Published : 08 Nov 2026, 01:31 AM
Updated : 08 Nov 2026, 01:46 AM
More than 230 migrant workers in Singapore, most of them Bangladeshis, have been linked with potential employers after losing their jobs over unpaid wages at two companies.
Some have reportedly also received their outstanding pay.
Employers in the construction and process sectors met the workers at a job fair at the Ministry of Manpower’s (MOM) onboarding centre on Friday, The Straits Times reports.
The report said the workers, who complained about unpaid wages in October, had been connected with prospective employers and given temporary accommodation.
They worked for Process Maintenance Solutions and Jurong Technical and Construction, both under investigation by MOM over alleged wage non-payment.
Among them is 21-year-old Bangladeshi worker Rabbani Md Golam, who arrived in Singapore from Rajshahi in April.
With two months of unpaid wages, he had less than 10 Singapore dollars left. But he regained some hope after receiving a job offer from a construction company on Nov 6.
“I’m not as worried now. I’ll be able to earn a salary again. I’ve had to borrow money from friends to get by over the past month,” Rabbani told The Straits Times.
Another worker from the same company, 23-year-old Md Sabbir Alam, received his outstanding wages in early November.
He said the payment had brought relief. As the sole breadwinner for his family of four in Bangladesh, he hopes his new construction job will allow him to send money home again.
Uncertainty remains for others. Saymon Islam, 21, who worked for Jurong Technical and Construction, is still waiting for a final decision from a prospective employer.
His work permit was cancelled in October, leaving him unable to work, and he is owed three months’ wages.
He said he still had to repay a 6,000 Singapore dollar loan taken to travel to Singapore and would have to return to work even if he did not recover his unpaid wages.
The report said nearly all of the roughly 120 affected workers at Process Maintenance Solutions had received their outstanding pay, according to five employees.
Three workers from Jurong Technical and Construction, however, said they were still waiting for their wages.
A previous Straits Times report on Oct 29 said workers at the two companies had not been paid since August. Their work permits were cancelled in several batches from late September.
The workers are being offered jobs in construction as well as processing. Many are interested in moving to construction because it offers relatively higher pay.
A survey published in August by Singapore-based migrant worker rights group Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) found that construction workers earned an average of 868 Singapore dollars a month, compared with 771 Singapore dollars in the processing sector. Both figures included allowances but excluded overtime pay.
The Migrant Workers’ Centre (MWC) and MOM are helping the workers recover unpaid wages and find new jobs, while also arranging food and accommodation.
MWC said the affected workers had been moved to MOM’s onboarding centre by Nov 3.
More than 90 percent of the 230 workers receiving its assistance had formally lodged complaints over unpaid wages.
MWC Director Michael Lim said the organisation was also helping workers who had found jobs independently to apply for a change of employer under the relevant rules. It would continue to support them in recovering their wages and deciding on their next steps.
MOM said it was taking the wage complaints seriously. It would take appropriate action against the companies if investigations found breaches of employment laws.
It, however, declined to provide details about the two firms or any possible links between them, citing the ongoing investigation.
An earlier Straits Times investigation found that directors of the two companies had previously taken charge of two separate firms owned by a man arrested in July on suspicion of employment-related offences.
MOM suspects a criminal syndicate may have been involved in that case.
Affected workers have also accused a Bangladeshi man linked to the two companies of recruiting them and assigning them to different workplaces.
They have contacted the Bangladesh High Commission in Singapore over the matter.
