Thousands of OFWs in Macau fear losing jobs

MANILA, Philippines - Amid the hiring freeze spreading in Macau, Filipina casino server Babes said she has given up on looking for a new job after her contract expires this week, saying that fighting the inevitable is futile and a waste of money. She is just one of the thousands of overseas Filipino workers (OFW) in Macau who fear losing their jobs next year as dozens of big casinos have started laying off staff due to the decline in visitor arrivals in the gaming capital of Asia. Recruitment consultant Emmanuel Geslani said in a press statement on Tuesday he found out during his recent visit to Macau that OFWs working in numerous casinos and hotels fear that they will be the first casualties of company layoffs because they receive higher salaries than the locals. The average monthly salary of an OFW in Macau is around $1,200 to $1,800 or almost P60,000 to P90,000, depending on the nature of the job. On the other hand, local workers receive only $1,300 or almost P65,000, which is comparatively lower than non-residential workers. There are over 200 hotel-casinos all over Macau and the neighboring island of the Taipa-Cotai strip that is billed as the “Las Vegas of Asia," whose employees are mostly Filipinos. About 11,000 to 12,000 Filipinos comprise 40 percent of the casino workers in Macau. Due to the global crunch, however, the gaming industry has seen a drop for the first time in employment figures since 2004. Macau casinos and hotels like the Wynn Macau, MGM Grand Macau, and the Venetian-Macau Hotel-Casino are currently implementing cutbacks while several hotel projects have stopped construction due investor concerns and the drop in tourist arrival. Some of the Filipinos in the Venetian working as card slot machine attendants, hosts, security, and surveillance crew,. revealed that they are just finishing their two-year contracts as they have been advised that these will not be renewed. Filipino staff at the Venetian food court and sit-down restaurants also worry about their jobs since the drop in tourist arrivals has affected the number of their customers. Edwin Saldaña, quality assurance manager of Menzies Macau Airport Services and long time resident of Macau, told Geslani that around 300 to 400 Filipino construction workers were sent home when the construction of the “City of Dreams," a four-building casino-hotel complex, was stopped. Apparently, even the Venetian Macau Hotel-Resort portion, billed as the “largest resort in the world," had stopped all construction and terminated thousands of Asian construction workers composed mostly of Indians, Bangladeshis, Chinese, and Filipinos. He also said that the onset of the world financial crisis has caused a drop in the number of daily flights arriving in Macau Airport from 70 in 2006 and 2007 to an average of 50. - GMANews.TV