Singapore and Covid-19

The perils of ignoring migrant workers

A month ago, Singapore was Southeast Asia's poster child in the battle against Covid-19. Between aggressive contract tracing and testing, and quarantine for expats in government-sponsored five-star sea view hotels with room service, it seemed Singapore could do no wrong.

But in the span of a week, Singapore went from having one of Southeast Asia's lowest Covid-19 cases to its highest. Now, it only lags behind China and India in overall cases in Asia. What happened?

Squalid living conditions

The new surge has been linked to the government overlooking the squalid conditions of the island nation's foreign workers, who mostly live in crowded dormitories - sometimes up to 20 sharing rooms no bigger than half a tennis court. These workers, mostly from South Asia, make up a fifth of Singapore's population.

With the number of cases spiking, Singapore's Covid-19 narrative has definitely soured in the public eye. The new outbreak has exposed the poor conditions of migrant workers in the glitzy Southeast Asian city, wrote Bloomberg. Workers described to The Guardian their living quarters being more like prisons or slaughterhouses – with workers’ beds being stacked on top of each other – with little ventilation. The Financial Times reported the government did not take seriously activist groups, which raised alarms a month prior. Vice raised the double standard of the country's treatment of the people who literally helped build it.

Short-term consequences

Singapore's Manpower Minister Josephine Teo has hinted at enforcement action against private employers of these workers under the country's Foreign Employee Dormitories Act, which mandates companies to have proper quarantine and treatment facilities in worker dormitories.

On the business front, Singapore is also paying for this slip up. The government has mandated that 285,000 foreign workers stay home until mid-May. This has virtually crippled Singapore's construction and manufacturing economy, which overtly relies on these workers. Companies like shipbuilder Keppel Corp and mall owner CapitaLand have seen their shares plummet. Singapore's construction industry is the worst hit in Asia Pacific, according to Fitch Solutions, which projected that the sector could shrink up to 10.3% this year.

Singapore's present predicament highlights just how easily one blind spot can undo a lot of progress and public goodwill. For all its strict safeguards and gaudy measures to project an image of strength, Singapore failed to recognise that its overall success was only as strong as its most vulnerable people.

Companies are also seeing how failing to protect their workers can prove to have devastating effects. Projects grind to a halt and bottom lines are hit when employers fail to see that their workers are the essential cogs that keep businesses alive. Reputations also come undone. Companies will find it harder to curry consumer confidence and loyalty if they are seen as being unsympathetic at best, and inhumane at worst, towards their workers.

Will this lead to real change?

For what it's worth, the pandemic is changing the way we discuss and prioritise labour rights and wellbeing. While at the bare minimum, businesses should by right be treating workers humanely as mandated by the International Labour Organization’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work; the Singapore case study shows there really is a business argument to be made on top of the moral one.

Companies need to reassess the human rights impact their businesses have on their workers and communities. Rather than starting from the top down, it is essential that companies identify the people that are most vulnerable in their businesses and focus efforts to mitigate the risks these groups face first.

More often than not, these vulnerable groups are almost always migrant workers, who have nonetheless proved that they are often the most essential element in many businesses and the global economy. When your foundation collapses, everything else that was built on top of it will be for naught.