History and Current Status of Industrial Relation in Sez in U.A.E.

The seven constituent emirates (Formerly known as the Trucial States, Trucial Coast, or Trucial Oman) had a truce (1820) and agreement (1892) with Britain. Finally in 1971 the independent federation was formed (Qatar and Bahrain separated) Till the 1980s there was in-fighting and rivalry with Abu Dhabi and Dubai. In 1991 during the Persian Gulf War it developed international diplomatic relations. Dubai was always an important trading center, connecting the Far East, India, and Africa even in the ancient years when spices, culture, knowledge, textiles were frequently exchanged. This was the baseline for its economy.

Then, in 1960s they found oil. That boosted them to becoming the highest per capita income generator of the world. They invested in capital, infrastructure and societal improvements heavily. It brought economic expansion to the entire Arab world. Even though oil and petroleum still dominate the industry, as it will last only for 3 decades, they are setting up SEZs to diversify aggressively. Leaders in Dubai are planning to setup a successful economic powerhouse before the last one runs out – a policy which has seen them ride the world economic scene through the years in the past.

(http://www. hejleh. com/countries/uae. tml ) (http://www.

shelteroffshore. com/index. php/offshore/more/dubai_free_zones/ ) Industrial relations for labour in SEZ in UAE Governance and labour laws UAE is a federation. There are no parties and no real elections.

The government works on three levels: •the federal level (country government) •emirate level for each emirate •Municipal government. Emirates work on two levels, federal and emirate level. Much of the time these are in parallel, but in other cases, they may work differently. Either way, power is hierarchical and filters through downwards. The Supreme Council is basically the rulers of the seven emirates.

Labour matters are governed by Federal Law No. 8 of 1980 Regulating Labour Relations as amended by Federal Laws No. 24 of 1981, No. 15 of 1985 and No. 12 of 1986 (the “Law”).

Details in excel sheet. (http://www. grapeshisha. com/UAE-governmental-structure. html ) Industrial Relations in UAE Statistics of UAE Industrial relations as per labour report for 2007 released by the Ministry of Labour: •3,113,000 foreign workers working in approximately 260,000 firms •More than 90% of private sectors are expat workers.

And worker shortage is still high in this area, especially after amnesty. (created illegal labour trade market)During 2006-07, they developed bilateral co-operation with labour exporting countries through MoU’s with several Asian countries including Nepal, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, China, Thailand and the Philippines. As part of these agreements, workers could repatriate their savings ($16 billion in 2006) to whichever nation they chose. UAE is a member of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the Arab Labour Organisation and other labour-focused multilateral organizations. Free Zones in UAE Free zone employees are sponsored by the relevant free zones and not by their employers.

Such employees are seconded by the free zones to companies established in the free zones in return for, amongst other things, a bank guarantee which is required to secure the employees’ dues and any end of service benefits which may be payable on termination of their employment contracts. However, although the free zones are technically the employee’s sponsor, the employees do maintain their right of action against their employers before the courts. Some free zones in UAE: 1. Jebel Ali Free Zone (JAFZ) •Offers business and tax incentives to corporations.

•Run by the Jebel Ali Free Zone Authority ,owned by Dubai World. Caters to the Dubai Port which ranks 9th worldwide in container traffic. •The Jebel Ali Free Zone also provides warehousing and distribution facilities to international and local corporations. 2. Dubai Internet City (DIC) •Technology park •Some companies: Microsoft, IBM, Oracle Corporation, Sun Microsystems, Cisco, HP, Nokia and Siemens, Nera Telecom, i-mate, Acette 3.

Dubai Media City (DMC) •Part of Dubai Holding - tax free zone •Some media houses: APTN, Reuters, CNN, BBC World, Bloomberg L. P. ,Voice of America 4. Dubai Knowledge Village •a member of Dubai Holding subsidiary TECOM Investments Complete foreign ownership, exemption from taxes and repatriation of assets and profits and effortless visa issuance procedures. •400 plus clients including training centres, professional centres and HR companies. •Some institutions: American College of the Emirates (ACE) ,University of Wollongong in Dubai (UOWD) ,Birla Institute of Technology & Science Pilani (BITS Pilani) , European University College Brussels ,Heriot Watt University, Dubai ,Islamic Azad University ,Mahatma Gandhi University 5.

Dubai Healthcare City •healthcare and the pharmaceutical industries •promote medical tourism Pharma companies, Healthcare training academics, Nursing schools, Hospitals, State-of-art medical facilities, medical libraries 6. Dubai International Financial Center •near-shore financial hub for the MENA containing a capital market •Banking Services (Investment Banking, Corporate Banking & Private Banking); Capital Markets (Equity, Debt Instruments, Derivatives & Commodity Trading); Asset Management & Fund Registration (Fund Registration, Fund Administration & Fund Management); Reinsurance; Islamic Finance and Back Office Operations 7. DuBiotech 8. Dubai Outsource Zone 9. International Media and Production Zone media production companies •next generation Media city 10.

Dubai Studio City Discussion Without doubt UAE has a bright economic future. It controls a century of oil reserves, maintains a modern infrastructure and a stable political system, lacks significant overseas debt, and has the financial resources necessary to address the economic, environmental, and social challenges of demographics, the dominance of oil in the state, and the paucity of water supplies before they become overwhelming. Slowly, Dubai is also beginning to capitalize on its newly created strengths. In 2003, tourism overtook oil revenues as the prime source of income.

In the entire process though, prostitution has become a problem. Similarly, as the sectors grow at a rapid rate, each brings with it a set of issues and challenges. These economic and social problems are very real and will intensify if they are not addressed. The gap in wealth between the poor and rich emirates could create tensions in the future. Abu Dhabi has combined its privatization programs with deep cuts in subsidies to the northern emirates, a move that has only enlarged this gap. In future, this issue will also depend on the political leadership.

Privatization also favors the service sector, which is dominated by non-emirates.This could cause very serious social tensions. Additionally, the billions spent on arms for decades will become a great burden. So, the only solution will be to build a viable society whose economic success does not undermine its economic and political stability.

For building a socially stable environment, a new law needs to be developed to meet the pace of progress in the country, as the existing law has been in place for 20 years," Dr Ali Bin Abdullah Al Ka'abi told a press conference, stressing that rules and regulations included in the proposed document would be flexible.Keeping this in mind, the federal laws are being amended after 20 years this year to modernize. This will improve the overall picture of Industrial relations in UAE. There are a number of issues relating to Visa issues, emigration, Pay and work conditions, absence of collective bargaining, and lack of minimum wages implementation, Labour court / conflict resolution, legalization of TU. These are mainly due to industrial relations issues or labour law problems.For example, here is an acute shortage of labour in the region but the three-plus-three law, raised during the last GCC summit in Bahrain proposes a residency cap of six years for unskilled labourers.

If the law is passed, unskilled workers will come to work in a GCC country with a three-year labour contract which can only be renewed once. Even the labour report for 2007 released by the Ministry of Labour does not mention anything about the same. UAE labour law does not protect the immigrant workers working in the UAE. On the contrary it is so lax as to actually facilitate the exploitation that occurs daily.It is not difficult to find stories of workers working without contracts, doing unpaid overtime or having their passports confiscated by their employers. Nor is it sufficient to counter these assertions with the argument that such practices are illegal under UAE labour law, if the very same labour law does not provide workers with a viable means of reporting the abuses.

Only 17% of the 4 million people living in the UAE are nationals, and only 40% of these have college degrees. Businesses reportedly complained that nationals are unhappy with entry-level jobs like reception or office help positions and consider this type of work beneath them.UAE vice president, prime minister, ruler of Dubai, issued binding directives :Adequate standard housing (with sanitary, medical, security and health/safety provisions), Safe transportation of workers to labour sites, recruitment of 2,000 new inspectors, New federal labour courts to fast-track labour dispute resolutions, Cheating/non-payment of wages. Reality is that were these workers to stop work for just one day, the entire country would grind to a complete halt, especially if we recall the huge number of expats existing.Thus, it is a very wise move by the government to check issues before they take more serious proportions and amend the laws and control the industrial relations.

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