mafiwastafor workers' rights in the United Arab Emirates
Our complaint to the International Labour Organisation
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Case Histories 
A short selection of individual cases of abuse and exploitation.
Story of a Suicide
Arumugam Venkatesan has hanged himself from the ceiling fan in his room in his labour camp. His room-mate, Avdesh, is easy to miss in the small, crowded house on the outskirts of Dubai. Still shaken from the death of his 25-year-old colleague, he is withdrawn and speaks quietly. The first thing he shows me is the luggage piled on Venkatesan's bed. A small collection of bags and battered suitcases, awaiting collection.
"I came home from work at around 7.30pm," he says. "The room was locked. When we opened it, it was in darkness. I called out to Venkatesan, but he didn't answer. Then I saw his body hanging; his knees were on the floor and his neck was broken."
Venkatesan's arrival was typical: he had been brought from India by a company supplying workers to the construction industry. He was reliant on them for the right to live and work in the Gulf and he lived in a labour camp provided by the company - 85 men in a nine-roomed house. The bedrooms sleep eight, sometimes 12, people. The bathrooms are squeezed into cupboards and are shared by 25 men.
Business may be booming for Dubai, but Avdesh tells me he has not been paid since August and that many of his colleagues are working without proper papers. This gentleman over here," he says, "hasn't had his visa renewed and he's now working illegally."
Venkatesan took out a high-interest loan to pay the fee asked by the company for bringing him to Dubai. He was the sole breadwinner in a family of six. His workmates showed me a photocopy of what they said was Venkatesan's suicide note. It explained, they said, that he had taken his own life because he had been unable to pay back his loans.
Regis Johns is the manager of the company that brought Venkatesan and his colleagues from India. I asked him why the salaries had not been paid.
"Our company has gone through certain financial crises for the past one and a half years," he says. "We said we'd definitely pay them. In fact, we offered them two months' salary the day before yesterday."
Mr Johns admits the company holds all its employees' passports - a common practice in the UAE even though it is illegal. But Mr Johns rejects any notion that this amounts to slave labour.
"We're against any kind of slavery system here," he says. "I can show you the document they signed before coming here, which states the hourly rate, the terms and conditions of the systems out here. They willingly sign this - and only then do we process their visas to come."
Mr Johns denied the company kept employees in the country against their will and said it was working hard to find the money for the missing salaries.
He also pointed out that salaries are paid two months in arrears, so the workers have only relatively recently been made aware of the company's financial crisis.
But since Venkatesan's death, Avdesh says many of the workers now want to cancel their contracts and return home.
"I heard a lot of things about Dubai," he says, "about how great it was. But when I came here, I hated it. "I don't ever want to come back here. My family is pleading with me to come home: 'whatever condition you're in, they tell me, just come back'." This is an edited verion of a BBC article. Link here for the full article.
It is thought that 84 Indians killed themselves in Dubai last year. According to Brigadier Khamis Mattar Al Mazeina, Director of the Criminal Investigations Department in Dubai, most suicides are related to problems in the deceased’s home country and he added: “Most of these people are non-Muslims.” Professor Adnan Fadil of the Al Rashad Psychiatric Clinic in Dubai named a number of contributory factors including schizophrenia, alcoholism, homosexuality and AIDS. So there you have it - only infidels, wackos, drunks, and those whose sexual proclivities are either non-conventional or non-discriminatory kill themselves.
Life as a Sub-Species
"Look , how many of us are crowded in here."
"There's no running water and shit all over the floor. Who lives like this?"
"Getting back our wages will take a long time, but right now we don't know where we will find anything to eat. Nobody has asked about us. "
"We haven't prayed because we can't even wash!"
The men, who work for a company called Ayoubco, have not been paid for 5 months, their manager has fled the country and their Emirati sponsors have refused to take any responsibility for them.
One worker who spoke on behalf of the 450 men, from Egypt and South Asia, said they had run out of food. Many of the men have not eaten solids for days and are living off water from a nearby mosque, mixed with sugar. Nearby shops refuse to give them credit, mindful of the fact they haven't been paid (and might never be). Unable to wash, with raw sewage spilling into parts of their accomodation and no running water, the men cannot even find solace in the mosque, and the spread of disease can't be far away.
Company officials could not be reached for comment.
A senior labour official said the Ministry had no authority to intervene in humanitarian cases affecting labourers.
"All we have are the bank guarantees from companies to guarantee salaries and benefits will be paid, but the problem is, we need a court order first, or the company's permission to spend the money."
The Ministry official went on to say that a decision had been taken to come down hard on all parties involved. The official said the UAE sponsor of the company had transferred his sponsorship to another UAE national on January 16. According to labour law, he said the old sponsor was legally liable for ensuring the workers' rights for a six-month period after signing away the company. The current sponsor is also liable. He confirmed the Ministry has already halted all the former sponsor's company transactions until he pays the money, or the new sponsor does. The official said the new sponsor will also have all his company's transactions halted at the Labour Ministry. A version of this story appeared in the Gulf News on 16th March 2006.
Yes, you read that correctly. Even if a company does not pay its workers for 5 months and leaves them up to their ankles in their own shit, the Ministry of Labour is required, according to this official, to request permission to pay the workers from the $27,225 bank guarantee which the company submitted to the Ministry of Labour under the terms of UAE labour law. What effect will stoppping a company's transactions have? On 29 June 2005, a Ministerial Directive (No.467) banned employers from forcing employees to work from the hours of 12pm to 4.30pm during the months of July, August and September. One week later, a senior Ministry official was reported to be instructing labour inspectors not to fine companies breaking the directive (Gulf News 7 July 2005). The same official said: “With all due respect to the minister, the decision is great, but where’s the staff to implement it?” and claimed that punitive measures to halt company transactions were pointless: “Most companies write a letter to the Ministry asking to reactivate their transactions and we do it after two days. Just two days.” This was supported by Sulaiman Abdullah, inspections head at the Labour Ministry, who stated: “We restart their transactions after they sign a letter agreeing not to break the rule again.” (Gulf News 20 July 2005)
In their own words
The following quotes come directly from the migrant workers of the UAE. They come from emails sent to us and from comments on our petition and we have not altered them in any way. Whilst this can make for difficult reading, we feel it would be unfair to reprint them in anything but their original form.
"I am a widow and sent my only son to work for Giffin Traffiks Abu dhabi.He served them well, & resigned ,but he was not given any ,money that was due to him. The Accounts department said to sign that he received the full and final settlement, then only they would go to the labour depart,ment and cancell his visa etc and then give his dues and the ticket to return to Chennai.But when he went after the cancelation at the labour department by the PRO Abdul majeed , he was given only a return ticket.In shock he went to his room and wanted to end his life due loans etc, he had to repay before leaving the UAE.Luckly, two good samaritans who were also employed by the company along with him, saved the situation and took over the responsibilities of paying up all his loans.How can he get any justice now." Yolly
"b coz of this company i lost my valuable time in my life, and everything still i didn't get marry they spoil my life this company never paying on time salary so i was fear about get marry if i am getting marry how i will fill my daily expnces with family so i thought no need spoil a girl life whatever live it all matter
right now i am not expecting salary or gratuvity b coz the company already got my signature on blank paper (Plain Paper) so i think i can't get right
but i am still not in well condition b coz i am missing my parents and all
i want see them soon so pls help me. realy i was thinking to suicide b coz of my problems. any way thnx lot for all and i am waiting for u r valuable advise and help"MR
"The respected appeal court put me 2 month in jail. I doesn't know what is my mistake. My family was suffering outside without me. My community helping them,. My wife not eating foods. My son(year) telephone me to jail to get the Toys, as he thought I am in India for vacation." Philip
"Emirates Neon is one of the biggest and oldest companies in the UAE.Lower Gulf Region.ABC Industries is an associate of the Emirates Neon.Sharjah Head Office with branches all over the UAE.Yet the main staff who have set up the company are yet to be paid their monthly salaries and house rents of about 8 to 4 months running dues, leave salaries and tickets for leave are also due for the two main business (profit sharing partners).besides this they have been verbally threathened ,that their entire family memebres will be harmed and given a very bad time if these two have in any way done any thing bad to the new company ABC Industries Our labour Minister can check the earlier salary records and help." Cecilia
"Pls Help the MBM Labour Peoples, ETA Company. Food, Transport, Salary, Response, Vaction All not give properly. pls help me" Abdul Khader
"World has even sent spacecraft to study Pluto. All this advancement is of no use if a modern city like Dubai exploits poor workers based on their ethnicity and origin. Shame on such as modern city" Anon
"Having lived in the UAE for the last seven years in senior positions, I have been exploited. So I can imagine what must have have happened to poor hapless labourers." Manoj
"my company nasa multiplex LLC is compelling to work on holidays and on fridays without any extra pay and no holidays on lieu given." Jackson
"help required for working condition in Kohinoor Automatic Bakery-Sharjah" Abdulla
"try to ask people working in carrefour marina mall and you will see how many suffering and feeling frustration" Mohammad
"we feel like african slaves used to be before ," Handrick
I am working as professional medical staff, but I feel I am not working here as a professional, our employer treated as a slave, We worked 10 hours a day without compensation of the overtime work, sometimes we extend more than that time, and we are not allowed to take official holidays. I think if we could be included in the ILO, all the workers and the employers as well will be protected and will be fair enough without any discrimination to different nationalities. I know that I have a choice to go to my own country, and they did not forced me to work here, but my reason of joining here is for all the workers to know our rights as a human being" Jenny
"I have been working in the UAE since 1995 and have observed with increasing dismay and sorrow that the employers in this country have the upper hand over their employees who are treated no better than bonded labor. Sweeping changes in labor law and systems are needed urgently. One of the most critical changes that will help workers grow and develop dramatically would be that employees are allowed to change jobs freely." Kalyan
"i have suffered serious exploitation from dynatrade ,a company located in sharjah.the working conditions is extremly poor.the illiterrate managers of this company exploit the indian workers very badly.they may pray long live the poverty in india.srilanka and nepal.then only they will get people to work like this.ISLAM MEANS JUSTICE TO ALL. BUT REALITY IS VERY CRUEL IN U.A.E" Dvronan
"But all my hope is gone. Everything they create against me. Because they are rich.But God is do the judgment one, Nobody can escape." Varghese
All comments welcome at feedback@mafiwasta.com
Everything you ever wanted to know about the UAE
Case Histories
Read about some of the worst cases of abuses in the UAE
Debunking the myth that is corporate social responsibility
Sign the petition for freedom of association in the UAE
"The world needs anger. The world often continues to allow evil because it isn't angry enough."
Bede Jarrett