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H01
The cranes towering over the under-construction Burjuman metro rail station in Dubai are in ceaseless motion. They are at work even at night, while Asian workers clad in blue overalls, yellow industrial helmets, and green sleeveless jackets toil.
Construction activity in Dubai is at its peak and a number of glittering high-rises are coming up at a feverish pace. But behind all the glitz is another story — of underpaid blue collar workers, who have begun to realise that they are victims of an unfair deal. Many have begun to protest, and are making their voices heard.
In an unprecedented move, nearly 40,000 workers from the Dubai-based construction giant Arabtec went on strike recently, bringing life to a standstill in the company’s 26 labour camps in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). After intense negotiations, the strike was called off on November 10. The details of the settlement are yet to emerge, but the workers were demanding a monthly pay hike of dirham 200 (about Rs.2,000).
Labour unrest has also engulfed the giant Jebel Ali Free Zone and the area surrounding it. Last month, nearly 2,000 workers, belonging to the construction firm Pauling Middle East, were up in arms demanding higher wages. Some of them turned violent, smashed police vehicles, and disrupted traffic. The police arrested nearly 4,500 workers but later released them, while detaining 159 — who now face criminal charges.
In neighbouring Bahrain, workers of a Saudi Arabia-based dairy firm Almarai launched the longest-ever strike in the Kingdom’s history. The employees were demanding a minimum monthly wage of BD 230 (about Rs.23,000).
The rash of strikes in Dubai has hit the city’s organised sector, especially the construction industry. According to a diplomatic source, a glaring problem involves the modus operandi of labour hiring, mainly in the economic free zones.
It is common for employees in the free zones, such as the one in Jebel Ali, to sign contracts without the direct intervention by the Ministry of Labour or the attestation of documents by the Indian Consulate in Dubai (with respect to Indians). In most cases, these contracts are in Arabic. The workers, unfamiliar as they are with Arabic, often end up signing contracts without full knowledge of their contents. Many later discover that they have become legally bound to an agreement, which they find difficult to fulfil. Once it is signed, it is not easy for workers to seek redress in a court of law on issues that the contract does not cover. Strikes in the UAE are illegal, trade unions cannot be formed, and recourse to collective bargaining is not institutionalised. A significant section of the 7,00,000 construction workers in the country work in the free zones.
The recent cases of unrest have brought into focus the wage structure for workers, especially in the construction sector. With strikes affecting major projects, and keeping in mind the requirement of free flow of labour in the future, the UAE government has taken serious note of the problem. The official news agency WAM recently reported that the UAE Cabinet had asked construction companies to issue new proposals on salaries “as a matter of urgency.” It is anticipated that the move might lead to the government fixing a minimum wage for its working population.
Like most countries in the Gulf, the UAE has a huge population of domestic workers. A large number of the estimated 6,00,000 domestic workers, most of them women, are employed in individual households. However, there are no watertight institutional arrangements in place that would ensure that these workers are not abused. Unlike in the past, Dubai authorities recently made it compulsory for domestic workers and their employers to sign contracts that specify their terms of employment. While this step has been welcomed, sources in the Indian Consulate say the Consulate has so far not received copies of any contracts which Indian domestic workers may have signed with their employers. Besides, a back-up mechanism that would assist domestic workers in distress is still in a rudimentary stage. So far, the Indian Community Welfare Committee (ICWC), which runs a shelter in Dubai, shoulders most of the burden of helping stranded Indian women workers in the city.
Aware of the difficulties, especially those encountered by domestic workers, the Indian Consulate in Dubai is finalising a new minimum wage regime for them. As of now, it has set a minimum monthly wage of dirham 600 (approximately Rs. 6,000). In Bahrain, the Indian Embassy has fixed the minimum wage for domestic workers at BD 100 around Rs.10, 000). Besides, employers must provide domestic help with a mobile phone so that they can seek assistance if required. “We are currently only looking at introducing a minimum wage for expatriate domestic workers, as we feel they are the most vulnerable at the moment,” Balkrishna Shetty, the Indian Ambassador to Bahrain, has been quoted as saying.
The strike by Arabtec workers, the
majority of them Indians, has
driven home the point that urgent labour reforms will be the key to
Dubai’s success in the future. A non-oil economy, Dubai is developing
its tourism industry and requires a large supply of blue collar workers
to build the dozens of hotels that are to come up over the next few
years. A regular stream of labour is also required to develop its
rapidly growing transportation network. Located strategically at the
crossroads of Asia, Africa, Central Asia, and Europe, Dubai has
developed its Jebel Ali port as a gateway for international trade and
commerce. A massive new airport at Jebel Ali, with six parallel
runways, is under construction. The criticality of foreign labour for
Dubai and a new-found assertiveness among themselves means Asian
workers in the UAE and large parts of the Gulf may finally be close to
getting a fair deal.
http://www.thehindu.com/2007/11/22/stories/2007112255871300.htm