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66 Moroccan labourers protest against denied salaries

ABU DHABI - An unusual complaint was lodged on Saturday, with the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs by 66 labourers, mostly Arabs protesting that their employer denied them two months wages.

The unusual part about this complaint, was that these labourers, most of whom are from Morocco, claimed that they were on a visit visa.

The frustrated workers, were employed as masons for gypsum plaster decoration work, which is a specialised work and requires certain skills.

According to one of them, the labourers were brought to the UAE last December on a visit visa and that all of them travelled together in one flight.

"We have only ten days more before our visas expire and we technically violate the immigration laws. Each one of us was assured of a Dh2400/ as salary, in addition to part-time benefits and free accommodation. However, we have not been paid anything while accommodation provided to us was very bad," said the spokesman.

The labourers, who total 84, are all on visit visa, according to the spokesman.

"The sponsor has threatened us that if we protest, he will not renew the visa and we will have to go back home without being paid a dirham," he said.

We then decided to make our problem known by lodging a complaint with the ministry. We are awaiting the ministry's decision, he said.

However, an official at the Labour Dispute Department at the ministry told Khaleej Times that first the status of theses labourers will be checked.

"I do not think it is possible for all of them to come as a group on visit visas. We will first investigate how they arrived in the country and then proceed with the complaint," he said.

The ministry will summon the sponsor today to probe into the case, said the source.

In case, the labourers are really on a visit visa as they claim, then whoever had sponsored them will be held responsible for violating the labour regulations and laws." the source added.

Employment of natives has failed to keep up with the pace of booming labour market. Why?

The employment opportunities in the UAE had failed to keep pace with the increase in labour market participation rates leading to the unemployment of UAE nationals which primarily affect higher-educated citizens, who are expected to reach 14,200 in 2005 and increase to 19,600 in 2010.