Workers situation in Dubai...

[RadioRaheem84]

Wow. I had no idea that half a million near slave laborers were being forced to build a megalomaniacs "vision". Eight people in one bedroom, the taking of their passports, eight year old kids forced to be camel and horse jockeys? And this place is supposed to be a mid east paradise according to the media?

Supposedly though the use of children as jockeys was outlawed and labor unions are now being allowed. Is this true?

[Pogue]

The shanty town in which all the construction workers live is a few miles out of Dubai itself. If you want to see the class system, Dubai is where its at. Absolutely sterile, disgusting place, but an amazing feat of engineering, built by our class, the working class. Thats the power we have, and this is how its being misused and our class abused by the scum up top.

If unions are being allowed I'd be suprised, but also very interested as to how union organising is going in such extreme conditions, I'll look this up somewhere mate, I'm interested myself. if we're going to start talking union struggles then we should move this too worker's struggles, though.

[Stranger Than Paradise]

Wow. I had no idea that half a million near slave laborers were being forced to build a megalomaniacs "vision". Eight people in one bedroom, the taking of their passports, eight year old kids forced to be camel and horse jockeys? And this place is supposed to be a mid east paradise according to the media?

Supposedly though the use of children as jockeys was outlawed and labor unions are now being allowed. Is this true?

Somehow that seems very unlikely. But it would be a positive thing for sure.

[which doctor]

If you want to see the class system, Dubai is where its at.
No need to go to Dubai, just look around you.

[RadioRaheem84]

The shanty town in which all the construction workers live is a few miles out of Dubai itself. If you want to see the class system, Dubai is where its at. Absolutely sterile, disgusting place, but an amazing feat of engineering, built by our class, the working class. Thats the power we have, and this is how its being misused and our class abused by the scum up top.

If unions are being allowed I'd be suprised, but also very interested as to how union organising is going in such extreme conditions, I'll look this up somewhere mate, I'm interested myself. if we're going to start talking union struggles then we should move this too worker's struggles, though.

Excellent. I will do some research too.

[bcbm]

a bit old, but of some interest:

http://en.internationalism.org/icconline/2007/dec/dubai-struggles

[RadioRaheem84]

I am confused though. In order for the city of Dubai to rapidly industrialize it needed half a million workers to give up their rights and submit to near slave labor wages. Yet, the city is touted as a grand vision of excellence and luxury. This has to be the element of propaganda that capitalists use to hide the truth.

Also, why do so many Arabs defend this place? I talk to many Arabs of all classes and they seem to defend Dubai as an Arab city on the rise. Is it a pride thing?

[Rjevan]

And this place is supposed to be a mid east paradise according to the media?
It is a paradise - for those who can afford it. For the working class it is pure hell.


labor unions are now being allowed. Is this true?
Where did you read that? I only know that in 2006 it was announced that trade unions should become legal but this was never realised, at least not that I know. There are no laws to protect the workers, most of these slave workers are from Pakistan and Bangladesh and first have to spend almost all their money for their visa and the journey to Dubai, where their passports are usually kept by their employers in order to keep them from running away. Wages are also not regularly paid and of course there are no minimum wages, some workers only get around 8$ a day. So it is very unlikely that trade unions have been finally introduced in Dubai...

[RadioRaheem84]

I didn't read that. It was in an American news broadcast I saw. I am sure it was pure BS. They said that because of the numerous broadcasts documenting the abuse of workers, a new law was going to be proposed to allow labor unions to form. I assumed since the broadcast was about four years old that that already happened by now.

Also, what's not documented is the domestic service industry too. The maids, cooks, service sector, etc. What about them? Aren't they exploited too?

Last, the population of Dubai is around one million. Now if there are a quarter of a million migrant workers working on construction projects and probably another hundred to two hundred thousand working in the service sector, that leaves a very small elite of people that actually get to enjoy the luxuries. I mean is this right? Can Dubai be such a class divided place like that? I mean that's extreme.

[cyu]

There are some articles from various angles at http://www.reddit.com/search?q=dubai&sort=top

For example, this one: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/08/middleeast.construction

'We need slaves to build monuments'

It is already home to the world's glitziest buildings, man-made islands and mega-malls - now Dubai plans to build the tallest tower. But behind the dizzying construction boom is an army of migrant labourers lured into a life of squalor and exploitation.

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2008/10/07/Dub460x276.jpg Workers sleep on the street in Dubai.