Dubai construction workers strike

Dubai construction workers strike

Thousands of foreign construction workers in the Gulf state of Dubai have gone on strike over pay and conditions.
Workers blocked roads and threw stones at police on Saturday, prompting a government threat to deport rioters.
A fall in value of the UAE dirham means workers are unable to send as much money home as they previously could.
Dubai's economy has boomed in recent years, fuelled largely by a construction industry reliant on low-paid workers, many from South Asia.
But the emirate has been hit by a labour shortage recently as India's own economic boom has offered an alternative source of jobs.
Dubai's foreign workers are demanding higher pay and improved housing as they work on prestige projects such as the Burj Dubai - set to be the world's tallest building.
Analysts say it is time for the authorities to consider a minimum wage.
Story from BBC NEWS:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/7066853.stmPublished: 2007/10/29 05:30:11 GMT© BBC MMVII
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Dubai construction workers strike

Thousands of South Asian construction workers have gone on strike in Dubai over bad working conditions and low pay, threatening the emirate's already struggling building boom.
Labourers have long complained about working conditions in the Gulf and Sunday's strike comes as contractors struggle to find workers to complete their projects.
"The cost of living here has increased so much in the past two years that I cannot survive with my salary," said Rajesh Kumar, a 24-year-old worker from the south Indian state of Andhra Pradesh who earns $149 a month.
He said employers consistently ignored workers' requests for pay increases.
Dubai, home to the Burj Dubai, the world's tallest building expected to be completed in 2008, and the first Armani luxury hotel, is seeing an annual average growth rate of 12 per cent, according to the authorities.
The boom is largely driven by construction, fuelled by investment from oil-rich neighbours and made possible by armies of non-unionised south Asian workers.
Stirkes are illegal in the Emirates.
Construction boom
But on Sunday, labourers ignored threats of deportation and refused to go to work, demanding pay increases, improved housing and better transportation services to construction sites.
They staged protests at a labour camp in Dubai's Jebel Ali industrial zone and on a construction site in the al-Qusais residential neighbourhood.
Protesting workers threw stones at the police on Saturday, damaging some police cars. Ali bin Abdullah al-Kaabi, Dubai's minister of labour, described workers' behaviour as "uncivilised", saying they were tampering with national security and endangering residents' safety. He told state news agency WAM they had "turned themselves into rioters", rather than registering their complaints peacefully. He said those who damaged public property would be deported.
Tickets home
But construction companies do not want more workers to leave as they struggle to find enough to complete existing projects following a government amnesty that gave free tickets home to illegal labourers. In June, the government offered an amnesty to illegal workers and were promptly swamped by 280,000 applications for exit papers. A booming economy in India means that many Indian labourers 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. Raj estimated that at least 40 per cent more workers were needed for the city's projects. The workers have also suffered from the decline of the Emirati Dihram which, pegged to the US dollar, has plummeted in value, further decreasing labourers' already low salaries.

Source: Al Jazeera