| Kippreport.com

Dubai’s ill-treated laborers back in the limelight

October 9, 2008 1:36 by kippreport

The issue of laborers slogging away in the depths of Dubai’s darkness is a well-reported issue. The Guardian just re-visited the topic with a rather long story and a rather loud headline quote which reads “We need slaves to build monuments.”

The article goes on to list the various problems that laborers in the UAE face: the poor working conditions, the low wages, the appalling housing situation and so on. It also discusses racism in Dubai.
But as a reader of the Dubai Media Observer blog points out, the article “does not reveal the people or companies behind the problem, proposes no solution and explains nothing as to how the situation came about.”

Dubai labor issues have been debated long and hard by local and international media. And it is a fact that solutions to the problem have been rare. And the inflow of more and more laborers into the city continues.

But answers come only when the culprit can be identified. So the issue boils down to: Who is really responsible for the problem? Is it the construction companies hiring the laborers? The HR department of the company in particular? The Government, for failing to put more pressure in employers? Or the laborers themselves, who haven’t taken a unified stand on the issue?

Tags: companies, Construction, Dubai, Dubai laborers problems, housing, ill-treated labor, poor working conditions