Nasib pekerja migran di dar al Islam..
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Striking Dubai workers face mass deportation
Fallout from rare strike at Arabtec Construction continues, as many South Asian
labourers ordered to leave the country.
Chris Arsenault Last Modified: 23 May 2013 13:14
The kefala system prevents foreigners from changing jobs without permission
from their company [GALLO/GETTY]
Dubai, United Arab Emirates - A world away from the glitzy skyscrapers and
pulsing nightclubs of downtown Dubai, Bangladeshi labourer Mohamed Ashraf
stares at the metal gates of his labour camp, terrified about his future after
management broke a strike at the company where he has worked for six years.
Backed by security forces, bosses at Arabtec - a massive construction firm with
interests across the oil-rich Gulf states - ended a strike on Monday, but the
fallout continues as more workers are receiving deportation orders.
"Between 20-25 people just got the [deportation] letter now," Ashraf, a
scaffolding installer at Arabtec, told Al Jazeera on Wednesday after receiving
a phone call from a co-worker.
"When we got the news of the [first] deportations [on Monday] everyone came
down shouting. When the police came, we just went back to our rooms. People
were trying to be part of the group without coming to the front," he said.
Unions and strikes are illegal in Dubai and across the Gulf and rather than
demonstrating or holding placards, a few thousand workers simply stayed in
their accommodations last weekend and didn't show up for work.
The strike ended after management refused to accept demands for increased wages
from people earning about $200 a month to complete mega-projects in 40 degree
Celsius heat. Worker demands varied from a monthly pay raise of between
$100-$135, while others wanted free food that they say was promised to them.
Arabtec, Dubai's largest construction firm, has tens of thousands of employees
and contracts to work on the city's airport, the Abu Dhabi branch of the Louvre
museum, and other high-profile projects.
It's unclear how many workers downed their tools or how many received
deportation orders, although it seems dozens if not hundreds will be forced to
leave the country they have helped to build.
A call to Arabtec's media office rang unanswered Thursday, and an emailed
request for comment was not returned.
"Arabtec has been working closely with the UAE Ministry of Labour, the Dubai
Police and the concerned security authorities to resolve as soon as possible a
partial workers stoppage by a limited number of Arabtec labour employees," the
company said in a filing on Tuesday.
Projects will be delivered on time in spite of the strike, the company said.
The Labour Ministry had said that Arabtec was paying the workers according to
contracts.
Police pressure
Dubai is an autonomous city and part of the United Arab Emirates, a federation
run by an unelected emir where the press is censored and public demonstrations
are illegal.
The camp where Ashraf lives with some 2,500 Arabtec employees is located in
Sonapur or the "land of God", a series of dusty streets and barracks-style
labour camps guarded by private security and home to about 200,000 workers.
Arabtec was among the companies that built the Burj Khalifa, the tallest
building in the world [Getty Images]
"We live with five men to a room and 40 or 50 men share a bathroom," Syed
Khaled, a concerete mixer for Arabtec, told Al Jazeera. "The company is very
cruel and going on strike is a good idea."
Khaled said he earns about $102 per month, less than what he would make in his
native Bangladesh. The difference, he said, is that the work in Dubai is
steady, whereas at home he might be employed one month and then have no job for
the next two.
'Slave' states
Other workers, including some who supported the strike, said the money they are
earning in Dubai is far better than anything they could hope for back home."The
strike ended because of pressure from higher management and police," he said.
Sharan Burrow, general secretary of the International Trade Union
Confederation, said workers such as Khaled are "effectively living in
21st-century slave states".
"It's appalling," she told Al Jazeera of the situation in Dubai and across the
Gulf. "The governments and employers must sit down and respect the rights of
workers to bargain collectively. Most companies are forcing their workers to
live in squalor. An unconscionable number of workers die due to unsafe
conditions. These governments are using and abusing migrant workers."
Known for its Ferraris, "seven-star" hotels and other ostentatious displays of
wealth, less than 20 percent of the UAE's roughly 7.9 million residents are
citizens. To attain citizenship, a person must usually demonstrate a blood
connection on the father's side to the Emirates' original inhabitants.
Migrant workers choose to come to Dubai on their own free will, and most locals
believe labourers are offered a better life in the UAE than what's available in
their home countries.
Some labourers seem to support that view. "We are happy to be here; this is not
our country. We could have left anytime," Mahmoud Jamal, a labourer from
Bangladesh, told Al Jazeera. "We are willing to work. We just want to stay
here."
Jamal, a strike supporter, said he's now worried he won't be able to renew his
residency visa as a result of the labour dispute.
Under the kefala system, a worker's legal status in the country is tied to his
employer. Foreigners cannot change jobs without permission from their company.
Supporters say these rules allow citizens to retain their rights while creating
economic stability, while critics say they are a form of modern servitude.
The wage gap between Emirati citizens and blue-collar migrant workers is
massive [Reuters]
A call to Dubai's Ministry of Labour office was put on hold for 30 minutes
without a response on Thursday. An email requesting comment was also not
answered.
Better than home countries
A minority in what they consider their own country, the idea of independent
trade unions for foreigners is unfathomable to most UAE citizens. Strikes and
protests by workers are considered a security risk in a city that prides itself
on being open to investment, tourism and different cultures.
Supporters of Dubai's economic model say a lack of collective bargaining rights
is good for workers, as it leads to more growth and job creation. Part of the
reason why countries such as France are in the economic doldrums, they say, is
because the labour market is overly regulated and employees spend more time
protesting than actually working.
For many residents and most citizens, the Dubai model of cheap, imported labour
and no union recognition has been a boon. If hundreds of Arabtec employees are
deported, there will be thousands of new recruits clamouring to take their
place, leading some to argue the Dubai model is a success as workers understand
their own self-interest and can vote with their feet.
Annual per capital income in the UAE is $48,158, according to the Heritage
Foundation think-tank. In the span of 20 years, the city has transformed itself
into an international hub for tourism, real estate investment and financial
services.
But the wage gap between Emirati citizens and Western technocrats on the one
hand, and the working class on the other, is massive.
Many labourers arrive in Dubai saddled with debt, usually a result of visa fees
and other charges imposed by local labour agents in their home countries. These
practices are illegal in Dubai, but tracking perpetrators in Bangladesh or
India is almost impossible for police forces in the UAE.
The UAE can't be held accountable for corrupt labour practices in
migrant-sending countries, according to some analysts.
Local concerns
Most labourers seem to reserve their scorn for local bosses, unscrupulous visa
agents in their home countries, and labour camp officials.
Dubai's ruler has initiated a campaign to thank blue-collar workers for their
service to the country [Reuters]
"We are sweating, working hard in the hot sun and we aren't getting benefits,"
Arshad Hamid, a scaffolding installer who has been with Arabtec for six years,
told Al Jazeera. "The office boys are getting benefits and their salaries are
higher."
Other workers complained that foremen receive regular wage increases, but they
do not.
Stuart Poole-Robb, the CEO of KCS, a London-based consultancy, once worked in
the UAE helping with security for a petroleum facility. He said conditions in
the labour camps could pose a risk to the UAE's broader stability.
"I am stunned salaries are still at the level they are," Poole-Robb told Al
Jazeera. "By treating people like this they [the Emirates] are opening
themselves up to serious problems."
Agents working for Iran, a country the Gulf states fear, were stirring up
trouble in the labour camps around the petroleum facility, he alleged, and bad
working conditions made some workers receptive to their overtures.
"The camps could end up acting like a Trojan horse," he said. "These workers
deserve a living wage like anyone else."
Dubai's backers say some companies do abuse workers, but these are isolated
incidents that could happen in any society rather than structural problems.
'It won't improve'
Reports including Human Rights Watch's "Building towers, cheating workers" and
a documentary from the BBC programme Panorama exposing abuses at Arabtec have
irritated some Emiratis, who believe the country is unfairly targeted by
Western organisations.
In response to the bad public relations stemming from the treatment of workers,
the UAE has instituted some changes, including the creation of a telephone
hotline through which employees can report abuse. Rights groups, however, say
there has been virtually no improvement for workers in the past decade.
Earlier this year, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashed Al Maktoum, Dubai's ruler and the
UAE's vice president, initiated a campaign to thank blue-collar workers for
their service to the country.
But Mohamed Ashraf isn't feeling particularly appreciated. As he ponders his
next move, the long-time labourer doesn't have much optimism.
"If we formed a union and we had a leader he would take our problems to
management and they would just deport the leader," he said. "I don't think the
situation will improve."
* Names have been changed to protect the identities of workers
Source:
Al Jazeera
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