Autonomy

'We need slaves to build monuments'
It is already home to the world's glitziest buildings, man-made islands and mega-malls - now Dubai plans to build the tallest tower. But behind the dizzying construction boom is an army of migrant labourers lured into a life of squalor and exploitation. Ghaith Abdul-Ahad reports


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008...t.construction

Lyds

wow.

Nice to see the Guardian come up with a nicely balanced and unbiased article. I'm sure the journalist was glad to climb back into his air-conditioned car and return to his luxury hotel after Viewing the Slums and Talking to the Poor.

What I would be interested to know is:
a/ what is the difference between labourer's salaries and working conditions is their home country and Dubai
b/ what is their profit ratio... and what is that of the average western ex-pat too, for that matter. The article states that westerners earn twice their usual salary tax-free, but then again, we're also paying £30+ per year in rent. Cost of living has gone up for everyone too. I wonder if labourers are also earning twice their usual salary tax-free...
c/ what are the differences in employment numbers, job security, "benefits" (yeah, well...)

At the end of the day, it's easy for us to judge, ignore, shrug away or feel sorry for people who do the jobs none of us would want to do. Will any westerner ever be able to comprehend something that he has never had to deal with personally?

I for one can't believe the number of people (men and women) over here who have left their children in order to come here and work. One chap I spoke to watched his daughter's 1st birthday via webcam, and hoped that he could see her next year some time. Another's wife is due to have their first baby his month, and again, he's saving in order to go and see her in a year or two.

If we don't get to see our kids, it's generally cos we've been in a meeting, working late, or whatever... not because we've had to make a tough decision to leave them thousands of miles away and seek a better life for the whole family.

It makes our little worries look academic in comparison.

Kix

Hang on a minute, the guy'll be on his midday break, the suggestion is that they're homeless.

I wouldn't sit next to an English guy that smells...

Sharla Musabih, this Sharla Musabih?

Yes it's biased, but sensationalism sells, and why let the truth get in the way of a good story?

Spugsy

jesus, thing is its all true eh? £80 a month? thats absolutely disgusting, we should all really do what we can, give money to the helping hands lot.

Lyds

yeah, £80 doesn't even get you half a Wii! Poor people!

Kix

That's after all deductions, usually housing and food, and as you said earlier, it's still a lot of money compared to their home country salary. OK, I don't condone it but shit happens in the world. Having worked closely with a number of these guys, I discovered the people who are the worst offenders for "ripping them off" is their own countrymen....

Food for thought.

Lyds

yeah... it's not very PC, but if you earn more, you have more overheads too - yes, they could be seen as luxuries and often are, but a mortgage is a mortgage, credit cards need to be paid, insurance, healthcare, childcare... all the same.

That's why I would honestly be interested in seeing what the earnings/expenses ratios for the different groups actually is.

ketty

It is nothing in comparison to their Home salaries:
EG has an average BIP of 796 US $ pP/per year.
If you then see, that they have to pay their Flights and these $$$ to the recruitment agencies, they could better stay home, even if the BIP is a lot under 500 US$ you can think about to move.

lionheart

You cannot really compare the plight of workers here to their compatriots back home. I have seen much worse living conditions in the shanty slums of Nairobi and Cape Town but at least those people have their families to support them emotionally. These poor guys here have nothing like that. It must be a living Hell...incidentally, I wish I was getting double the salary available back home, tax free or not. Otherwise, the article was pretty good.

Spugsy

I get more than twice as much as I earned back home. It's still not loads but it makes life pretty comfortable out here.

typical

So you'll be campaigning for a metro carriage for non-English people only, then?

Squirty Cream

Let's take this a bit further, overcrowded rooms, no cupboards in which to keep their belongings, not enough shower facilities or hot water to clean themselves, usually very poor quality food, no medical insurance, shops that sell stuff on credit at higher prices which then they have to pay back, accommodation which is worse than we can ever imagine. These people have no voice, no rights and have no escape - indentured labour - if they were at home then they could walk if the job and conditions were really crap - they can't do that here. They pretty much get screwed by everyone along the employment/recruitment chain.

What do they want? Well I have discussed this at length, they want the basics - decent food, reasonable working hours, decent pay, uncrowded and decent bedding and access to hot water for showers - pretty basic and the right of every human being I'd say. The way they get stuff deducted from their meagre earnings is criminal, but now it seems that they are being paid through banks and some of the banks have special accounts like NBAD's Ratibi so at least they are getting paid. I could go on but I get really pissed.

The Dean

And what makes it worse is that a country that you might imagine treated its manual workers even more disgracefully - Saudi Arabia - is actually by comparison very fair and generous.

Heard the other day that construction workers at King Abdullah Economic City are all going to get their names on a special plaque when it's completed, as a 'tribute to their efforts' - can anyone imagine Dubai doing that?

Spugsy

ooh, what a way to start your first post....

Eva

T'is beyond the pale the way these people are treated.They are after all people just like us; if you cut them they bleed. An accident of birth has spared most of us the hardship they endure.
Jesus! at least at home they would be free to walk along coastline/beach without being castigated as unclean or required to pay the equivalent and more(some cases) of a days wages to sit on a beach- and then only to be referred to as pervs by F... Me Felicity expat twats. (Abu Dhabi)
Most of them arrive here already years in debt considering payback on flights, visas,medics etc so the light at the end of the tunnel is further removed.Sorry hearts and empty souls but they work....in conditons even the likes of Norman Tebbit would probably have an epileptic over.
Would it seriously dent the profits of the current day Big Movers to at least: air- con those 'prison buses' or give em more living space and washing facilities than the most henious of criminals who take themselves outside the parameters of society which most including ''these people'' are 'supposed' enjoy???.

There is no such thing as bad publicity.
If one 'present day Croesus' had the mental furniture to work out:the cost of enhancing the workers' lives in simple ways and -publicly identify their right to same which could be addressed at his expense....-V-say the cost of retaining quality PR or prime time advertising......
Where is the kudos going to fall? Will that benefactor be remembered for offensive, tasteless buildings or his benevolence towards his loyal work force ?
One is in plenty supply in the UAE, the other is still a novelty. A win win situation for the pretender Croesus imho.
No equal prizes however.

Oh and before I get off my soapbox..........For anyone who doesn't know....BLUECAT (aka GA) has raised loadsamoney for
'Helping Hands' charity. I don't like cats and she's a cat lover(4????) so we are perhaps opposite spectrum.
My post talks a good game and it is heartfelt, but it's only words.
BlueCat- in spite of criticism ....has actually got off her A and put her money where her mouth is... she's been instrumental in making many of these peoples' lives a bit less harsh.
So when you see a post from her regarding Book Sale or DVD sale..... read it and weep -then go buy!