Quote:
Originally Posted by Coldrsx
It would be a blessing for Edm/Cal to have some more workers both skilled and not to assist public and private ventures...and this is a good way to do such a thing, but the levels of gov't make it slow and tedious it seems.
I look at how fast things can go up in asia or dubai because they have enough workers to keep pace with techinical construction methods, where as here....
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except that the labourers there are basicly slaves...I don't think that we'd be doing that for obvious humanitarian reasons.
Quoting Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubai
"The massive construction projects currently in Dubai have required more construction workers than there are citizens of the city (note: over 80% of Dubai's population consists of expatriates/non-citizens).
This has led to massive importation of low-wage workers, mostly from India and Pakistan.[7] Most of these workers are forced to give up their passports upon entering Dubai, making it very difficult to return home. NPR reports that workers "typically live eight to a room, sending home a portion of their salary to their families, whom they don't see for years at a time." Others report that their salary has been withheld to pay back loans, making them little more than indentured servants.[8] The BBC has reported that "local newspapers often carry stories of construction workers allegedly not being paid for months on end. They are not allowed to move jobs and if they leave the country to go home they will almost certainly lose the money they say they are owed. The names of the construction companies concerned are not published in the newspapers for fear of offending the often powerful individuals who own them.".[9]
In December 2005, the Indian consulate in Dubai submitted a report to the Government of India detailing labour problems faced by Indian expatriates in the emirate. The report highlighted delayed payment of wages, substitution of employment contracts, premature termination of services and excessive working hours as being some of the challenges faced by Indian workers in the city.[10]
On 21 March 2006, tensions boiled over at the construction site of the Burj Dubai as workers upset over low wages and poor working conditions rioted, damaging cars, offices, computers, and construction tools. A Dubai Interior Ministry official said the rioters caused approximately one million U.S. dollars in damage. On March 22 most workers returned to work but refused to work. The work stoppage also caused workers building a new terminal at Dubai International Airport to strike.[11]
The alleged labour injustices in Dubai have attracted the attention of various Human Rights groups. Mafi Wasta, for example, is a website created specifically for the purpose of persuading the government of the UAE to sign up to 2 of the ILO's (International Labour Organization) 7 core conventions - namely 87 and 98 - which allows for labour unions. The site lists examples of human rights violations in the country. Human Rights Watch said that the men were treated "less than human".
Though officially there is a labour ministry where workers can go for redress, this is more so in name than in practice. Subcontintent labour from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh working in construction sites cannot speak either Arabic or English, and their claims can drag on in the Labour courts for months by which time the unpaid labourers have little option than to accept any given settlement.
So I agree labour is needed, but at what cost? The paper work is there to protect our contry, and inidvidual rights and freedoms.
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