IndieG

yeah right

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/50271...iolent-protest

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus...0710281617.htm

Inselaffen

their conditions are without doubt crap but anyone doing "some of the protestors hurling stones at police and passing motorists. One passerby sustained minor injuries" deserves to be kicked out of the country!

IndieG

probably didn't happen - but cooked up just so they have a "valid" excuse to get them deported

Blue Cat

the city that cares!!! Bollox!

Crash

You really have to be there to see the hype mixed with the reality of the living conditions of a large segment of the population.

jvr20

Is your point that dissent to the powers that be can never justify violent action?

Or that violent action, and harsh penalties are necessary for a gradual transition from a feudal society to an advanced, civilised society?

Serious question - remember the Tolpuddle Martyrs... my early British Industrial Revolution history isn't great - but weren't they transported (sort of equivalent to deported, i.e. indeed kicked out of the country)

And yet now they are commemoreated as early trade unionists fighting the 'man' for a fair day's pay for a fair day's work, etc.

Cham128

very true and looking at history where you have this mass seperation of class... it always ends up in a revolution because people lower down the chain start to realise that they are greater in numbers... did no one watch "A Bugs Life"?

RitchieD

Was at a vendor today near where these protests were. He said that the guys hadn't been paid for 7 months! No wonder they were pissed off!

IndieG

Al Habtoor Engineering (the company where they worked) was mentioned in one of the press reports (think CNN)

Grace O Malley

Good

Name and Shame

AC

IndieG

Another culprit: Al Mussa (Moosa?) contracting

https://www.mywire.com/pubs/AP/2007/10/28/4820919


May be have a sticky

jvr20

to what purpose?

lionheart

Je ne comprends pas. Surely, if you publicly name the cheapskate or inconsiderate Employers, it will adversely affect their business and maybe bring about a change in corporate policy. Alternatively, prospective Employees will know which companies to avoid. Name and shame is good for me...

jvr20

Yes, in theory...

Naming and shaming of (to give a UK example) GAP, Nike etc in the past (and in the case of GAP, all over again) for sweat shop labour can work because end-user consumers may decide to vote with their feet and not buy from those companies.

But people here do not consume directly from the likes of al-Habtoor Engineering... they deal with the property companes.

So what difference is the naming and shaming of some labour sub-contractor realistically going to make to the profits of one of the large property companies here? Even assuming (a huge step) that the high-earners who buy residential properties, or that businesses who buy/rent commercial properties, gave a toss, how do they know which providers give contracts to labour companies who employ good practices?

(of course the easy answer is none)

Grace O Malley

Yes. thank you LH you got there before me!

Infact it was the Dubai government who called it this. They stated that they would publically name any companies who did not pay their staff. This was decided when the first lot of labourers took to the streets a few years ago that were employed by the Al Hamed Group when they had not received their salaries for months. This is also when this regions started to look at CSR seriously.