee for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights for technical expertise in this area. Amendments should also be made to the Foreign Employees Dormitory Act. Our comments and recommendations in this area can be found here.
2. Access to healthcare
The lack of healthcare subsidies for migrant workers has placed the cost and upkeep of the migrant worker’s healthcare solely on the employers, who are incentivised to act in their best economic interest only. Moreover as subsidised medical costs are usually a fraction of the unsubsidised costs, employers are reluctant to pay what seems an exorbitant amount for their workers. These subsidies were removed in 2007, with former Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan saying that “it is unfair for Singaporeans to subsidise” the healthcare of foreign workers. As a result, employers choose to repatriate workers rather than to provide for their medical needs. Workers who then choose to file a complaint to the MOM are still terminated and repatriated unless a doctor certifies that they are not fit to fly. As a result, many workers do not seek medical treatment out of fear of losing their livelihoods and resign themselves to deteriorating standards of health.
We recommend that the Ministry of Health extend subsidies of medical treatment at all public hospitals and clinics to migrant workers. Since they make substantial contributions to the economy and community, their basic health needs should be affordable and accessible.
Current hospitalization insurance policy should also be reviewed to ensure that migrant workers have higher minimum mandatory hospitalization health insurance coverage.
3. Recruitment fees
The lack of regulation in recruitment fees for migrant workers poses a significant threat to their well-being. During this period, migrant workers have expressed fears of losing their employment and not being able to pay back their recruitment debts should their employment be terminated. This has contributed significantly to their worries and anxieties. To tackle this problem, HOME urges the government to work more proactively with the governments of sending countries to ensure that workers who are issued work permits have gone thorugh legal channels in the countries of origin. Other ways of tackling this problem is to forbid employment agencies in Singapore from collecting fees on behalf of their overseas counterparts and creating an online portal for workers to be matched with employers seeking workers, and thus reducing the reliance on exploitative agents.
4. Ensure quality meals for workers
The quality of food provided to construction and marine sector workers within their dormitories remains largely unregulated. A study conducted by CARE and Healthserve in 2015 revealed 86.2% of 500 respondents said that the food provided to workers by the caterers within the dormitories makes them sick, with common complaints of a lack of protein, expired ingredients and spoiled food. The Ministry of Manpower should create regulations to ensure that employers which cater food for workers ensure that their meals are edible, culturally appropriate and nutritious. Enforcement officers can be deployed at work sites and dormitories to ensure that the food prepared is in compliance with standards set out by the National Environment Agency and daily nutrition intake guidelines.