Plight of migrant workers blemishes Dubai's image
By HAMZA HENDAWI,
Associated Press Writer
Sun May 25, 1:50 PM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080525/ap_on_re_mi_ea/towers_of_tears&printer=1;_ylt=AkHMuMOt0ScwF_Vcv35_b.kUewgF
The 22 men in "trailer 10" work the morning shift at a construction site, then take turns shopping, cooking and cleaning. They pray together. When one returns to India on leave, he carries family presents and cash for the others.
"We all come from the Punjab" in northern India, said Pavinder Singh, a 42-year-old carpenter from the trailer in a camp that houses about 3,000 workers on the desert outskirts of Dubai. "But what makes us like a family is what we have to endure here together."
Dubai's astonishing building boom, which has made it one of the world's fastest growing cities, has been fueled by the labor of about 700,000 immigrants — almost all from poor villages in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Their meager wages still go far in their native lands. Two or three years in Dubai could mean building a house for their family, buying a plot of land or sending children to school. Yet many men escape poverty back home only to find themselves trapped in near-servitude here.
Human rights groups have for years decried the harsh conditions of foreign laborers in Dubai and the rest of the United Arab Emirates and oil-rich Persian Gulf. But the problem only drew widespread attention after strikes by thousands of workers this year and last. Some recent protests turned violent; in mid-March, police arrested at least 500 South Asian workers who smashed office windows and set cars ablaze in the small, neighboring emirate of Sharjah.
Dubai officials were embarrassed by the bad press in a city that advertises itself as a world business hub, playground for the rich and home to major horse races and golf and tennis tournaments. But despite promises of reform, there are still problems, The Associated Press found in interviews with government officials and two dozen workers and visits to employer-provided housing:
_Many South Asian workers are essentially indentured servants, borrowing heavily to pay recruitment agents for jobs. They can spend several years paying back debts that can run $3,000 or more, while earning between $150 and $300 a month, lately weakened by a falling dollar and Dubai's double-digit inflation.
_They work a 60-hour week, with one day off or even just half a day.
_Employers often confiscate their passports, in violation of Dubai law, and withhold pay for two or three months to stop workers from quitting.
_Many have no medical insurance and work outdoors in summer heat of 120 degrees Fahrenheit and stifling humidity.
_Employer-provided housing often means bare, crowded trailers behind barbed wire or on Dubai's desert fringes. Some are not connected to water or sewage grids.
Overall, human rights groups say, unscrupulous employers and government indifference have combined to create one of the world's worst cases of systematic exploitation.
Officials insist they have taken steps to ensure regulations are followed at construction sites and living quarters.
"Our role is to make sure that what has been promised is what is actually paid," said Alex Zalami, a senior adviser to the Emirates' Labor Ministry. "The companies want to maximize profits. And what we do is teach them that productivity improves if conditions improve for workers."
He said a draft law soon to go before the Cabinet will allow the government to reject applications for importing workers from companies with a record of violations, force builders to improve conditions or face increased fines, and shut down repeat offenders.
Authorities have since January made companies put workers' wages in bank accounts that can be monitored. Workers for major building companies have been given ATM cards to collect wages on work sites.
But Dubai officials acknowledge they still face obstacles.
One is persuading construction companies to make changes while maintaining the phenomenal growth of a sector worth about $400 billion in projects this year. Another is a shortage of labor inspectors — there are 400 now, almost twice as many as last year but well short of the target of 2,000. It's also difficult to build new camps with enough space and hygiene because of soaring land prices, officials say.
Workers can sue in court against employers who miss wages — but it seldom results in payment.
Badri Prasad Sharma, a 39-year-old mason from India's state of Rajasthan, has worked in Dubai since 1995. He paid the marriage dowries of five sisters with his Dubai wages, but then began to have trouble with his employers over missed salary payments.
Sharma took his employer to a labor court, which ruled in his favor in November. According to court documents, the Emirati-owned company was ordered to pay him 20,612 dirhams ($5,725) and air fare back to India — far above the 16,000 dirhams ($4,444) his lawyer sued for.
But the company appealed, and now Sharma survives on odd jobs and loans while awaiting a ruling.
Yet many workers are unwilling to go home and face the shame of returning empty-handed.
"I had another image of this place before I came," said Kulwinder Singh, a lanky 23-year-old mason who arrived in Dubai three months ago hoping to save $,7,000 for the dowries of two sisters. He lives in trailer 10.
"The camp here is worse than anything I have seen back home," he said. "It makes me mad to think about this, but there is no other place for me to go."
The 40-foot-by-13-foot trailer is filled with bunk beds, cooking pots, cardboard boxes of onions, potatoes and cauliflower, and a makeshift shrine with images of a holy man from the Sikh faith and of an Indian nationalist hanged by British colonial rulers in 1931.
The two blackened air conditioners do little against the summer heat. The floor has a large hole, and the men said the roof leaks rain. Water, brought into the camp by tankers, runs out frequently.
The men rise before dawn, start work at 7 a.m. and stop at 5:30 p.m. They make a 45-minute bus journey home, wait in line to shower, then cook, eat and go to bed at 11 p.m.
"There is no point in being angry because it will not make things any better," Pavinder Singh, the trailer group's informal leader, said as he lounged on his bed one recent Friday afternoon.
On Fridays, they work half a day and spend the afternoon washing clothes, watching DVDs of Bollywood movies, calling home and shopping at a nearby supermarket catering to Asian workers. Some Indians and Sri Lankans play cricket on a dirt patch, most barefooted or wearing plastic sandals.
"It's the only ground we have," shouted one player when asked about the rough field.
Belberdhas Devadassan said he was happy to be earning money to someday build a house in southern India. Yet the 23-year-old mason helping build Burj Dubai — already the world's tallest building — lamented he was away from family in his best years.
"But I have to do this. ... If I stay home, I will have no future," he said. "I plan to be here for another six years and when I am done, I will have what I need."
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