RP workers in Dubai may face layoffs

By Edson C. Tandoc Jr.
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Posted date: October 15, 2008

MANILA, Philippines—The construction industry in Dubai is also in danger of being affected by the global financial slowdown, risking the jobs of Filipino construction workers there, an international labor union representative has warned.

Ambet Yuson, regional representative of the Malaysia-based Building and Wood Workers International Asia-Pacific said almost half of the investments poured into massive construction projects in Dubai came from investors borrowing from US banks, which have been badly hit by the financial crisis. Yuson said he based this on reports from their members.

“It will mean that many construction workers are going home,” Yuson said in a phone call to the Philippine Daily Inquirer from Hong Kong.

However, he said that nearby countries in the Middle East have been so far safe from the financial slump, like Kuwait, whose infrastructure projects were largely funded by the government.