UAE | Government

UAE minister calls for holistic approach to contractual labour mobility

we must build on the fact that contractual labour mobility can and should generate value and wealth for all those who hold a stake in its facilitation, whether it is the worker who leaves his or her home country in pursuit of improved economic condition for self and family, the country of origin that benefits from reduced unemployment and substantial remittances, or the country of destination that leverages contracted expatriate labour in implementing its development plans, says UAE Minister of Labour.

  • Staff Report
  • Published: 16:09 January 22, 2008
  • Gulf News

Dubai: Dr Ali Abdullah Al Ka'abi, Minister of Labour On Tuesday addressed a labour conference held in Abu Dhabi, Ministerial Consultation on Overseas Employment and Contractual Labour of Countries of Origin and Destination that convened under the patronage of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

Full text of the speech:
The holding of this Ministerial Consultation in Abu Dhabi caps a two-year effort by the UAE Ministry of Labour and the International Organisation for Migration to create a platform for a sustained dialogue between Asian countries of origin and destination to explore strategies for a more effective and equitable administration of contractual labour mobility that spurs development. Hence, this first gathering of what we hope will become 'The Abu Dhabi Dialogue' convenes under the main theme of Partnership for Development.

As we meet today to forge this new partnership, we must clearly define its tenants and agree on what constitutes our respective roles and responsibilities.

To begin with, a partnership, any partnership, can only be sustained if it achieves congruence of interests. In our case, we must build on the fact that contractual labour mobility can and should generate value and wealth for all those who hold a stake in its facilitation, whether it is the worker who leaves his or her home country in pursuit of improved economic condition for self and family, the country of origin that benefits from reduced unemployment and substantial remittances, or the country of destination that leverages contracted expatriate labour in implementing its development plans. The long term success of labour mobility therefore hinges on making certain that the interests of all key stakeholders are well served.

This implies that, as we attempt to define and agree to our respective roles in the context of our emerging partnership, we must adopt a holistic approach to administering contractual labour mobility, and we do so by examining opportunities and challenges, advance creative and effective solutions to problems, and agree to assign clear responsibilities at each phase of the contractual employment cycle.

The cycle begins with the recruitment and processing of workers in the country of origin and we all agree that there are serious challenges on that front. Governments of labour sending countries bear the main responsibility for protecting prospective workers against illegal recruitment practices, but it is also true that we, the receiving countries, have a stake in combating such illegal practices because they jeopardize the entire employment cycle. For this reason, our Ministry is working closely with Colombo Process Governments to modernise recruitment in ways that reduce the risks of exploitative practices and streamline the processing of employment applications.

We are also working with Colombo Process Governments and the IOM to strengthen induction programs designed to help prospective workers understand their rights and responsibilities once they arrive in the UAE, are fully informed about the terms of their contracts and are able to make an informed decision about accepting the employment offer. More recently, the UAE introduced mission contracts and corresponding mission entry visas that allow prospective workers to enter the country and engage in short term employment ahead of signing a longer term contract with a given employer.

Once the worker arrives in a receiving country that responsibility is transferred to the host government to extend protection to the parties of the temporary employment contract. Guest workers must be afforded the security that they will receive the benefits that they are entitled to under the terms of the contract and the provisions of the labour laws. We in the UAE take pride in the many protective measures that are now embodied in our laws, regulatory and administrative guidelines.

Over the last two years, we have moved to improve labour conditions in a number of areas including housing, health benefits and the protection of wages.

Model workers' accommodation camps in the emirates of Abu Dhabi and Dubai are now poised to become housing standards across the UAE; health and safety has become a key focus of our labour inspection mandate; we introduced health protective measures, including mandatory work stoppage during the mid-day hours in the summer months for construction workers; employers must, by law, extend health insurance protection to contractual workers.

We have taken aggressive action to protect wages by mandating that wages be direct-deposited into bank accounts, by imposing heavy fines for non-payment of wages and by granting a release from employer sponsorship to any worker who is owed back pays for a period of more than two months. Our guest workers are free to remit their savings to their home countries, and the value of remittances from the UAE has peaked over 20 billion US Dollars last year. Wage related disputes are now expeditiously resolved in Dubai's dedicated Labour Court.

Four our part, we are fully committed to seeing to it that a guest contractual worker's temporary stay in our country is beneficial to both parties of a work contract, but we are also committed to strict enforcement of the law when it comes to persons who are in our country illegally or those who violate the law otherwise.

Furthermore, we are prepared to discuss with our counterparts in labour sending countries how we may be able to contribute to the process of workers' re-integration in their home countries and communities upon departing our country at the end of the employment contract period. In yesterday's meeting of senior officials and experts, a number of far reaching ideas have surfaced and I look forward to discussing the meeting's recommendations with fellow Ministers later today.

I conclude by reiterating my commitment to the partnership that I expect will ensue from the Abu Dhabi Dialogue. I take this opportunity to call upon my counterparts in both countries of origin and countries of destination to make a pledge to work together over the next months to develop elevate the agreements that are captured in our joint declaration to a multilateral framework for administering contractual labour mobility that can become a model for other regions. The Global |Forum on Migration and Development that convenes in Manila in October of this year offers an excellent venue for sharing our collaborative work on developing such a framework with other nations.

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