The story is a bit sensationalistic. Some truths, but lots of half-truths as well.
There is a debtor's prison. Most of the people in it knowingly wrote bad checks or where trying to flee from debts. The government knows that you can't pay your bills if you're in jail so they try to keep those who are willing and able to pay in a position to do so.
The labor is definitely exploited here, but what about where they came from? Granted it's not the best excuse, but when they can only make $50/month in their home country often times living in much more squalid conditions then $150 to $200/month with relatively safe and clean living conditions looks like a great deal. Sadly their own countrymen are the ones who swindle them with high fees in order to get the job so that they work the first year just paying off the fee it took to get the job.
I've never seen a cattle car loaded with workers and I've been here for 7 years. They are in buses and minivans. The government law is that no outside construction work is allowed between 1pm and 4pm in the summer when the temperature exceeds 40 C. It's not always followed, but it is the law.
Passports are usually held by the employer for the lower paying jobs. The employee gets the labor card showing their right to work in the UAE and providing them legal identification. When they go on vacation the passport is returned. When they leave the employer after fulfilling their contract the passport gets returned. Where it gets tricky is when someone wants to leave before their contract is finished. In that case the emplyer has the upper hand. But again, in the majority of cases this arrangement, while not ideal, is not as bad as the article purports it to be. It's also not the case with middle and upper level jobs.
I consistently run across workers who have been here much longer than I have. Obviously it can't be that bad if they stay for a decade or longer. If you've ever travelled to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, or Sri Lanka then you'd understand why they stay. Now those places are absolute **** holes. Dubai is a far better proposition for them from just about every angle. They make more money; they have much greater safety; they have cleaner living conditions; and they have opportunity to advance.
Dubai is the current whipping boy for the UK press. When times were good the people in the UK were flocking here for high paying expat jobs. Soaking up the sun and living high on the hog. Speculative investing was going on just like in the States and elsewhere. Now that the real estate bubble has burst some have gotten burned and are paying the consequences of their over-indulgence. So the UK press show up and write stories about how bad Dubai is when just two-three years ago they were touting it as a great vacation and investment destination.
I do agree with Dune, however, the article shows important differences from the Western world. One needs to understand that Dubai is not like their home country when they are making the decision to come here.
Typhoonpilot
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A well written article on Dubai
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