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I just saw a french (i think, could be Swiss French too) documentary about the harsh conditions of the labourers in Dubai.

Before I accept an offer to work in Dubai (as an engineer), I would like to know if the exploitation is wide-spread or the interviewers just haphazardoudly took the worst cases so we have the wrong picture.
What I saw in the documentary: Bad workconditions, e.g. every day someone gets killed by an accident, and the suicide rate among the Indian, Nepalese, Paki, ... labourers is impressively high. Labourers have their passport taken and can't get it back to quit the job and go back home. They (especially the Chinese) are packed together in what we in Europe would call Concentration Camps. They are mostly all lured to Dubai with financial prosperty but the dream is quickly destroyed once they arrive.

The diplomats of the concerned citizens (Indian,..) can't (won't) put pressure on the Dubai authority because they are happy to get extra jobs for their large domestic workforce.

Any country that exploits people (labourers of other countries) , hides the truth for objective researchers, uses its police-mussle (to avoid contact between labourers and the press), is in my eyes a REAL underdevelopped country: No matter how fancy and luxurious the buildings you make.
Like we say: You can give a monkey a golden ring, but it remains a monkey.

So, is it a problem or is it exagerrated?

Not having seen the documentary I can't opine.

Remember: Believe none of what you hear and only half of what you see.

Nevertheless, there is surely some exploatation: by whom and to what extent is something the general population does not know (no access to the situation) or may not care to know. Clearly the laborers, particularly in the construction industry, are not living the life of luxury in Dubai. Perhaps the negative press, documentaries, etc. will have a possitive affect on the situation. Hopefully it won't come in time when all the laborers are no longer needed in which case the situation will repeat itself somewhere else like Abu Dhabi, etc. - viscious cycle.

Where did you see the documentary? Title? Public release?

There's been more publicity recently about the plight of labourers, even in the local press. Conditions are harsh but improving. Slowly.

Passport retention is common in many occupations, not just construction. It's illegal but done anyway.

Unpaid/late salaries is another problem.

Also a new law has been drafted to give those laborers rights ..such as the right to go on strike, and complain and go to the authorities. The construction companies have been using a campaign of fear among those poor souls to stop them from going to the authorities. So now the govt is making sure to spread the word that if you are being exploited, you have to come up and complain .. if you are unpaid you shoud go on strike, etc ...

This law just comes in effect in a few days so this is very new developments. Just want to assure you this is not a govt policy or a systematic thing. It is jus t some greedy indivisuals.

Also, its very noble that you are investigating this issue before accepting to work here. High ethics, we need more of that here !!

MaaaD wrote:Also a new law has been drafted to give those laborers rights ..such as the right to go on strike, and complain and go to the authorities.

There was something like that in Oman too recently.

But will it apply to expats or nationals only? I thought the original draft excluded expat labourers (I don't know of any Emirati labourers). Or was that just for the formation of unions?

Here is an essential site for anyone interested in worker's rights.

Worker's rights in the UAE - http://www.mafiwasta.com

Kewl site, thank you K.

sharewadi wrote:

MaaaD wrote:Also a new law has been drafted to give those laborers rights ..such as the right to go on strike, and complain and go to the authorities.

There was something like that in Oman too recently.

But will it apply to expats or nationals only? I thought the original draft excluded expat labourers (I don't know of any Emirati labourers). Or was that just for the formation of unions?

http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/06 ... 52327.html