# Dubai Labour Thread (all news about labour & construction workers)



## dubaiflo (Jan 3, 2005)

i though we will never hear the name, too.


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## smussuw (Feb 1, 2004)

Thanx to my lovely new newspaper we did


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## SKYMTL (Jan 21, 2005)

If a company can't afford to pay workers what the heck is that company doing building properties. Imagine the cutbacks they are making to the buildings themselves. 

For over three months now I've been studying Dubai for the family company and what I've been seeing worries me to no end. Sure, the potential for profit is huge but at what cost? We have three employees in-country right now and the trends they are reporting shade a new light on the UAE government and their distinct lack of focus. 

The building codes themselves are virtually nonexistant and the lack of an Urban Master Plan for a city as quick-growing as Dubai is inexcusable. Developers are able to develop what they want, wherever they want. Do companies like Emarr adhere to the few guidelines that exist? No. 

Why? Because developers are the main reason for Dubai's success in garnering international attention so they get carte blanche to do...anything.

Unpaid workers, squalid working conditions (ie: labour camps), power outages and gridlock on the SZR are just the tip of the iceberg. Stay tuned....


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## Dubai_Steve (Jan 11, 2005)

The Indian government has blacklisted a contracting company in Dubai after it repeatedly violated contractual obligations to workers.

Blacklisting means a ban on recruitment of Indian workers and refusal to grant consular service, including attestation of documents related to workers. 

The firm involved is Al Hamed Company for Development, which employs about 15,000 people of various nationalities.

It was hit by a flash strike on Monday staged by nearly 1,000 Asian workers — most of them Indians — demanding backpay of up to five months.

The company has worked out a compromise under which it will pay three months’ outstanding wages by the end of this month and the rest by next month.

The development is seen as a victory for workers and a sign that more labour unrest could follow in similar situations in other companies. 

On the positive side, employers would be careful not to violate the ministry regulations on timely payment of wages and other contractual obligations.

Sources said the company had appealed to the ministry of labour against enforcing a 24-hour deadline set on Monday for settling the dues and worked out the compromise with the ministry’s intervention.

The company, which would have had to cough up more than 5 million dirhams if it were to meet the deadline set by the minister of labour, Ali Bin Abdullah Kaabi, submitted that it was not possible for it to do so.

A committee of labour, police, immigration and municipal officials will monitor the implementation of the payment agreement.


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## Dubai_Steve (Jan 11, 2005)

Al Hamed's Mission statement!

The main driving force in today's construction, engineering and development markets is the demand by clients for a quality service responsive to all their needs, from the provision of individual skills *to management, with full responsibility*, of the most complicated project. 

Al Hamed Development and Construction L.L.C. will contine to emphasise the highest quality of management, *financial strength * and controls throughout its operation.


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## Dubai_Steve (Jan 11, 2005)

The company (Al Hamed), which is a contractor on the Palm project undertaken by Nakheel, did not comment on the issue when contacted by Khaleej Times. But a ministry official was quoted by AFP as saying: “The firm says it has several construction sites and thousands of labourers, and that it pays their wages by rotation.”


DAMAC Properties, the largest freehold private real estate developer in the UAE signed yesterday an agreement with Al Hamed Development and Construction to build its third freehold property, Lake Terrace, in Jumeirah lake Towers.


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## malec (Apr 17, 2005)

They should just close the fucking company down. hno:


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## dubaiflo (Jan 3, 2005)

agree. or it should be watched at least


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## malec (Apr 17, 2005)

So, are these workers getting payed yet? I agree with those french guys when they say "c'est vraiment degeulasse".

IMO all workers should be payed 1000 dirhams per month at least. It doesn't matter how badly they're treated in their own countries. Treating them a bit better doesn't mean anything if it's still shit.


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## smussuw (Feb 1, 2004)

I dont understand why do we have to pay them 1000 dirhams?

They have contracts and they choose their salary in their mother countries. For example south asian maids ask for 500 dirhams and indonesian ask for 600 dirham. It depend on their country and they agreed on those salaries.

We give them free housing, health care and food. What do they expect else? Same apply to those workers. The only thing here is that they should pay them on time.


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## Dubai_Boy (May 21, 2003)

"أعط الأجير أجره قبل أن يجف عرقه" صدق رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم

This is a Hadeeth by the Prophet mohammed PBUH , where he says that a worker must be paid before his sweat dries

sorry for the extremly poor translation


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## Ben_Burj (Aug 28, 2005)

smussuw said:


> I dont understand why do we have to pay them 1000 dirhams?
> 
> They have contracts and they choose their salary in their mother countries. For example south asian maids ask for 500 dirhams and indonesian ask for 600 dirham. It depend on their country and they agreed on those salaries.
> 
> We give them free housing, health care and food. What do they expect else? Same apply to those workers. The only thing here is that they should pay them on time.


It is not about salary but also about living conditions for some of them. 
Another problem where the origin does not come necessarily from Dubai is that when they are home some guys promise them a higher salary and when they are in Dubai the situation is different.

I’ve heard at a certain moment that the government had plan to employ the workers then it rent them to companies and they have to pay instead directly the government is this true?


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## Ben_Burj (Aug 28, 2005)

malec said:


> So, are these workers getting payed yet? I agree with those french guys when they say "c'est vraiment degeulasse".
> 
> IMO all workers should be payed 1000 dirhams per month at least. It doesn't matter how badly they're treated in their own countries. Treating them a bit better doesn't mean anything if it's still shit.


"c'est vraiment degeulasse". But I don’t think the French are in a good position to criticize Dubai, the same TV program also made while ago a reportage about people being exploited in France in a number of industries.


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## smussuw (Feb 1, 2004)

Ben_Burj said:


> It is not about salary but also about living conditions for some of them.
> Another problem where the origin does not come necessarily from Dubai is that when they are home some guys promise them a higher salary and when they are in Dubai the situation is different.


I agree on this one.



> I’ve heard at a certain moment that the government had plan to employ the workers then it rent them to companies and they have to pay instead directly the government is this true?


Can u explain more?

I'll try to explain on what I understood. The municipality had thousands of laborers for landscaping and cleaning. In its new strategy in modernization and privatization, those laborers moved to another company dedicated for those things. This means the municipality has a contract with the company and the labour arent part of the municipality's business anymore.


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## malec (Apr 17, 2005)

I didn't mean it that harshly. I was just using a quote to express what I think incidents such as that company that hadn't payed it's workers for a few months. I'm not saying I agree with everything those guys are saying (such as a few racist comments made by a few there)


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## smussuw (Feb 1, 2004)

:cheers:


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## malec (Apr 17, 2005)

Unpaid workers survive on dates 

By Diaa Hadid, Staff Reporter 

Dubai/Ajman: Dozens of unpaid construction workers have been on a protest at their labour camp for the past 10 days, cut off from the outside world and surviving on dates from a nearby farm. 
The men are refusing to work unless they are paid five months' wages. Fifteen other workers have already absconded, they said.

The camp is outside Ajman, off a desert road, close to a date farm.


Arshad Ali/Gulf News
Workers who say they have not been paid for five months share a meal of dates at their labour camp outside Ajman. 


Last Sunday, the 38 Indian, Nepalese and Pakistani men working for a labour supply company went to the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs to lodge a complaint, but could not afford to pay charges to a typing office.

They said that labour officials asked them to file individual complaints.

"We could not afford to do that, so we went home," said Bishnu Bahadur, one of the workers.

He said they had trouble communicating with labour officials, because the men speak regional languages. Only a handful speak broken Hindi and English.

They said they had survived for a few months on meagre savings, selling off possessions, then borrowing off friends, then using credit at a nearby grocery store.

Bahadur said they began eating dates from a nearby farm, after they were unable to pay anybody back. The farm's Egyptian caretaker confirmed the men's story.


Arshad Ali/Gulf News
Workers' sponsor says he intends to pay them, but at present he is facing financial problems. 


"They've been eating the dates for the past 10 days. I don't have the heart to say no, because they've nothing else. But at the rate they are eating, we'll be out of dates in three days," he said.

The men said they only had a small supply of salty drinking water, obtained from a small tank on the roof of the labour camp.

"We go to the mosque to drink from the water cooler, but there are so many of us," Bahadur said.

While Gulf News reporters were at the labour camp, the sponsor came to the camp the first time, the workers said.

The sponsor said the men were only owed two months' salary, not five.

He said he intended to pay the workers, but said he had financial problems.

"I am owed hundreds of thousands of dollars. I can't pay because I don't have money."

The man said he had come to the camp to give the workers some money.

"They say they are hungry, but I am offering them money. I will pay them by October 10, I have promised them."

He declined to tell Gulf News how much money he intended to pay the workers at the camp.

Later, one of the workers, Asghar, called Gulf News, and said their sponsor offered them "Dh50 and Dh100 each, but we said we would not take it".

"We are owed a lot of money, this will not do anything. We want to make a complaint and ask for our salaries."

The sponsor said his hands were tied. "I have never been late in paying salaries before, but my situation is difficult."

With inputs from Ashfaq Ahmed, Staff Reporter

------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/NationNF.asp?ArticleID=183202

No comment hno:


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## dubaiflo (Jan 3, 2005)

there is a point.
this situation was acceptable as long as the workers were actually given housing, health care and food, but at the moment this is not happening, i think they are actually kinda slaves.


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## juiced (Aug 18, 2004)

Ben_Burj said:


> "c'est vraiment degeulasse". But I don’t think the French are in a good position to criticize Dubai, the same TV program also made while ago a reportage about people being exploited in France in a number of industries.


the difference is france has better protection laws, whereas dubai has very few and everyone knows full well what goes on in those labour camps


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## Dubai-Lover (Jul 4, 2004)

Task force to fight for labourers’ rights

DUBAI Authorities have responded to concerns over the poor treatment of construction labourers across the emirate. 

The issue was highlighted last week when about 1000 workers from the Al Hamed Company for Development and Projects gathered in the middle of Sheikh Zayed Road last Monday morning to demand unpaid wages, halting rush-hour traffic for more than an hour.

A task force, the Permanent Committee of Labour Affairs, has been set up to tackle the problem and provide a forum and address difficulties experienced by labourers and their employers. Part of the service will provide an avenue for labourers to contact authorities if they are not being paid or feel their employers are unfairly abusing them. 

“We will listen to the labourers and their problems and listen to the company managers their problems,” said Captain Fahd Al Awadi, from Dubai police’s human rights department, He agreed that construction labourers had been treated very badly in the emirate in the past, but assured that this was changing.

Al Awdhi said a common problem was that the construction firms experienced delays in payment from the contractors that had commissioned the projects. Therefore, they inevitability had to delay payment to the labours. 

“Some companies have different projects and they invest in different sites so their cash flow will be spent all over the place, so then suddenly they have a shortage,” he said. Al Awdhi said it was the aim of the committee to make sure this stopped happening and that construction companies had the capital to fully support whatever projects they were undertaking. “You cannot run a company in this country without having funds in the bank,” he said. 

The Permanent Committee of Labour Affairs is made up of officials from the police force, the municipality and the immigration department, amongst others.

Al Awdhi assured that the body would come down hard on any firms that deliberately avoided paying their workers. “There are companies which are frauds, they toy with people and use them.” He said, in such instances, the committee would help these workers find another sponsor. 

Al Awdhi added that in many instances, it was possible for the committee to get construction companies to cough up unpaid wages within 48 hours. 

The committee is compiling a list of all construction companies in Dubai, calling them up, looking at their salary situation, and the problems they faced. 

Construction workers in Dubai are paid, on average, about 800 dirhams a month. 

Al Awadi said the committee would be following up to make sure the workers involved in the protest on Sheikh Zayed Road received their overdue wages.


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## Dubai-Lover (Jul 4, 2004)

Al Hamed admits to not paying workers for at least two months


Last week’s demonstration in Dubai was the largest protest by site workers in the UAE for almost a year. 
Contractor Al Hamed Development & Construction Company has admitted to withholding at least two months of salaries owed to its workers.

And it says that employees will have to wait until the third week of October until they get their August pay — despite warnings of legal action by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.

The admission follows last week’s demonstration of more than 300 site workers, which brought traffic on Dubai’s Sheikh Zayed Road to a standstill. Labour minister Dr. Ali Bin Abdullah Al Ka’abi threatened the company with legal action unless it paid its workers the money owed to them.

It is understood that the ministry has also banned the contractor from recruiting any new workers for six months.

An estimated 300 construction workers downed tools last Monday morning and staged a march on Sheikh Zayed Road.
The men had been working on sites at Dubai Marina.
The contractor claims that it has been forced to withhold salary payments to employees because of costs incurred through paying fines for absconding workers.

In a statement, the company said: “This mode of action by workers imposes a financial burden on the companies, where they have to pay the penalties to the government for failing to report absconding workers.”

It continued: “It has also been decided to clear all the current dues of the workers up to the end of July by 30th September, and August salaries will be paid by the third week of October.
Last week’s demonstration was the largest involving construction workers in the UAE in nearly a year.


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## Dubai-Lover (Jul 4, 2004)

my idea
sue this crap company and make it public all over dubai
just to make other companies see what they have to face when they start shit like this!!!


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## dubaiflo (Jan 3, 2005)

good start overall.


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## malec (Apr 17, 2005)

Good to see more and more of this making the news:

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/Display...r/theuae_September790.xml&section=theuae&col=

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/Display...r/theuae_September801.xml&section=theuae&col=

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/Display...r/theuae_September768.xml&section=theuae&col=

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/Display...r/theuae_September791.xml&section=theuae&col=


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## Dubai-Lover (Jul 4, 2004)

Contractors to invest in first 'luxury' labour camp









The Satwa 87: The days of cramming construction workers into sub-standard accommodation could be numbered. 
Contractors are being invited to invest in the UAE’s first ‘luxury’ labour camp for construction workers.

Developer Tameer Holding is building what it describes as ‘plush’ accommodation consisting of 1000 rooms on a one million square foot development in Umm Al Quwain.

And Construction Week has learned that other developers are also drawing up plans to build similar new camps in anticipation of a licensing scheme covering the sector.

The US $27 million (AED100 million) development will offer high quality facilities, cleaning services and security to site workers — in stark contrast to the squalid accommodation typically associated with labour camps in the Gulf.

The site has been chosen to service several mega-projects in close proximity. Contractors will be able to invest in 99 year leases and the minimum investment will be for nine rooms.
Construction companies will also be allowed to sub-let the properties if required.

Omar Ayesh, president of Tameer Holding, said: “We aim to provide high standard residential units with excellent facilities and services for construction workers and others.”

He added: “There is a big shortage of labour accommodation and there is demand for more projects like this one. But it is difficult to find decent plots and the land prices make them expensive to develop.”

International property consultant CBRE has received several enquiries about similar schemes at its Dubai office. And developers in Abu Dhabi are also drawing up plans for 
a new generation of labour camps designed to service the expected surge in construction activity within the emirate over the next five years.

“We have been approached by several developers and quasi governmental organisations looking at the feasibility of developing housing compounds that enhance human rights for lower paid workers,” said Simon Townsend, director, CBRE.

The housing development will be located within Tameer’s Emirates Modern Industrial Area.

“We will provide all the maintenance, cleaning and security and there will be shops and all the facilities that workers would need in one place,” added Ayesh.

The acute shortage of labour accommodation in Dubai 
has pushed up rents and forced contractors to cram 
more workers into dormitory-style accommodation.

CW recently uncovered a family-sized villa in the Dubai suburb of Satwa where 87 Indian construction workers had been forced to live.


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## dubaiflo (Jan 3, 2005)

great news... hope this becomes a regular thing.

and tameer is not one of the smaller developers i would say


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