Dubai Forums Dubai Discussions Dubai General Chat

Once i visited a labour camp in Dubai, And really found surprise the conditions of the labour in the camp. Especially the area around the camp was totally dirty and filthy. It is also the shameful for the Government the lives of labour there. BBC published a documentary and now the Dubai Govt. in action.
http://www.arabianbusiness.com/552047

I for ones needs to see a documentary that consists of the two sides, I mean to be a creditable documentary (like the old days ) they should go a head and ask a cretin question to whom ever is involve in an issue ,hear his answer and then investigate it and show if he is telling the truth or not. I think it is more interesting this way. But if you just wana show the viewers what you want them to see, then yes this is sneaky and with no ethics .

Yes there are companies that really needs an immediate shut down until they fix there mess. And I certainly wana see good faith in this country ,just like the old days. And an end to this world wide media propaganda.

But why is the UK media is interested this much in Dubai all of a sudden ? did Dubai became a competitor to an industrial country ? personal Governments issues ? dirty media games ? I mean whatever is in the news now was there as they clam long time ago ? if so how come most of the investors and properties are for the British ? what do you think ? I know the UK goverment is in it too, I think!

UAEKid,
It wasn't very sudden and unusual. As a rule Western media gives mostly negative inf. about the rest of the World.

In case of BBC it is interesting because their (negative) inf. is more objective than one from another media.

I happened to be back in the UK last week, and caught the documentary in question - it was a Panorama report (half an hour's worth). The reason for the documentary, i believe, was that the companies on question are endorsed on a marketing level by leading Uk "celebrities", such as Michael Owen (footballer) and Jamie Oliver (Celebrity Chef). The angle of the programme, was therefore more attacking the endorsement by celebrities, whilst highlighting the conditions of the camps.

I was particularly interested in the programme, sice i work in construction, and more specifically, in Health and Safety, and so welfare conditions of workers is something that falls in my scope of work. I have to say, from what i saw in the programme (mostly be secret filming), the camps were pretty ing, but it is a twofold problem. When sewage is leaking and flooding between accommodation huts, then it's a contractor problem, but when the kitchen is dirty, then the workers themselves really do need to accept some responsibility, if it is them that are casing it to be left in such a state. One of the sites had even been fined AED 10,000 by Dubai Municipality for the sewage problem, but remained open. In normal circumstances (i.e in the UK), the area would probably have been closed down until made safe, and not be allowed to remain open as a plce to live.

I can, though, stick up for those companies that DO look after their immigrant labour. On the site i am working on, we have operatives villages that house a minimum of 20,000 labourers and junior staff - mostly from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, etc, and they are a world apart from what was shown on the Panorama documentary. These guys have football fields, basketball courts, a cinema....and even a cricket stadium (YES - a stadium.....pitch, bounday boards and seating stands!). They really are well looked after, but then again the main client is probably the biggest in UAE, and so anything like the Panorama programme would be very very damaging to them. Perhaps the producers of the programme should have shown the other side of the coin, by visiting a site such as this (or no doubt others in the UAE), where things are done properly, to highlight the fact that these celebrities have placed their endorsements on companies who perhaps do not show the same level of resepct for their labourers. In this respect, the programme was very one sided, and ill researched.

Panorama used to be a well respected investigative journalism programme, which broke important news and often led to change in the UK...but now it seems to have gone rather tabloid, and in my opinion is not half the programme it used to be (correction - it is half the programme it used to be, because it used to last about an hour, and is now only 30 minutes..... )

Undoubtedly, welfare and indeed safety in construction in the UAE does have some way to go, but it is by no means bad in every situation. I think the programme should have made that point, but then again, it set out to make a negative programme to shame the celebs, and the UK developers, which is where this was aimed, not at Dubai Municipality or the UAE authorities, who, at the end of the day, are the guys who could change things in an instant.

Perhaps low wages are a fact of life for these people - this will never change. But the least these companies should be doing is ensuring their welfare is taken care of and they are treated with respect. When they fail to do this, that's when Dubai Municipality should step in, and fine the living daylights out of the developers, contractors, or whoever else is responsible. They need to make it more expensive for companies to FAIL to provide adequate welfare facilities, than to spend the money to provide them......

There are a no. of sides to this issue:

Pro-companies:

1) Some companies provide quite good accomodation with entertainment facilities for their workers

2) Even if companies invest in housing, many laborers have no sense of hygiene and will end up making the place dirty. The ones who suffer are the laborers with good hygiene

Pro-Workers

1) Many companies (not sure about Arabtec) do cut corners when it comes to housing. They use the BS argument about it being better than "back home", which if often not the case.

2) Many decision makers would rather direct 1million dhs to their own salaries (so they can get that Hummer) rather than use it in labor accomodation.


That said, most of the parties to blame are other expats.....

BlueOrb wrote:I can, though, stick up for those companies that DO look after their immigrant labour. On the site i am working on, we have operatives villages that house a minimum of 20,000 labourers and junior staff - mostly from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, etc, and they are a world apart from what was shown on the Panorama documentary. These guys have football fields, basketball courts, a cinema....and even a cricket stadium (YES - a stadium.....pitch, bounday boards and seating stands!). They really are well looked after, but then again the main client is probably the biggest in UAE, and so anything like the Panorama programme would be very very damaging to them. Perhaps the producers of the programme should have shown the other side of the coin, by visiting a site such as this (or no doubt others in the UAE), where things are done properly, to highlight the fact that these celebrities have placed their endorsements on companies who perhaps do not show the same level of resepct for their labourers. In this respect, the programme was very one sided, and ill researched.

Yas Island?

[quote="yorky500
Yas Island?[/quote]

Yes....in fact they won the Best Achievement in Conctruction Health and Safety 2008 (SHP/IOSH Awards). For this neck of the woods it's a good site.....