Ministry seeks Dh120m to beef up labour inspections

Dubai: The Labour Ministry has asked for Dh120 million to beef up its inspections department, which currently has one inspector for every 35,000 expatriates working in the UAE.

Dr Ali Bin Abdullah Al Ka'abi, Labour Minister, told reporters that the Ministry had asked the Finance Ministry for an extra Dh120 million for the Investigations Department for 2007.

"We are asking and now we want to see how much of that we'll get," he said.

Al Ka'abi refused to disclose the current Ministry budget. Other senior labour officials would not say how much of the current budget is devoted to the Inspections Department, tasked with investigating companies to ensure they are abiding by the labour law.

Earlier this month, the Labour Minister met with senior officials in Abu Dhabi to discuss the Ministry's budget, but refused to disclose any information to reporters.

However, senior officials have said the Ministry's budget must be beefed up.

At present, the Ministry had only 80 labour inspectors to oversee about 246,420 companies employing one worker or more.

Expatriates who worked for those companies last year totalled 2,738,000 meaning there was one labour inspector for every 34,225 workers, or for about every 3,080 companies.

In March, Dr Khalid Al Khazraji, labour undersecretary, said the Ministry needed 400 inspectors. "But that will take about two years," he said at the time.

Al Khazraji said training and the Ministry's budget were both pressing issues.

He said he expected the Cabinet to increase the budget, but declined to say how much money the Ministry received in 2005.

With additional inputs from Charles Stratford

80 officials to oversee 246,420 companies

There are 80 labour inspectors to oversee about 246,420 companies employing one worker or more. There were 2,738,000 expatriates in the UAE in 2005, meaning there was one labour inspector for every 34,225 workers, or for about every 3,080 companies.

The average labour inspector works 230 days a year, and would have to visit 14 companies every day to check on every single company.