Labour pains

zoom

Kat Slowe visits two Arabtec labour camps to see first-hand if new laws are making a difference to workers’ quality of life.

“Do you know what a trade union is?” Arabian Insight asks a Bangladeshi worker through a translator at one of Arabtec’s Jebel Ali labour camps.

A crowd of his colleagues have gathered in the unrelenting midday heat and, grinning, are watching us with no small measure of curiosity.

“No, but I am just a mason, what do I know?” he answers, nervously.

Lakshmi Montgomery, Arabtec’s kindly looking labour camp human welfare officer, is standing behind us. She says: “They don’t know what trade unions are. They are all illiterate. They cannot read and write their own language. They are not aware.”

We are on a guided tour, with their respective managers, of two Arabtec Jebel Ali labour camps. The managers seem eager to please and willing to show off every nook and cranny of the facilities. “You can speak to anyone you like,” Montgomery says. “Just go up to them.”

As we walk by, the labourers stare, but as soon as we approach groups of them, their gazes quickly drop to the floor. They are happy to watch but appear shy of answering questions.

“We try our best to accommodate them, but the thing is they are very frightened,” Montgomery says, frustrated. “They cannot talk. They do not know how to ask… All the management that works with them are either Arabs or Europeans, and [the workers] cannot approach them. It is not that they are not approachable. It is just the language barrier.”

Some cleaners in bright blue overalls have congregated in a corner and the manager rounds them up to speak to us. Do they like the camp? Would they wish to change anything about their accommodation? They start off speaking slowly, but the complaints eventually pour out.

“We would like more overtime,” one pipes up. It appears that due to the recession and several projects being curtailed (and therefore work camps being closed), there is a lot less work for them to do.

Arabtec, Montgomery explains, has been unwilling to lay off any of the cleaners — knowing they have loans to pay — but this has meant reduced amounts of overtime. Before, they might have expected to work four to five hours of overtime in a day. Now, due to less work, they will work only four to five hours in total.

However, Arabtec, the manager claims, still pays them for a full day’s work, in addition to two hours’ overtime.

“You have to understand that however much you give them they won’t be happy, they want more,” Montgomery says. “They don’t know what a recession is and why we try to hold on to them. But we also have our responsibilities and we try to keep them happy with how much we give them.”

At this point, a cleaner says: “We want cooking gas cylinders.”

“You can buy a gas cylinder with one month of your cigarette money,” Montgomery tells them, laughing in response to what is obviously an old gripe. The workers, she explains, like to have their own cylinders so that they can cook for themselves, without having to go to the kitchen. But it is illegal, according to the latest fire regulations, for them to cook in their rooms.

“Most use gas cylinders in their room because they are too lazy to get up, walk into the kitchen and cook,” Montgomery explains. “They want to cook in the room, but it could catch fire — it is a hazard.

“Dubai Municipality, unfortunately, saw this when they were doing room checks and they fined us around 22,000 dirhams.”

Print | Email | Discuss this article

| Share |

READERS' COMMENTS

Labour Pains
Posted by Lynne, Dubai, United Arab Emirates on Sunday 7 June 2009 at 09:53 UAE time


Shows a lack of understanding on the part of the journalist, who constantly refers to Unions, in a country where it is illegal, no wonder we have such bias reporting jumping on the international publishing "band wagons" when they don’t understand the rules in their resident country.

Click here to post a comment

Add your Comment All posts are sent to the administrator for review and are published only after approval. ArabianBusiness.com reserves the right to remove any comment at any time for any reason. Please keep your responses appropriate and on topic. Arabian Business would like to point out that only comments relevant to the story will be published. Any containing personal insults or inappropriate language will not be approved.
Name *
Remember me on this computer
Email *	(Your email address will not be published)
City
Country
Subject *
Comment *
Notify me of further comments
Enter the words above *
Please click post only once - your comment will not be published immediately.

MORE FROM ARABIANBUSINESS.COM