Labour recruiting agencies may be shut down

Dubai: The Labour Ministry may shut down the labour agencies that recruit construction workers.

Many of these agencies pressure workers to take crippling, illegal loans to pay for their own visas.

Dr Ali Bin Abdullah Al Ka'abi, Labour Minister, told reporters that workers' cities will be built to take the place of about 170 labour agencies currently licensed by the ministry.

Construction companies will hire workers from the cities, which will be managed by private companies with government supervision, he said.

"We will close them down," Al Ka'abi said. "Some of the bigger companies may find a role in the new worker cities."

He did not provide further details on when the worker cities will be built, although he suggested that one will soon be announced in Dubai.

At present, only one company, Dulsco, is licensed to sponsor and rent out workers to UAE companies.

Another company, First Group, received a licence last year but has not begun work.

Investigation

A Gulf News investigation in April found dozens of other companies openly engaged in this trade, often exploiting labourers for wages ranging from Dh3 to Dh6 an hour.

Another investigation found most labour agents recruiting workers from South Asia openly charge the men and women they bring to the UAE the cost of their visas.

The practice is illegal under the UAE Labour Law and had forced many workers to take loans of more than Dh7,000, often at high interest rates.

Although the UAE cannot punish companies which pass on visa costs to workers, the problem has been at the root of many labour protests here, and even suicides. Last week, labour officials met Indian government representatives to discuss ways to stop the practice in India, where the bulk of the country's expatriate labour comes from.

In April, the ministry's labour undersecretary, Dr Khalid Al Khazraji, announced that all applications for labour agent licences would be halted. Al Khazraji said too many smaller agencies were in the market and were creating "chaos".

Agencies need a licence to operate and must submit an undertaking "that it shall not get any commission from the labourer in consideration of their recruitment" according to the ministerial order.

ILO conference: UAE under no pressure to alter law

The UAE will not be under pressure to alter its Labour Law when labour officials go to Geneva this month to attend an important international labour conference.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) will hold its conference from May 31 to June 16 in which countries are scrutinised for their commitment to collective bargaining, freedom of association and discrimination in the workplace.

The UAE has not ratified two ILO conventions which allow labour unions. Labour Minister Dr Ali Bin Abdullah Al Ka'abi said despite earlier statements that he expected labour associations by year-end, ILO would not pressure the UAE. "The issue for us is to communicate to the ILO that we have temporary workers, not immigrant labour."