Migrant Workers in the Construction Industry in United Arab Emirates (UAE): The role of the Ministries of Labour and Foreign Affairs in enforcing fair payments and minimum wages

The UAE is one of the Gulf States ranked as one of the richest economies in the world. This success can be attributed to a vast supply of cheap migrant labours making up a staggering 90 percent of the labour force. The UAE is strongly dependant on foreign labour to sustain economic growth and maintain the high standard of living in the country. This migrant population comprises of skilled professionals who are hired because of their expertise and enjoy generous employment conditions, while others are causal semi-skilled and unskilled labourers from construction workers, many of whom are experiencing a considerable amount of exploitation. The labour policy was designed to work under the kafala system where the recruiting agency has full rights of the laborers but most of them have used this opportunity to exploit these migrants. However these foreign laborers also face other challenges like poor living accommodation (labour camps), restriction on freedom to organize or bargain collectively, no payment of salaries, wage discrimination, salary delay, sexual abuse and reported cases of violence all of which affects the working and living conditions of migrant workers in UAE. The government through the Ministries of Labour and Foreign Affairs has come into action to address challenges posed by the Kafala system such as outlawing employers from confiscating workers passports and allowing for transfer of employer sponsorship but its effectiveness in implementing these laws still falls short. Some of these efforts have been made in response to international outcry about human rights violations within the UAE. In an effort to manage and control abuse of human rights, the UAE through the Ministry of Labour created “The Higher Committee for Labour Crisis Management” whose mandate included dealing with labour related conflicts, disagreements and violations. The committee also carries out labour inspections to most of the construction companies, and other companies which recruiting un-skilled workers, to ascertain the level of compliance with respect to the set regulations and rules. In its effort to address some of these human rights violations, the Ministry of Labour set up the department of labour relations whose task is to receive complains, study and make investigations before issuing out any punishments appropriate or any resolutions pertaining to the issues at hand. This has tended to create a sense of fear to the construction companies intending to participate in some of the human rights violations of the migrant workers. To avert wage related issues, the Ministry of Labour introduced the Wage Protection System (WPS). The WPS is an electronic salary transfer system that allows institutions to pay workers via approved banks, exchange bureaus, and other financial institutions. The WPS has helped in timely payment of salaries and also assisted the Ministry of Labour in verifying if companies make undue deductions from the salaries of workers. Many firms, including quite large and small ones, use a payroll processing firm in order to adhere to the wage protection system, which was implemented by the government.