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Employer's Fear of Authorities Caused the Death of Illegal Worker

By Global News Digest

The New Paper -- Singapore
Posted November 26, 2007

Singapore - Xiu Chuntao was a 28 years old migrant worker from China. Four years ago he left his family -- a wife and son, his parents and his wife's parents -- in Liaoning, China in search of work in other parts of China. He was the sole bread-winner of the family.

Nine months ago, an opportunity came for him to leave China and go to work in Singapore. He jumped at the chance and excitedly told his wife back in Liaoning, China that he could earn as much as $50 (Singapore) a day. He promised his wife and their parents to give them a comfortable life. Shortly before his fatal accident, he had also spoken to his two year old son over the phone and told the little boy that he "wants to make enough money to buy him a big house back home."

"When he first told me about coming to work here, he was so excited. He told me and our parents that we can look forward to a better life in future as he could earn as much as $50 a day here," Xiu's 26 years old wife, Qiu Huan, said.

The accident that killed Xiu Chuntao, which occurred on October 25 at a building construction site. He fell off some scaffolding and landed several floors below. He did not die immediately. The accident left his employers debating what to do. Mr. Chuntao was an illegal worker without a work permit. Singapore has very strict rules about work in the city-state. After about 30 minutes of phone calls back and forth between the foreman and his manager, the foreman decided to send Chuntao to the Singapore General Hospital. By this time, the victim had bled so much and was barely breathing, according to eye witness co-workers.

Before they sent him to hospital, the company removed Chuntao's blood-stained shirt with the company's logo on it and reported the fall as a 'road accident'. The victim later died in hospital that same day. A day later the family, back in China, was told of the illegal worker's death. The wife and the parents borrowed money to travel to Singapore to find out what happened to Mr. Chuntao. A local lawyer is helping them with their case free of charge.

The police and the Singapore Ministry of Manpower are also investigating the incident.

Hiring illegal workers is a serius crime in Singapore. Anyone found guilty of hiring foreigners without valid work permits can be jailed for up to one year and fined four years wages for each worker employed illegally.

Nothing was said about compensation to the family and the company is understandably reluctant to cooperate fully. Things are not looking good for the management.

Fear of the law leads many employers to take the wrong decision when accidents involving illegal workers occur. A previous case in which a Bangladeshi was paralysed from the waist down in a workplace accident, his employers fearing for consequences attempted to conceal the incident by dumping the paralysed man down a drain. tThey were caught and two of the employers were sent to jail.