Singapore, Jun 24: Around 400 migrant workers, mostly from India and Bangladesh, not paid wages by their employers for three to four months, will receive SGD 200 in cash and vouchers from the Singapore government, it was announced Wednesday.
The National Trade Union Congress’ (NTUC) secretary-general and labour chief Ng Chee Meng said the largest labour movement in Singapore and NGO Migrant Workers’ Centre (MWC) will give each worker SGD 100 in cash and SGD 100 in FairPrice (Supermarket) vouchers to help meet daily expenses.
The NTUC has also found 150 construction job vacancies from around 40 employers in the past two days, Ng added.
Speaking to the media at Tuas View Dormitory, where most of the workers are currently housed, Ng said the labour movement has also discussed with the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) on recovering the workers’ salaries.
“The practice of abandoning the workers and not paying salaries is not something that NTUC will stand without acting upon,” Channel News Asia quoted Ng as saying.
Earlier on Monday, more than 100 migrant workers employed by KPA Engineering and its related firm SK Industries turned up at MOM’s services centre seeking help, having gone unpaid for months.
Workers said they had been unable to contact their bosses over the pending wages, according to the Channel report.
On Tuesday, another group of 100 migrant workers from India and Bangladesh alerted the authorities about issues of unpaid wages and housing arrangements, The Straits Times reported.
On Wednesday, during his visit to the dormitory, Ng said: “I understand they still owe agency fees, and some of them are in debt.”
“I understand that they (employers) may not be in the country,” The Straits Times quoted Ng, the highest-ranking labour movement official in the city state, as saying.
Ng spoke to around 200 affected workers with the help of Tamil and Bengali interpreters on Wednesday. When asked, most workers said three months’ salary was pending while some said four months’ worth.
Most workers also said they wanted to seek alternative employment in Singapore.
Minister of State for Manpower Dinesh Vasu Dash, who was also present at Wednesday’s dormitory visit by labour chief Ng, said the ministry takes a “very serious view” of employers who may have placed the workers in their current situation, and that the ministry would take the necessary actions following investigations.
While the funding support was “modest,” the Channel had Dinesh as saying, he added that it would help workers tide over the period.
The MOM will issue special passes to the workers in the interim, allowing them to remain in Singapore while seeking new employment.
Most of the workers are in the air-conditioning installation or construction sectors with sufficient job demand, he added.
Dinesh further said workers would be moved to MOM’s onboarding centre in Sengkang in northern part of the island state once their stay at Tuas View Dormitory ends.
The MOM and the Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management, which handles salary disputes, are also assisting the workers, including reaching out to their employers.
KPA Engineering is a company that provides air-conditioning maintenance services. A common director set up SK Industries in 2023 and in 2025 registered three companies with the business registry in one day, each with him as the sole director.
The MOM is investigating the companies for possible breaches, the media reports said. (PTI)
