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Dubai tops list of labour complaints

ABU DHABI — More than 3,000 complaints were lodged by around 4,000 labourers with the Labour Ministry's offices in the UAE last month. Among them, the number of complaints which were not resolved far outnumbered those that were amicably solved, a report by the ministry has shown.

The report revealed that Dubai received more than 1,300 complaints, the highest figure among the various emirates. Both Abu Dhabi and Sharjah together received approximately the same number of complaints as Dubai. A total of 926 labourers in Abu Dhabi lodged 704 complaints against their sponsors. The labour disputes section of the Ministry of Labour succeeded in solving 203 cases.

A total of 122 complaints were referred to the court, of which 23 were sent to the inspection department to investigate the allegations of the complainants. Seventy-two complaints were discarded as they were found to be baseless.

Al Ain received 258 complaints from 316 labourers of which 100 were solved while 87 could not be resolved. Sixty-six cases were referred to the court and two were referred to the inspection department of the Ministry of Labour. Ras Al Khaima received about 119 complaints submitted by 153 labourers. Ajman received 61 complaints from 117 labourers, while Fujairah received 47 complaints from 59 people.

Khorfakkan recorded only three complaints and Um Al Quwain, fourteen. Meanwhile, the statistics of the Ministry of Labour revealed that 5,270 labourers had absconded from their lawful sponsors last month.