15,000 workers benefit from lectures on UAE laws

Dubai: More than 15,000 labourers working in the construction sector have now become well informed about UAE laws and regulations, a senior official said on Saturday.

Major-General Obaid Muhair Bin Surour, deputy director of the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs in Dubai and chairman of the Standing Committee for Labour Affairs, said the workers have undergone continuous training courses about the UAE’s laws and regulations.

The move comes as part of the awareness programme launched by the committee in 2016 with the aim of educating workers on their rights and duties as well as on the UAE’s culture and the occupational health and safety standards in the workplace.

“During the first quarter of this year, some 15,040 workers benefited from 87 awareness lectures, which were organised in Arabic, English and Urdu in cooperation with Dubai Health Authority. The lectures were organised in Muhaisnah area benefiting 7,621 workers through 44 lectures and in Jebel Ali Free Zone (Jafza) benefiting 7,419 workers through 43 lectures, Bin Surour said.

Dr Ahmad Al Hashemi, consultant to the Permanent Committee for Labour Affairs and director of the Middle East Centre for Training and Development, said 977 questionnaires were distributed in both Muhaisnah (712) and Jafza (265) before and after attending the lectures. Workers were randomly selected to answer the questionnaires, which included accepted and rejected social behaviour in the UAE, labour rights and duties according to labour contracts, legal grievance procedures, health and safety standards, and support and assistance channels.

“On reviewing the results of the questionnaires, we noticed that 81.06 per cent of them were aware of the importance of keeping necessary papers and official documents (such as ID and work card) with them during their temporary work, an obvious increase,” Dr Al Hashemi said.

Moreover, 97.03 per cent of them were aware of the procedure to file a labour complaint in the event of a disagreement with the employer or a problem in the workplace, he added.