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HDB Gong Chee-Bye! Didn't know over 1000 FTs live in their factories!
- Thread starter JohnTan
- Start date
Tampines factories house thousands of foreign workers illegally
TAMPINES FACTORIES HOUSE THOUSANDS OF FOREIGN WORKERS ILLEGALLY
<!-- /.block --> <style>.node-article .field-name-link-line-above-tags{float: right;}.node-article .field-name-ad-box-in-article {float: left;margin: 15px 15px 10px 0;}.node-article .field-tags{clear: both;}</style> Post date:
1 Jan 2015 - 3:29pm
[photo credit: The New Paper]
As many as 1,000 foreign workers might be illegally living in some flatted factories in Tampines but a security guard who has been working there for a decade decided to tip The New Paper off on the situation.
"There are thousands of workers living in illegal dormitories here and no one knows about it," he said.
He believes that there could be as many as 8,000 foreign workers living in the cramp quarters.
"This one has 12 workers. That one has 20," he said, as he brought the reporters around.
He also said that the living conditions are appalling.
There were rats running around and mosquitoes as well, and what the workers do can be a safety concern, he felt.
For example, there is no proper cooking area.
"You see the cooking area? It's right next to the place where they make furniture." He was showing the reporters a video he took of the inside.
But why did he not report this to the authorities?
"The most I've seen in a unit is 40 people. When I give the list to the authorities, they will send people down to investigate . But these workers know how to disappear. They will return in a few days when the coast is clear."
And what do the workers think?
"I like living here better (than commercial dormitories)," an Indian national said.
"I have freedom - there's no curfew. I can cook whenever I like. I get (transport) to work, too."
But did he know it was illegal? No, he said. His boss had provided the accommodation for him.
But this was different to what a director at a construction firm said.
"Yes, I know (it is illegal).
"(But) you don't understand the construction culture here. The costs for hiring a foreign worker are getting higher and we're not a big company. If there are no complaints, then why not?"
And it is not just his company which is allowing his workers to stay Illegally at the factory.
"Here (in this area), there's a lot (of other dormitories), too. Just come down on their Sunday rest day and you can see for yourself."
He also said the workers had proper dormitories to live in but they said that they still preferred the factories.
But the other workers are keeping mum on this.
"Oh, we're not staying here," a Chinese national said.
"We're waiting for a pickup."
The reporters were let into another office but the Indian national who let them in did not want to let them through the partitioned area.
"No, no one is sleeping there," he said. This was even though the reporters noticed that there were "piles of shoes and slippers at the doorway" .
But his reason for being there so late at night?
"I'm doing overtime."
Partitioning seems to be the common way of hiding the illegal living quarters in the workshops.
In some of these units, they are actually owned by the companies which hire the workers that live there. Some of the units were being leased out.
Some of them are marked, "under renovation".
Come night time, the foreign workers would come back in truckloads. And they look like they are from the construction, electrical and manufacturing sectors, TNP noted from the registration details of the lorries ferrying them.
But as illegal as it might be, there is actually some form planning behind the living quarters.
Workers get to have breakfast every morning. Boxes of food are left at the foot of the block every morning at 7am, clearly marked. Dinner is also catered for and the workers collect them before 9pm at night, after they return from work.
The workers would also often congregate at the staircase landings and the roadside, to tap on the Wi-Fi.
At each unit, there are also two entrances but one of them is almost always locked, the reporters noticed.
But what do businesses which operate in the day at Tampines Industrial Park A think of the whole set up?
Apparently they know of the illegal dorms but they have been "closing one eye".
"I know about it. I can see them through my window, but if I say anything, I'll be condemned (by the neighbouring tenants)."
And so, the arrangement has been allowed to exist for a long time now.
Two weeks ago, a fire at a Geylang shophouse killed four foreign workers. The shophouse in question was also Illegally-converted. Even though the foreign workers living in the Tampines factory might claim that they find their current living conditions acceptable, from a health and safety perspective, it is still very dangerous for them to be putting their lives at risk.
If a similar accident is to happen, it would not have been worth it.
But then, what are the authorities doing about it? It is known that these Tampines flatted factories are actually owned and managed by the Housing Board (HDB). And these illegally-built living quarters are in violation of HDB's rules.
Is the HDB turning a blind eye to it? And even if the HDB decides to deal with it, will they only push the foreign workers somewhere else.
That this problem is allowed to exist shows a more deep-seated problem - that not enough affordable housing quarters are being built for the foreign workers and that the fundamental human rights of this workers are clearly not being respected, or protected.
TAMPINES FACTORIES HOUSE THOUSANDS OF FOREIGN WORKERS ILLEGALLY
<!-- /.block --> <style>.node-article .field-name-link-line-above-tags{float: right;}.node-article .field-name-ad-box-in-article {float: left;margin: 15px 15px 10px 0;}.node-article .field-tags{clear: both;}</style> Post date:
1 Jan 2015 - 3:29pm
[photo credit: The New Paper]
As many as 1,000 foreign workers might be illegally living in some flatted factories in Tampines but a security guard who has been working there for a decade decided to tip The New Paper off on the situation.
"There are thousands of workers living in illegal dormitories here and no one knows about it," he said.
He believes that there could be as many as 8,000 foreign workers living in the cramp quarters.
"This one has 12 workers. That one has 20," he said, as he brought the reporters around.
He also said that the living conditions are appalling.
There were rats running around and mosquitoes as well, and what the workers do can be a safety concern, he felt.
For example, there is no proper cooking area.
"You see the cooking area? It's right next to the place where they make furniture." He was showing the reporters a video he took of the inside.
But why did he not report this to the authorities?
"The most I've seen in a unit is 40 people. When I give the list to the authorities, they will send people down to investigate . But these workers know how to disappear. They will return in a few days when the coast is clear."
And what do the workers think?
"I like living here better (than commercial dormitories)," an Indian national said.
"I have freedom - there's no curfew. I can cook whenever I like. I get (transport) to work, too."
But did he know it was illegal? No, he said. His boss had provided the accommodation for him.
But this was different to what a director at a construction firm said.
"Yes, I know (it is illegal).
"(But) you don't understand the construction culture here. The costs for hiring a foreign worker are getting higher and we're not a big company. If there are no complaints, then why not?"
And it is not just his company which is allowing his workers to stay Illegally at the factory.
"Here (in this area), there's a lot (of other dormitories), too. Just come down on their Sunday rest day and you can see for yourself."
He also said the workers had proper dormitories to live in but they said that they still preferred the factories.
But the other workers are keeping mum on this.
"Oh, we're not staying here," a Chinese national said.
"We're waiting for a pickup."
The reporters were let into another office but the Indian national who let them in did not want to let them through the partitioned area.
"No, no one is sleeping there," he said. This was even though the reporters noticed that there were "piles of shoes and slippers at the doorway" .
But his reason for being there so late at night?
"I'm doing overtime."
Partitioning seems to be the common way of hiding the illegal living quarters in the workshops.
In some of these units, they are actually owned by the companies which hire the workers that live there. Some of the units were being leased out.
Some of them are marked, "under renovation".
Come night time, the foreign workers would come back in truckloads. And they look like they are from the construction, electrical and manufacturing sectors, TNP noted from the registration details of the lorries ferrying them.
But as illegal as it might be, there is actually some form planning behind the living quarters.
Workers get to have breakfast every morning. Boxes of food are left at the foot of the block every morning at 7am, clearly marked. Dinner is also catered for and the workers collect them before 9pm at night, after they return from work.
The workers would also often congregate at the staircase landings and the roadside, to tap on the Wi-Fi.
At each unit, there are also two entrances but one of them is almost always locked, the reporters noticed.
But what do businesses which operate in the day at Tampines Industrial Park A think of the whole set up?
Apparently they know of the illegal dorms but they have been "closing one eye".
"I know about it. I can see them through my window, but if I say anything, I'll be condemned (by the neighbouring tenants)."
And so, the arrangement has been allowed to exist for a long time now.
Two weeks ago, a fire at a Geylang shophouse killed four foreign workers. The shophouse in question was also Illegally-converted. Even though the foreign workers living in the Tampines factory might claim that they find their current living conditions acceptable, from a health and safety perspective, it is still very dangerous for them to be putting their lives at risk.
If a similar accident is to happen, it would not have been worth it.
But then, what are the authorities doing about it? It is known that these Tampines flatted factories are actually owned and managed by the Housing Board (HDB). And these illegally-built living quarters are in violation of HDB's rules.
Is the HDB turning a blind eye to it? And even if the HDB decides to deal with it, will they only push the foreign workers somewhere else.
That this problem is allowed to exist shows a more deep-seated problem - that not enough affordable housing quarters are being built for the foreign workers and that the fundamental human rights of this workers are clearly not being respected, or protected.
No complaints, no action. Usual style.
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