Foreign workers in Singapore 'bear the brunt'

SINGAPORE — After shattering his left heel bone when he fell off a ladder, Chinese national Ah Ping's already difficult life as a labourer in Singapore took a sharp turn for the worse.His Singaporean contractor boss refused to file an injury compensation claim with the manpower ministry, fearing it would sully the company's record. When Ah Ping applied for it himself after nine days in hospital, things turned ugly."He came up to me while I was resting and asked me why I filed the claim," said the 23-year-old from Shandong province, in eastern China, his youthful face creased in a frown."He got angry and slapped me in the face, then he raised his fists and punched me," said Ah Ping, who cannot give his full name because he is assisting police with investigations.Fleeing the dank, mosquito-ridden warehouse he says his boss forced him to stay in, Ah Ping went to aid group Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (HOME) seeking refuge in their shelter for exploited foreign workers.Social workers in Singapore are reporting a rise in the number of foreign workers such as Ah Ping who approach them for help with cases ranging from wage disputes to assault.Maligned by some Singaporeans for supposedly stealing jobs and causing overcrowding, foreigners holding work permits numbered more than 870,000 at the end of 2010 out of Singapore's total population of 5.1 million.They often do the dirty, difficult and dangerous jobs that Singaporeans shun, toiling as maids, construction hands, street sweepers, garbage collectors, cooks and dishwashers as well as lower-end factory workers.Most come from China, South Asia and Southeast Asia."We see an average of about 120 to 150 workers a month... four years ago it was less, maybe about 100," said Jolovan Wham, executive director of HOME."The cases that we see are mostly about labour exploitation," he told AFP in his office as more than 10 workers waited their turn to consult him and his colleagues about their woes.Even though the manpower ministry reported a fall in for

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