The expulsions highlight the strict measures used across the United Arab Emirates to discourage protests by laborers, mostly South Asians brought to build the skyscrapers, hotels and other mega-projects that have risen in the past decade. But workers have become increasingly outspoken as prices rise and companies cancel projects after Dubai’s property bubble burst in 2009.

An estimated 5,000 mostly South Asian workers staged a nearly two-week strike this month to press for a 200 dirham ($54) pay hike from Arabtec Holding, the biggest construction company in Dubai. The workers — who live in company-run camps — make between 700 and 800 dirhams ($190 and $220) a month for basic jobs and slightly more for more skilled positions.

The consul general for Bangladesh, Mohammed Abu Zafar, said police rounded up suspected strike leaders and were moving ahead with deportations.

“Intelligence people identified them and are being deported to Bangladesh,” Zafar said.

He said the other workers agreed to return to the job, but did not receive any promises for pay hikes.

Arabtec officials declined to comment.

Strikes and other labor protests are still uncommon in the UAE, where migrants workers fear arrest or deportation.

Emirati officials, meanwhile, have taken some steps to improve living conditions for workers and curb other abuses after complaints from rights groups.

At a news conference in Dubai, Human Rights Watch said that the situation for migrant workers in the UAE remained dire against the backdrop of a worsening economy. The New York-based group, however, acknowledged that the government has announced “positive labor reforms” such as more oversight of recruiting agencies.

Construction companies across the country “exploited or abused migrant workers in numerous ways,” the group said, citing unsafe working environment, movement restrictions and withholding workers’ travel documents among violations.

Hundreds of laid-off migrant workers have been stranded in labor camps without electricity or running water for months as construction work halted across debt-burdened Dubai, the group told reporters as part of its 2010 world report.

The UAE’s Labor Ministry — in a statement carried by the official news agency WAM — said the UAE “dealt with” the job losses due to the global economic downturn “in an orderly fashion and workers continue to enjoy wage protection.” Earlier this month, laborers at a Dubai labor camp staged a work stoppage after a melee with security guards, who they accused of abuses.