A Qatari construction company has fired 529 Nepali workers after running into financial difficulties caused by the global recession, according to this article in Nepalnews - Opens in new tab. The labourers, recruited in Kathmandu through Nepali brokers Trikon Manpower, had not been paid for four months. Pensaltica, their employer, provided them with only return tickets to Nepal - and vague assurances that their salaries would be sent to them by bank transfer.
Migrant construction workers from across the developing world have been hit hard by the effects of the global meltdown. As construction activity in the Gulf states has ground to a halt, thousands of workers have been laid off without pay and with no hope of securing another job. The Nepalis in this story were at least given a flight ticket home - unlike these workers mentioned in an earlier post on M-R.org, who were left to languish in a labour camp without food, sanitation or any means of leaving the country after their employer went bust.