Foreign workers in Dubai riot over pay, treatment
Violence shows anger of migrants who are backbone
of nation's growth:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/3742220.html
DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - Asian workers angered by low
salaries and mistreatment smashed cars and offices in a riot
that interrupted work Wednesday on what is meant to be the
world's tallest skyscraper — including a luxury hotel run
by Giorgio Armani.
The violence, which caused an estimated $1 million damage,
illustrated the growing unrest among foreign workers who are
the linchpin of Dubai's breathtaking building boom.
About 2,500 people working on the Burj Dubai tower and
surrounding housing developments chased and beat security
officers Tuesday night, then broke into offices where they
smashed computers and files, witnesses said.
When the laborers, who work for the Dubai-based firm
Al Naboodah Laing O'Rourke, returned to the vast construction
site Wednesday, they demanded better pay and employment conditions
and refused to return to work.
In a sympathy strike, thousands of laborers building a
terminal at Dubai International Airport also laid down their tools.
"Everyone is angry here. No one will work," said Khalid Farouk,
39, a laborer with Al Naboodah. Others said their leaders were
asking for pay raises: skilled carpenters on the site earn
$7.60 per day, with laborers getting $4 per day.
The riot was a rare outbreak of violence, but it was not
the first sign of discontent 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.
In the Emirates, where some estimate more than three-quarters
of the population of around 5 million people are foreigners,
migrants from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, China and elsewhere
have provided the low-wage muscle behind the building boom.
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