Wednesday, January 21, 2015

SINGAPORE::Planned laws on foreign-worker dorms ‘infringe personal space’

TODAY reports: The move unnecessarily singles out migrant workers and reinforces stereotypes about them, say NGOs.


SINGAPORE: Non-government organisations advocating for foreign workers’ welfare here are concerned that the designation of foreign workers dormitories as public spaces - to deal with drunken behaviour - are infringing on what little space this group can call their own in Singapore.
The move, they said, unnecessarily singles out foreign workers and further reinforces stereotypes some may hold about them following the Little India riot in December 2013.

ILO:::Global unemployment to top 212M by 2019

Public sector employees shout slogans during a demonstration against layoffs in Athens
Global unemployment is set to rise in the next five years, with joblessness forecast to increase by 3 million in 2015, according to a new report from the International Labour Organization (ILO).
280 million jobs will need to be created by 2019 to close what ILO termed the "global employment gap"— the number of jobs lost since the start of the financial crisis, once new labor market entrants were accounted for.

MALAYSIA:::Review of levy rate regulates entry of foreign workers


KUALA LUMPUR: The move by the government to review the levy rate on foreign workers enables a better regulation of their entry based on the country's projected needs.

It also encourages employers to hire more local workers and, therefore, reduces the rate of unemployment in the country.

Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) deputy president Abdullah Sani Abdul Halim said the streamlining of levy rate could determine quotas according to sectors to avoid dumping of foreign workers in the country.

He said certain sectors needed a large number of local workers, such as the plantation and manufacturing sectors, while the payment of levy by employers differed according to sectors.