| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"999" |
| Date: |
27 Apr 2006 10:56:50 PM |
| Object: |
Dubai gettings bashed again - for abuse of workers now |
Maybe a little UN-mandated housekeeping might be in order in doobie-land.
Whew, at least those slave-runners did not get to run US ports now.
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http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Emirates-Workers-Protest.html
April 27, 2006
Asian Construction Workers Riot in Dubai
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 3:35 a.m. ET
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- About 2,500 foreign construction workers
rioted over wages and working conditions at a building site in Dubai,
smashing equipment and vehicles in the second violent protest by
construction workers in a month in the fast-growing city.
Witnesses said workers employed by Al-Ahmadiah Contracting company
demonstrated for more than four hours Wednesday at the Dubai Marina,
clashing with riot police and smashing vehicles and machinery at the
waterfront site, which includes residential towers, outdoor cafes and a
marina.
''We get 450 dirhams ($123) a month,'' one worker said, speaking on
condition of anonymity because he feared retribution. ''It's not enough. We
can't save any money.''
Brig. Gen. Mohammed al-Mansouri of Dubai Police said three workers were
arrested.
Last month, workers rioted at the site of a building intended to be the
world's tallest skyscraper, smashing cars and offices and causing an
estimated $1 million in damages. After the protest, the United Arab Emirates
government said it would pass a law to give laborers the right to form trade
unions and bargain collectively.
The protests were not the first among the foreigners who form the
overwhelming majority of private sector workers in most oil-rich Gulf
countries. There have been strikes in recent months in Qatar and Oman. In
April, Bangladeshis stormed their own embassy in Kuwait, protesting working
conditions that human rights activists have denounced as ''slave-like.''
Last month, the New York-based Human Rights Watch rebuked the UAE for
allowing abuse of Asian workers. The rights group said the building boom in
Dubai and other Emirates cities was taking place at the expense of hundreds
of thousands of underpaid workers from India, Pakistan, China and other
Asian countries.
A Labor Ministry official Khalid al-Khazraji rejected such charges last
week, saying ''the UAE has a clean record on protection of workers'
rights.''
''The recent protests were motivated by economic factors and have nothing to
do with security and legal rights of workers,'' he said.
------
On the Net:
http://www.dubai-marina.com
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press
*** Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com ***
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| User: "David Morgan \MAMS" |
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| Title: Re: Dubai getting bashed again - for abuse of workers now |
29 Apr 2006 01:25:14 AM |
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"999" <999@private.nospam> wrote in message...
Maybe a little UN-mandated housekeeping might be in order in doobie-land.
Whew, at least those slave-runners did not get to run US ports now.
Tell that to Halliburton and a dozen other US companies who
have subsidiary offices in Dubai... there's *big* money there
and it's expected to be the formal 'seat' of the proposed New
World Order. Had the government not played it's 'terrorist'
card so heavy-handedly to rial up America, the ports deal
would have gone through totally unnoticed.
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