03/29/2006
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Immigrant workers are striking for the first time in the United Arab Emirates
Nobody knows what the final height the Burj Dubai tower in the United Arab Emirates
will be. The primary aim is to amaze the world with the tallest building of all
times, and the information is kept secret so as to prevent someone from coming
up with the idea to build one that is taller. But everyone knows that the umpteenth
eccentric building in Dubai is being erected with the brutal exploitation of foreign
workers who have immigrated to the UAE. The new slaves have however now gone on
strike.
The new slaves. An unprecedented strike called by about 2500 workers employed for the project
has been in progress for the past three days. They are demanding fairer wages
and more humane working conditions, but it is nevertheless too much for the wealthy
sheikhs of the emirate of Dubai, who reacted by sending the police to charge the
demonstrators. Actually, the majority shareholder of the consortium that is building
Burj Dubai is South Korean Samsug, but the ruling class of the UAE does not tolerate
that the irresistible attraction this country has had for years on foreign investors
can be undermined by this strike, which is ruining the image of the world’s new
tax haven. People have been working for years in the UAE to make the country an
El Dorado for foreign capital, which offers the best investment terms and one
of the lowest labour costs in the world. That is the case of the so-called ‘white
elephants’, a series of eccentric buildings that have redrawn the profile of the
UAE and that have contributed to making the country famous around the world. It
is just that the game is based on inhuman exploitation of immigrant workers, coming
mainly from the Far East. Local building companies supply the manpower to foreign
investment companies at ridiculously low costs. So Samsug turned to the UAE firm
of al-Naboodah for the building of Burj Dubai. The latter won the tender owing
to the low cost of its labour.
The anger of the exploited workers. The price is explained by the total lack of safety at the workplace and by the
starvation wages paid to the workers who live in regular camps outside Dubai,
in hovels without electricity or water, crowded like sardines. The workers went
on strike to demand fair wages and to ask for minimum sanitary conditions. The
daily wages for a specialised worker in the UAE is about Euro 6, dropping to less
than Euro 4 for a non-specialised worker. And workdays last 12-14 hours. The anger
of the immigrant workers led to a violent clash with local police that lasted
two days. According to press sources in Dubai, the clash caused damages totalling
a million dollars. Following the blows with clubs, which did not convince the
workers to go back to work, the inspectors of the UAE Ministry of Labour disclosed
that talks are being held to amend the dispute between workers and al-Naboodah
management. But for the first time the authors of the UAE’s building boom had
to deal with the desperation of the thousands of workers coming from the Far East.
The immigrants working in inhuman conditions today represent half the population
residing in the country and, if this time they have smashed just offices and machinery,
in the future they could threaten the UAE’s frantic development. Not by chance
– also this for the first time – some time ago a web site appeared on the Internet. It serves as a megaphone shouting the exploited foreign
workers’ complaints. It certainly is not a trade union, but something in the consciousness
of the exploited workers is stirring and the demands of the new slaves can not
always be stifled by clubs.
The new slaves. An unprecedented strike called by about 2500 workers employed for the project
has been in progress for the past three days. They are demanding fairer wages
and more humane working conditions, but it is nevertheless too much for the wealthy
sheikhs of the emirate of Dubai, who reacted by sending the police to charge the
demonstrators. Actually, the majority shareholder of the consortium that is building
Burj Dubai is South Korean Samsug, but the ruling class of the UAE does not tolerate
that the irresistible attraction this country has had for years on foreign investors
can be undermined by this strike, which is ruining the image of the world’s new
tax haven. People have been working for years in the UAE to make the country an
El Dorado for foreign capital, which offers the best investment terms and one
of the lowest labour costs in the world. That is the case of the so-called ‘white
elephants’, a series of eccentric buildings that have redrawn the profile of the
UAE and that have contributed to making the country famous around the world. It
is just that the game is based on inhuman exploitation of immigrant workers, coming
mainly from the Far East. Local building companies supply the manpower to foreign
investment companies at ridiculously low costs. So Samsug turned to the UAE firm
of al-Naboodah for the building of Burj Dubai. The latter won the tender owing
to the low cost of its labour. The anger of the exploited workers. The price is explained by the total lack of safety at the workplace and by the
starvation wages paid to the workers who live in regular camps outside Dubai,
in hovels without electricity or water, crowded like sardines. The workers went
on strike to demand fair wages and to ask for minimum sanitary conditions. The
daily wages for a specialised worker in the UAE is about Euro 6, dropping to less
than Euro 4 for a non-specialised worker. And workdays last 12-14 hours. The anger
of the immigrant workers led to a violent clash with local police that lasted
two days. According to press sources in Dubai, the clash caused damages totalling
a million dollars. Following the blows with clubs, which did not convince the
workers to go back to work, the inspectors of the UAE Ministry of Labour disclosed
that talks are being held to amend the dispute between workers and al-Naboodah
management. But for the first time the authors of the UAE’s building boom had
to deal with the desperation of the thousands of workers coming from the Far East.
The immigrants working in inhuman conditions today represent half the population
residing in the country and, if this time they have smashed just offices and machinery,
in the future they could threaten the UAE’s frantic development. Not by chance
– also this for the first time – some time ago a web site appeared on the Internet. It serves as a megaphone shouting the exploited foreign
workers’ complaints. It certainly is not a trade union, but something in the consciousness
of the exploited workers is stirring and the demands of the new slaves can not
always be stifled by clubs.Christian Elia
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