Dream job turns into 'nightmare'

Dubai: Egyptian waitresses, in dispute with their employer over non-payment of four months' salary, said that although they worked 18 hours a day, seven days a week, they were reduced to living on tips from customers. They claim that cancellation of their work visas would be disastrous because they took a loan of 15,000 Egyptian pounds (Dh10,095) each against cheques and may face prison if they cannot pay it back. "My dream of a big salary and a good life degenerated into a nightmare after my sponsor failed to pay me for four months," said Amira Nagui Mohammad. Arif Mirza, head of the legal department at the Labour Ministry, said workers whose employer fails to pay their salaries for three months or more are entitled to get their sponsorship transferred without approval of the original sponsor and the business or businesses of the sponsor must be suspended.

Catering workers file complaint with court

Al Ain: Dozens of workers at a private catering company protested here yesterday demanding unpaid salaries and dues dating back several months. The workers, including many women, gathered at the Al Ain courts premises and later dispersed after filing a petition with the reconciliation committee at Al Ain Courts. "The committee asked me to bring some documents," said Ahmad Hassan, an Egyptian worker who filed the petition that says he was not paid his salary (Dh3,500) for the last six months. "I want to get all my dues and an air ticket to go back," he added. Hassan said almost 150 workers at the company, all Asians and Arabs, had been suffering due to the non-payment of salaries for the last three to six months.

It's true that as one article suggests, there are laws designed to either prevent such abuses or to punish those who commit them. But as we have just now learned with the Dallas Austin case, the laws are not always uniformly or routinely enforced. The same is true for an even more important law about passports:

Retaining passports is 'forcible labour'

Abu Dhabi: A senior official reiterated on Monday that private businesses and government institutions that withhold their employees' passports are breaking the law but admitted it is a common practice. "The practice of retaining passports in the UAE is illegal in accordance with court rulings," Aref Mirza, director of the legal department at the Ministry of Labour, told Gulf News. "Retaining workers' passports amounts to forcible work in violation of the International Labour Organisation's (ILO) Convention on the Abolition of Forced Labour, to which the UAE is a signatory." Lieutenant General Shaikh Saif Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Interior, has issued directives to all government departments to reinforce the fact that retaining the passport of any resident without a court order violates the law.

Quite obviously, there'd be no need to for the Minister of Interior to "reinforce" to issue directives to "reinforce" this point if this were not a widespread practice.

But if you think service workers have it bad, consider the plight of those working large infrastructure, construction, and utilities projects:

No noon break for key utility employees

Dubai: A decision has been issued by the Ministry of Labour excluding some professions from the compulsory noon break during summer months. The first article of the decision specified works that cannot be disrupted for technical reasons as asphalt and cement mixing and setting. Works that prevent dangers or fix damages include work needed to fix water and sewage pipes breakdowns, electricity disconnection, traffic disruption or disconnection of gas or petrol lines.

In case it's not obvious why noon breaks might be needed, consider this report on Dubai temperatures also appearing in the Gulf News on July 4th:

Mean June temperature shows marginal increase

Dubai temperatures have been warmer than average for the second month in a row this summer. Last month's above average temperatures tie in with the figures for May this year, which was also warmer than normal. Weather conditions near the end of June were described as "very uncomfortable" by forecasters due to rocketing temperatures and high humidity levels. Figures from the meteorological office at Dubai International Airport show that the average maximum temperature last month was 41.2C (106 F)This is nearly 2 degrees higher than the long term average maximum of 39.4C (103 F) for June. Late last month the meteorologists' comfort index, which combines the effects of temperature, humidity and wind speed, reached 7, which represents "very uncomfortable" conditions. Over the coming weeks the comfort index is likely to soar again. Last August it reached the maximum of 10, which is described as conditions of "extreme stress".

Let me be the first to admit this: my impression is that the UAE and Dubai government does care about the people who experiencing these problems. It is also my impression that they have not quite figured out that asking or even telling employers to behave better is not enough. The laws are on the books. What's needed now, I think, is the will to enforce them. All that being said, it is not hard to understand why workers might want relief sooner than later. As I write from my air-conditioned apartment, I can completely understand why, after working all day in conditions of "extreme stress", construction workers tear things up when they get home and find they have no water. I don't condone it, but I understand it.

Tags: UAE | Dubai | united arab emirates | Middle East | Labor |

See also: Workers protest but fail to get their message across |