UAE to deport 4,000 Asian workers after strikes

Last Saturday, A set of Indian labourers who have been working under stressful conditions had revolted and carried out a strike, angering the UAE authorities. The UAE authorities have now responded harshly by deporting them back to India.

Analysts point out that labour laws in the UAE have evolved, but more attention needed to be paid on the contracts governing salaries and working conditions of employees operating in the economic free zones.

So far, the contract in the free zone, such as the one existing in Jebel Ali, is signed only between employers and employees. In general, its copy is neither sent to the UAE’s Labour Ministry nor the Indian embassy or consulate for attestation. Because the contract is usually drafted in Arabic, Indian workers, unacquainted with the language, end up signing it, often without the full knowledge of its contents. Consequently, they become parties to a binding contract, on terms which they later find hard to implement.

Sources in a voluntary organisation that operates in labour camps, but did not wish to be identified, said that unskilled workers in the UAE earn a monthly salary anywhere between Dirham 650 (approximately Rs.7,000) and Dirham 800 (around Rs 8,500).

However, the rising inflation in the country is drying up the saving capacity, especially among blue collar expatriates, sharply increasing financial and social pressures on them.