DUBAI, 31 March 2006 — United Arab Emirates Labor Minister Ali ibn Abdullah Al-Kaabi said yesterday that the country was working on a law to allow trade unions.
“We are working on a law to allow laborers to form unions and legalize collective bargaining. The proposed labor law guaranteeing the right to strike and worker representation through their organizations will be put before the Cabinet by summer,” said Al-Kaabi.
“We are going to have one union, with separate representatives for the construction, fishing, agriculture and other industries.”
He said the UAE was in negotiations with the International Labor Organization over changes to the current labor laws.
“The law will control how strikes will be conducted. It will outline rights, the do’s and don’ts. There will be a labor representative who will be our point of contact. It will make contact with the laborers much easier.”
Meanwhile, the minister rejected claims made by US-based Human Rights Watch in a report accusing the UAE of turning a blind eye to problems faced by workers and laborers.
“One of the world’s largest construction booms is feeding off workers in Dubai, but they are treated as less than human,” said HRW Middle East and North Africa Director Sarah Leah Whitson.
Al-Kaabi has challenged the HRW, saying that his country has laws in place aimed at protecting workers’ rights.
“Apart from that, Gen. Sheikh Mohammed ibn Rashid Al-Maktoum, vice president and prime minister of the UAE and ruler of Dubai, has set up a specific facility for laborers by establishing the Dubai Police Human Rights Department and the Permanent Committee of Labor Affairs in Dubai. Both these establishments look into issues relating to legal rights of laborers and to meet their demands in case any violations of the local laws is brought to their notice”, he said.
According to official figures, the Human Rights Department in Dubai has mediated disputes and mandated payments due to migrant workers in the sum of AED24 million from November 2005 to February 2006.
“We are not saying that infractions do not exist,” said Al-Kaabi. “There surely are some and we deal with them as necessary according to the law and with respect to human rights. But to forget the positives and concentrate on infractions while ignoring the efforts made to fix them is unjust and arbitrary.”
