In rich Singapore, why must migrant workers go hungry?
- The labourers who build the gleaming skyline made famous in Crazy Rich Asians are paid as little as US$15 a day for 12 hour shifts, meaning they have little choice but to turn to low cost caterers to provide their meals
- Unfortunately, the food served is often paltry, nutritionally insufficient and sometimes downright rotten
Whenever Mominul Hassan calls his wife and two children back home in Bangladesh, he makes it a point to disable the video call function on his phone so that they will not be able to see him.
“If my wife sees me, she will worry and ask me to come home. I miss home but I also need to earn enough money before I can return,” he said.
Hassan, 32, weighed 65kg when he arrived here. Today, he is only 55kg – a dip caused by a lack of proper food and nutrition, he said.
Hassan is not alone. In one of Asia’s most developed countries, where food wastage is a national problem, migrant workers are going hungry because of low wages and a highly competitive food catering industry that capitalises on the willingness of workers to scrimp and save for a better life.
LOW WAGES, FEW OPTIONS
