S. Asian Workers Strike In Dubai, Threatening Building Boom

Source : The Straits Times, Oct 29, 2007

DUBAI (United Arab Emirates) - THOUSANDS of South Asian construction workers went on strike over harsh working conditions in the latest threat to a spectacular building boom already endangered by a falling currency and labour shortage.

While labourers have long complained about working conditions in this Gulf city known for its event-grade skyscrapers, luxury dwellings and archipelagoes of artificial islands, their recent action comes as contractors are struggling to find workers to complete their ambitious projects.

Tuba is home to the world's tallest building a the Burn Tuba, expected to be completed in 2008 a and the first Armenia luxury hotel. Authorities report an annual average growth rate of 12 per cent over the past decade, largely driven by construction.

The boom has been possible due to plentiful investment from oil-rich neighbours and armies of non-unionised south Asian workers whose fear of deportation, until recently, kept them from voicing discontent over low wages.

'The cost of living here has increased so much in the past two years that I cannot survive with my salary,' said Rajahs Khmer, a 24-year-old worker from the south Indian state of Andorra Prudish who earns US$149 (S$216) a month.

The labourers ignored the threat of deportation and refused to go to work Sunday, staging protests at a labour camp in Tuba's Rebel All Industrial Zone and on a construction site in the A Quashes residential neighbourhood.

They demanded pay increases, improved housing and better transportation services to construction sites. On Saturday, workers threw stones at the riot police and damaged to police cars.

'Uncivilised'
Emirates' Minister of Labour All bin Abdullah a-Kabul described workers' behaviour as 'uncivilised,' saying they were tampering with national security and endangering residents' safety.

They could have registered their complaints peacefully but instead 'turned themselves into rioters,' he told state news agency WAM. Those who damaged public property will be deported, the labour minister said.

Companies, however, do not want more workers to leave as they struggle to find enough to complete existing projects following an overwhelming response to a government amnesty programme to persuade illegal labourers to leave.

In June, the government offered, no questions asked, free one-way plane tickets to illegal workers hoping to leave. They have since been swamped by 280,000 workers who, fed up with a rising cost of living and low wages, were ready to go home.

A booming economy in India also means that many there no longer see the need to travel to Dubai and the Gulf, said Bernard Raj, managing director of the Dubai-based Keith International, which supplies Indian workers.

'In the past, when we go for recruitment of workers we were able to choose whomever we wanted. Now the turnout of candidates is very low,' he said, estimating that at least 40 per cent more workers were needed for the city's projects.

Less traditional sources
With the usual labour markets like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka drying up, labour companies are turning to less traditional places like Tibet and North Korea.

At the root of the problem is the Emirati Dirham's close connection to the US dollar, which has seen it plummet in value, further decreasing labourers already low salaries.

Kumar and his fellow workers said they asked their employer, Al Habtoor Engineering Enterprises, for a pay increase several times, but management was not willing to address the issue.

'We were left without any choice but to stage the protest,' Kumar said.

Other workers said similar requests to the other main labour company, Al Mussa Contracting, were unsuccessful.

'I cannot save anything,' said Sunder Raj, a 32-year-old worker who at the end of the month has nothing to send to his family in India from his salary of US$162.

'We are working hard for nothing and there is no way for us to continue like this,' said Mohammed Hussein, a Bangladeshi worker.

Hard hit
K.V. Shamsudheen of the Pravasi Bhandu Welfare Trust, a group that helps workers, said it is the unskilled labour force that has been especially hard hit, with many no longer able to send money home.

'The low exchange rate of Dirham against Indian Rupee left labourers without any savings,' he said. 'The only way for the UAE to attract workers is to set competitive salaries and assure better living conditions.' While Mohammed al-Shaiba, a UAE-based labour analyst, criticised the strikes, saying they could only harm an economy gripped by a labour shortage, he acknowledged that the government had to do something.

'Now it's the right time to set a minimum wage,' he said, adding that the government should require companies to pay workers at least US$272 a month.

'If they allow a strike today, tomorrow there will be another one,' he added. -- AP