Dubai starts to crack down on labor abuse

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Agence France Presse (AFP)

DUBAI: Walu, a 31-year-old Indian construction worker in the Gulf boomtown of Dubai, wipes the sweat from his face as he squints in the blazing midday sun. "The work here is very hard and it is very hot," he tells AFP, before adjusting the piece of brown-sack cloth wrapped around his head that provides modest protection against summer temperatures that surpass 40 degrees Celsius.

Walu, who like many Indians uses only one name, is one of hundreds of thousands of South Asian laborers working in Dubai and the six other desert states that make up the United Arab Emirates.

Like the other low-wage workers who toil away in the stifling heat and dust of Dubai's countless building sites, he is entitled to a break from 12.30 pm to 3.00 pm each working day during July and August when the sun's rays are strongest.

Though the government adopted a ministerial decree three years ago to improve conditions for "guest workers" in the UAE in response to pressure from international watchdogs like Human Rights Watch (HRW) over alleged abuses, the Labor Ministry has yet to enforce the regulations.


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