UAE | Employment

Companies upset over scrapping of online labour transactions in UAE

Firms told to pay for a new system introduced by Tas'heel

  • By Bassma Al Jandaly, Senior Reporter
  • Published: 00:00 February 9, 2012
  • Gulf News

Dubai: The Ministry of Labour has stopped the online transaction system, GIT (General Information Technology), which allows companies to do all their transactions online.

The system was introduced to facilitate transaction of companies that have more than 50 workers.

When contacted, an official at the Ministry of Labour told Gulf News that the GIT System has been stopped and companies must buy the new system which will be done by Tas'heel only. Tas'heel is an online government system designed to simplify all labour related processes. There are several Tas'heel service centres in the country.

The official said companies who do not buy the new system must complete their transaction as paperwork and pay fees in cash at any of Tas'heel offices in the country.

Eligible companies contacted by Gulf News said they were surprised yesterday by the ministry's move.

"We discovered that we cannot do any transaction through the Git system. I was obliged to go through the long queues at one of the Tas'heel offices in Dubai," a public relation officer at a Dubai-based company said.

According to senior official from Ministry of Labour Online GIT has been stopped since yesterday and companies must have to pay for the visa and other paperwork at the counter by cash at any of Tas'heel offices.

Human resources officers said the prompt decision by the ministry was impractical because there was no reason to cancel a transaction system which was doing well with all parties. Secondly, no grace period has been given and no advance warning for the companies to adapt to the new procedures. "This is causing lots of problems for our companies as we have a large staff and we do many transactions every day," said Mohammad, a public relations officer for a private company in Dubai.

‘Without warning'

"We have [used] the GIT system from the Ministry of Labour since 2007 which cost us Dh10,870 and which allow us to do transactions online and now suddenly they stopped it without warning," he said.

Another human resources manager from a private company in Dubai said the ministry never told them they would stop the service.

"The ministry should be more organised and they should give attention to companies operating in the country," he said.

He added that he had to take a bag full of applications and wait at Tas'heel to finish his transactions. "At Tas'heel the transactions cost us more as we have to pay them typing fees."

He said they had bought the GIT system which cost around Dh10,000. "Now we have to buy their new online system from Tas'heel which will cost around Dh6,000 and it will be ready for installation in our companies in more than 15 days," he said.

Comments (2)

  1. Added 15:52 February 9, 2012

    It is painful to stand & wait in que, being as PRO i can't do all work on time. again we need to take new machine & whatdo we do with the old one, which i bought 6 months before? :(

    Hussain, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

  2. Added 13:47 February 9, 2012

    Before modifying any rule, all companies must be informed to reduce the unawareness & misunderstaning among peoples.

    Abdul Mohid, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

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