Employees live in abject poverty as they fight for their rights (We used to call it slavery?)

Gulfnews (U.A.E.) ^ | 4 March 2006 | Diaa Hadid

[Cornpone]

Dubai: Many workers are living in harsh poverty, after filing court cases against their employers, because they were not told they may temporarily work, with labour ministry permission.

There are no available statistics on how many labour cases there are at Dubai court, or how long they take to resolve.

However, workers with complaints in the labour courts have said cases take can take from four months to years, depending on appeals.

During that time, many workers are living in abject poverty.

They include 26 Indian workers living in the Sharjah Industrial Area, without electricity for the past week. The toilets are clogged and Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority (Sewa) has also threatened to cut the water supply to their dilapidated compound.

Over a dozen Sri Lankan women who worked for the Al Noor Textile Factory, and are now pursuing a case against their manager in court for thousands of dirhams in unpaid wages, have lived without running water and electricity, the latter for several months.

The Sri Lankan consulate and charity organisations have provided food and water for the women.

At least six workers who filed a complaint over a year ago for unpaid wages have slept in unfinished buildings and lived off charity.

None were told they could apply to work elsewhere while their cases are processed in court.

Workers are meant to apply for a temporary labour permit at the Labour Ministry's Labour Relations Department, once they have filed a court case.

Officials there may approve the permit if they believe the worker has a genuine grievance and the sponsor is not cooperating.

Labour Relations Department officials refused to say how many people applied for temporary labour permits, or why people were not told about it when they filed complaints.

Workers said the issue is perplexing because that department is tasked with arbitrating labour disputes, and officials there would have met the worker in question, and be familiar with the case.

Abdullah Bin Salloum, acting labour undersecretary, said he did not know how many applied for the permit, but fewer than one temporary labour permit a month is approved.

Labour guidance section is understaffed

The labour ministry section meant to inform workers' of their rights has no staff specifically dedicated to the task, and has no activities, a senior official said.

The Labour Guidance section is in the Investigations Department at the labour ministry. But the Investigations Department is understaffed. Gulf News reported earlier this year the Ministry has only 80 labour inspectors, that is, one inspector for about every 35,000 workers.

"They are just doing their core job now investigations, even though they have a labour guidance section meant to inform companies and workers of their rights, nobody has the time to do it," said Abdullah Bin Salloum, acting labour undersecretary.

The Social Solidarity Fund an organisation for labour ministry employees, issued booklets on workers' rights and a Federal Labour Law guidebook several years ago, but n either have been updated.

The organisation's members had made plans last year, as reported in Gulf News, to update the publications in coordination with the ministry.

But the official behind the scheme, Obeid Hareb, was forced into early retirement and is now pursuing a case against the labour ministry.

[Howlin]

So how long did it take you to find this one?

I mean, that IS what you're doing, right? Trying to find ANY and ALL the articles that make Dubai look as bad as it can?

[trubluolyguy]

Now don't be posting stuff that makes our good friends inthe UAE look bad. We are supposed to back them and the ports deal no matter how disgusted we might be, simply because the guy in the White House has an R next to his name.

[GOPJ]

Thanks for the post. Sorry I missed it at the time...