Millions of migrant workers worldwide will lose jobs in the global
financial crisis as countries tighten immigration rules, union leaders say.


(ASIA) MANILA, PHILIPPINES (OCTOBER 27, 2008) REUTERS -
The number of undocumented migrant workers across the world is
expected to rise in the face of the global financial crisis, trade unions and
business leaders warned on Monday (October 27), urging governments to respect
labour rights.
"Last week, in the wake of the global financial crisis, we saw a
number of countries indicate that they would consider tightening their
immigration rules and numbers," said Sharan Burrow, president of the
International Trade Union Confederation, at the Global Forum on Migration and
Development in Manila.
She recalled the 1997 Asian financial crisis, wherein migrant workers
in male-dominated sectors were most vulnerable. This time around, she said, a
heavily feminised migrant labour pool mostly in the hospitality and retail
industries is at risk.
"It isn't just construction workers and miners and other
traditional areas of main employment at risk, but also the very real downturn
in the largely female face of work, services and care, that are already, that
is already seeing people return home to face the poverty of no employment in
their own countries. Now I'm personally not convinced that this is economic
sanity on the part of governments," Burrow said.
Civil society groups have advocated for a global architecture for
migrant protection wherein legal channels can be developed.
Burrow, who also heads the civil society discussion at the four-day
Global Forum on Migration and Development, said up to 20 million jobs
worldwide are expected to be cut due to the economic downturn brought by the
financial crisis in the United States and Europe.
The number of working poor living on less than a dollar a day could
rise by some 40 million and those at $2 U.S. dollars a day by more than 100
million, the International Labour Organisation estimated.
She said the impact of the current financial crisis on migrant workers
would be felt in the next six to 18 months, and a rise in illegal immigrants
can be expected.
"In a global financial crisis, we see an increase of people
desperate to make income working without documentation in many nations,"
Burrow said, adding there were up to 40 million illegal migrant workers across
the world, 10 million of which are in the United States.
An estimated nine to 10 million Filipinos work overseas, mostly as
seafarers, nurses, domestic helpers and construction workers. Migrants'
remittances comprise 15 billion U.S. dollars a year, or 10 percent of the
country's GDP.
But Filipinos still queue in droves to apply for overseas work at the
government's recruiting office, hoping that opportunities still abound.
"The Philippine government should fight for the Filipinos' job
security. If they already have jobs abroad, they shouldn't be sent home
anymore," said 45-year old applicant Merlinda Buenaventura.
In downtown Manila, activists from several Asian countries staged an
alternative migration forum, criticising the Global Forum on Migration and
Development as a talk shop with no binding commitments for labour policies.

"Migrant workers are human beings, and they must be treated as
such. Their rights are human rights and trade union rights. We insist that
there should be proper regulation and mechanism to ensure that these rights
are respected and enforced all over the world," said Christopher Ng,
Regional Secretary, Union Network International Global Union.
Ban Ki-Moon, U.N. secretary-general, was due to address the Global
Forum on Migration and Development on Wednesday (October 29) when the set of
recommendations from the civil society meeting would be presented to
representatives from 150 governments across the world.