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KT opens dossier on readymade garment industry

DUBAI/AJMAN - A recent labour problem, involving a group of workers of a readymade garment factory in Ajman,

Brought into the spotlight the status of such an industry, the bad living conditions of its manpower, and most importantly its negative impact on the economy of the country.

Mainly owned and run by Asians seeking to make maximum profits by utilising and exploiting the foreign workforce, by taking advantage of the country's flexible employment policies, these factories were home to many cases of inhuman treatment of employees. They have to work in unsafe environments, lacking even the minimum occupational safety requirements, as was proved in a recent study conducted by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.

Some factory employees who came from their home countries with dreams of making money, did not imagine that besides having to endure the deteriorating living conditions at their labour accommodations, they will also work several months for free as their employers would suddenly stop paying them their paltry salaries, as in the recent case of the Asian workers at a garment factory in Ajman.

Bandula Somasiri, Sri Lankan consul general in Dubai told Khaleej Times yesterday that a number of Sri Lankan workers at a garment factory in Ajman recently complained about the non-payment of their salaries. The owner of the factory failed to pay the accumulating salary dues for the last three to four months, leaving a large group of Asian workers, including around 40 Sri Lankans stranded without salaries. "We are negotiating with the sponsors for the payment of the salaries and will proceed with the cancellation of visas soon," Mr. Somasiri said.

The ready-made garment industry in the UAE witnessed a sudden boost in the past few years with a total of 155 factories established in less than three years in different parts of the country particularly in Ajman, Dubai and Sharjah. The foreign capitals from South Asia contributed to the establishment of these factories making use of the developed infrastructure in the UAE and the foreign trade relations of the country, which facilitated the access of these factories' products to the international markets including the USA, according to the study conducted two years ago on over 100 factories out of the 185 that existed back then.

The study pointed out that not only these factories depended on the imported row materials, but also had little connections with the local market and even lesser interest in achieving the policies and objectives of local industrial development, as they were linked with the interests of the Asian mother companies which have direct relations with the foreign agents for which they produce the garment.

"The country does not benefit at all from this industry, as there are no taxes on such investments. In fact the foreign owners of these factories, are using the UAE export quota after they had utilised their countries' quotas," a source at the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs told Khaleej Times.

Elaborating, the source explained that the major investments in this industry are made by foreigners which left little room for UAE nationals, who are not being able to penetrate this field and are faced, upon attempting, with very tough resistance and competition. "Besides, the UAE local market is not benefiting from the products manufactured here as they are exported directly to foreign countries with the UAE emblem on them . This is besides the fact that the large manpower working in these factories do not spend their small and insignificant salaries here."

Although no regulations or practical measures had been taken by the authorities in the light of the study's results so far - nor is there any such move in the pipeline - this sector is currently representing one of the urgent priorities that need to be addressed by the authorities, commented the source, adding that the focus would rather be on the status of the workers in this industry.

"We want the people working in the garment factories to enjoy their rights guaranteed by the UAE Labour Law and regulations," the source stressed, adding that the results of the study and the inspection campaigns as well as the labour complaints prove that the workers are being badly exploited and are made to work under the worst possible conditions which do not meet their basic needs.

According to the study which was published earlier in detail by Khaleej Times, the workers in this industry are mainly suffering from the bad living conditions with an average of 15 workers living and sleeping in one room, due to the low salaries they get. The salaries do not exceed Dh906 per month on an average, the lowest compared to the level of salaries in other industries.

These conditions were reflected in the large number of labour complaints registered at the ministry from workers in the ready-made garment industry, as these complaints represented 23 per cent of the total number of labour disputes, taking into consideration that the expats in the ready-made garment industry represent only 1.8 per cent of the workforce.