Residency cap 'recycling' will aid workers - official

Restricting unskilled labourers to the controversial three-plus-three residency cap will benefit both the UAE and foreign workers, UAE Minister of Labour Ali Abdulla Al Kaabi, told Construction Week in an exclusive interview.

Kaabi was speaking at the Colombo Process dialogue earlier this month, and said the ministry intended that UAE foreign workers would rejoin their families after six years, in a move that would also refresh the UAE labour force.

"The three-plus-three cap is only meant for unskilled workers. We want to make sure that we recycle labour, in and out. For example, we want to give as many people as possible a chance to come in and work in the country and not restrict it to the same workforce year-in, year out."

The workers would leave the UAE with experience which will benefit them in their home country as well, he added.

"In any case we're still in the process of fine-tuning the length of the cap and we also want to get a GCC-wide approval to enable workers to travel within the region."

The non-payment of worker's salaries has been a contentious subject in the UAE construction sector since the building boom began, and Kaabi said that the issue still remained.

"There are three pillars we insist on; salaries have to be paid on time, accommodation should be according to the law and health insurance should be mandatory.

"If a worker complains to labour relations that he hasn't been paid and then we find out that he hasn't been paid for two months, he has the right to transfer his sponsorship to another company without paying any fees."

Kaabi also spoke of the issues he had faced since he took up his role at the ministry in 2004.

"Firstly we had to improve the ministry of labour internally; secondly we had to improve the laws and regulations within the UAE and thirdly we had to look at what kind of issues the labour-sending countries and us faced so we could solve them together.

"I wanted them to learn how to treat people as clients, with good customer etiquette so we had to bring in a change of attitude. We changed the environment and we changed how the system worked."

Kaabi said the ministry then re-examined some of the rules and regulations and reopened the ‘transfer membership'.

"We said that if a person has a master's degree or higher, they can change sponsorship after a year. If they have a bachelor's degree, then they can change sponsorship after two years.

"For an unskilled worker, a three-year period is required, this is because for an unskilled worker, the training curve is longer so by the time they become skilled or semi-skilled a year or more would have passed and that's when a sponsor would want to get a return on his investment.

Kaabi also revealed that a compulsory health insurance scheme will be rolled out in Dubai this year.

The scheme will be similar to the one implemented in Abu Dhabi in 2007, and is expected to be introduced in the northern Emirates in 2008.

A final decision on whether the Gulf will impose the residency cap on expatriate workers will be made at the end of this year at the GCC summit in Oman. Bahrain's labour minister first suggested the residency cap in October last year.

The proposal sparked outrage among expatriate communities and was widely criticised by businesses already struggling to retain staff.

The Colombo Process, a ministerial consultation on overseas employment and contractual labour for countries of origin and destination in Asia saw labour ministers and government officials from 21 countries discuss issues relating to guest workers including rogue recruitment agents and salaries.