Migrant workers stream through the city with no work and little or no money. Twenty-three year old Amran borrowed money from his relatives and even from a neighbor who charged interest to get the $7,000 required to pay an agent in Bangladesh to secure a construction job and work permit. But only nine months into his job, Amran fell and broke his leg so badly that bones protrueded through his skin. And although his doctors recommended that his employers leave him in the hospital, he immediately went back to the work dormitory with a metal plate and sixty screws in his leg. Singapore is one of the fastest growing countries in the world and the use of migrant workers is felt to be vital for its success. There are more than one million migrant workers in this tiny country and although they have beefed up regulation, more is still needed.
These workers are part of the continually growing social problem of mistreated labor workers and the poor class. Workers like Amran, who if they ask for a day off even from injuries as severe as his, will have their permits destroyed and sent back to the country they originated from. Companies in Singapore must carry insurance for their workers and are expected to pay medical costs. But advocates say injuries can be kept under the government radar by minimizing medical care days even for major injuries. One worker even showed two severe burns on his hands from a lit cigarette put on him by an angry boss. These workers are severely mistreated and left in the most unsafe and immoral of conditions. People need to treat others as equals to themselves and realize that the success they have is because of the laborers and middle and lower classes below them. This story is connected to a much larger global problem that is going on all around us. In every country workers are mistreated for the success of their superiors and this is a problem that must be addressed in order to see change.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/07/business/singapore-migrants/
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