The international coalition of artists who pledged to boycott the Guggenheim Museum Abu Dhabi over worker conditions on Saadiyat Island has questioned the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) as monitor.
The Gulflabor group of 43 artists said PwC’s name was not on a list of monitors recommended by US-based Human Rights Watch to Guggenheim Foundation and Abu Dhabi’s Tourism Development & Investment Company (TDIC).
It said that although it welcomed the move to appoint the monitor, the boycott remained in place.
“We are waiting to be informed by TDIC and the Guggenheim as to whether PwC has any existing business relationship with any of the firms it will be asked to monitor on Saadiyat Island,” Gulflabor said in a statement posted on its website.
“As specified in our original letter, the type of independent audit we have recommended requires that the monitoring company have no such business relationship.”
It added: “Although we are encouraged by the promise that PwC will conduct surprise site visits as well as release comprehensive reports to the public on its audits, we await to hear more details of the monitoring programmes that PwC will put in place.”
On May 31, TDIC announced that “it had appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers as an independent auditor to “monitor its contractors’ and subcontractors’ performance in the area of worker welfare.”
Human Rights Watch said on Saturday that TDIC needed to take “additional steps” to protect migrant workers’ rights on the Saadiyat Island project, which will include branches of the Guggenheim and Louvre museums.
HRW said these should include setting publicly-announced penalties for contractors that violate standards, and putting into effect remedies for workers whose rights are violated, including a direct promise to reimburse workers found to have paid recruiting fees.
Human Rights Watch also called on TDIC to use the new monitor to audit labour conditions on all of its Abu Dhabi projects.
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