Working in Dubai, Part 1
I don't know anything about working in Dubai as an expat, but while in Dubai I learned a lot about what it's like to work there as a migrant worker. I guess I should start off by explaining that there seem to be three classes of foreign workers in Dubai, and in the Gulf in general. There are the expats, who earn a tax-free salary, usually live in company housing, and live a lifestyle they could never afford to live in their home countries. There are the Arab expats, who are treated pretty similarly to the other expats, although it seems they sometimes get fewer benfits.And then there are the other workers, the ones who are usually from India, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Indonesia. They often work jobs in the tourist industry, drive cabs, are nannies, or do construction or cleaning work. Don't get me wrong, there are skilled workers from these countries in the Gulf, but there are a large number of unskilled workers from these countries and they work at jobs that often require them to work 6 days a week, don't pay terribly well, and are plain back-breaking. Sometimes they get to go home every few months, but it's most likely they get to go home once a year, or once every two years.
The first person I met in Dubai was a woman who drove a taxi and her story broke my heart. Her story, and the story of others like her is next.
posted by Travel Chick @ 7:17 PM
5 Comments:
It’s heart aching to witness by bare eye how some labors are suffering here, and BTW the source of suffering is not limited to tough working conditions and low salaries, it starts with recruitment agents at homelands of those labors (they ask them to deposit relatively huge sums of money to get them a visa), and ends up with labor camps supervisors and both type of people are usually the compatriot of those labors.
It seems that there are three kinds of foreign labor groups:
(1)expats,( perhaps British, Americans who are professional or skilled)
(2) expat Arabs ( alos skilled and professional)
(3)and unskilled migrant workers.
Are there any Labor laws similar to the ones in industralized countries? It would seem that the migrant ( unskilled)workers who probably need these laws the most are the ones being exploited the most too.
Unskilled workers are the ones who need these jobs the most too and are probably not in a position to complain either.
Any chance of getting humanitarian organizations involved in this?
It seems that their story needs media attention. Where are you Diane Sawyer? Or Christain Amanpour?
I hope you'll add to your blog soon--I appreciate reading about the places you have been. Are you still in Dubai? How's work in the media?
Hey Travel Chick... I will agree with my friend DubaiJazz, and i will add that.. those workers or unskilled labourers are treated already like shit in their own countries..i dont mean that they deserve to be treated this way... but when they are accepting this kind of life over here, then could you imagine how it is in their own countries??
another thing, nothing personal here guys, but there are quite a good number of Westerners who are not really qualify to occupy the positions they are occupying, but they are still getting the best deals over here... simply because their countries give them that privilage...i mean that their countries branded their people...
this makes sense to me , i dont know if it does for others.
Most people in the UAE (Emiratis, Indians and expat arabs) all suffer from a massive inferiority complex. This post colonial attitude stems from the belief that Whites in general are superior, in terms of intellect and ability. This is exactly the prevailing attitude, no point in mincing words about it. Whites on the other hand are clever enough to realize that this attitude works in their favour.
The government on the other hand seems to not only tolerate this grossly inequitable status quo, but encourages it. As such a lot of overrated westerners are paid an exorbitant sum for token positions where they need only flash a smile at the public to boost their company's image. Meanwhile the Subcons (Indians/Pakistanis) work ghost positions for pitiful sums for their camel humping douche bag employers who cannot count beyond the number of fingers on their hand.
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