Migrant Workers

Filipinos in Singapore have helped their host country stay afloat despite the onslaught of the global financial crisis, Singapore Ambassador to the Philippines A. Selverajah said on Wednesday.

The global economic crisis is posing new challenges for the world’s 100 million migrant workers. They may face reduced employment and migration opportunities, worsening living and working conditions and increasing xenophobia. Although no massive return of migrant workers has been observed so far, the crisis is having repercussions on their earnings and the remittances they…

MANILA, Philippines—About 200 Filipino employees of a New Zealand telecommunications firm joined a nationwide rally Tuesday that was held to protest the adoption of a scheme transforming the employees into sub-contractors.

DOÑA REMEDIOS TRINIDAD, Bulacan , Philippines   – Police arrested 11 suspected undocumented Chinese working at a mining site inside the mineral reservation area of the Biak-na-Bato National Park here over the weekend.

The government of Saudi Arabia is pushing for an intensified HIV testing for all Filipino workers bound for Middle East countries in view of the rising number of AIDS cases all over the world.

However, Anna was informed by her United States employer that her H1B petition was denied. The reason for the denial was reportedly because she did not possess a master’s degree and a license to practice. It was also cited that she did not have a social security number and was not physically present in the…

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Embassy in Belgium urged undocumented Filipinos to avail of the Belgian government’s new migration policy for the regularization of undocumented migrants.

ILLEGAL immigrant workers of Filipino and other nationalities got a break from the Belgian government which last week approved a pact for the regularization of undocumented migrants.

MANILA, Philippines—Belgium is set to regularize the stay of undocumented migrants, including an estimated 2,500 Filipinos, the Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement Friday.

MANILA, Philippines — A recruitment industry consultant labeled as “an additional and unnecessary expense” a proposal by director general Dionisio Santiago of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency to require prospective overseas Filipino workers to undergo mandatory drug testing.

http://ofwonline.ateneo.edu/index.php?option=com_jumi&fileid=3 MANILA, Philippines—Overseas Filipino workers having problems coping with the isolation may now get free online counseling from the Ateneo De Manila University.

MANILA, Philippines — A broad network of migrant workers in the Asia Pacific region and in Europe on Wednesday slammed a new law in Italy which will soon criminalize undocumented migrants.

MANILA, Philippines—Filipino workers in Hong Kong have bonded with workers from other foreign countries in pressing the Legislative Council (LegCo) of Hong Kong to include them in the law that would legislate the wage increase of workers.

EVIAN-LES-BAINS—British Prime Minister Gordon Brown joins French President Nicolas Sarkozy in this Alpine town Monday to prepare for the G8 and agree on new efforts to stem the flow of migrants.

POEA tightens deployment control of OFWs MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration has expanded the category of “low/semi skilled” to include 44 overseas jobs, effectively tightening its control over overseas Filipino workers leaving for these types of work abroad.

MANILA, Philippines – Foreign employers may find it more difficult to hire Filipino domestic helpers and other low skilled workers.

Migrante International, a global alliance of Filipino migrant organizations, has asked the government to immediately act to rescue about 20 Filipino women who were reportedly being held at a recruitment office in Dammam, Saudi Arabia where they are being allegedly treated as its owner’s harem.

MANILA, Philippines—The exodus of Filipino teachers to other countries is expected to continue in the coming years, according to a labor group.

MANILA, Philippines—The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia should revoke its new immigration policy that blacklists foreign workers who run away from their usually abusive employers, an alliance of overseas Filipino workers’ organizations in the Middle East said Thursday.

Filipino workers who will run away from their employers in Saudi Arabia will be banned from returning to the country to work, a local migrant group said yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines—The Italian Senate should reject legislative proposals that would impose criminal penalties on undocumented migrants and provide a national framework for vigilante groups, Human Rights Watch said in a statement released from Milan.

MANILA — An overseas Filipino workers group based in New Zealand warned that Filipinos retrenched as a result of the global economic crisis plaguing the South Pacific state might go underground instead of being sent back to the Philippines.

MANILA, Philippines – Sen. Manuel Villar Jr asked the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration to promptly assist at least 39 overseas Filipino workers who are currently suffering in Kuwait.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AFP)—Foreign maids working in Malaysia will soon get one day off a week as part of a bid to improve working conditions for domestic helpers from overseas, according to a minister.

As temperature soars RIYADH, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia—As summer temperatures rise across the Kingdom, building contractors in Riyadh are giving workers a three-hour break in the afternoons when the heat is at its highest, Al-Watan newspaper reported Monday.

MANILA, Philippines—A group of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in New Zealand will try to persuade immigration officials there next month to allow OFWs laid off due to redundancy to remain in the South Pacific state so that they could find new jobs.

Spotlight interview with G. Rajasekaran (Malaysia – MTUC)   Brussels, 11 June 2009 (ITUC OnLine): How is the economic crisis affecting the large migrant population in Malaysia? G. Rajasekaran, general secretary of the MTUC (1), talks about trade union initiatives designed to help them. He also denounces the exploitation suffered by domestic workers, a particularly…

Few countries have as many of their citizens living abroad as the Philippines, or depend so greatly on migration for their economic vitality, according to Migration Policy Institute.

A few days ago, seven female workers returned home from the Middle East, each telling a litany of woes about her cruel and abusive Arabian employer. They were accompanied by Senator Manuel Villar, who paid for their air fare.

SEOUL—The South Korean government is amnestying undocumented Filipino workers here after President Arroyo appealed to President Lee Myung-Bak on their behalf at the weekend.