Life in a Bin Centre

When I first met Akash* a few months ago, I couldn’t help but spy a slightly tarnished ring on his finger and a worn-out Blackberry in his hand. Before I could ask him how he had acquired these items, he cheerily announced that he had picked them up from the rubbish bins at […]

When a Company Folds, Who Suffers?

In August, a group of workers from Yong Yi Lin Construction (2000) Pte Ltd had a dispute with their employer over delayed remuneration and went to MOM to seek recourse. To their horror, they discovered that their work permits had actually been cancelled a month earlier and so they had been working “illegally” […]

Burn Victim’s Road to Recovery

The night before Chun Ming left for China, he packed only one set of clothes. The rest of his luggage was filled with music books, muffin trays, filters and coffee powder. In 2011, the 19-year-old from Henan province, China came to Singapore to work as a kitchen helper in a restaurant in Little […]