NEWS FROM THE UAE
Source : The National

 
Labourers told, you’ll be back home in weeks

Former Otaiba al Garg workers returned from court empty-handed yesterday.

ABU DHABI - FEB 25: Eighty-three foreign workers left to fend for themselves in squalid conditions by their bankrupt construction company were told yesterday that they could expect to be flown home by mid-March.

The pledge came despite news from a court that they could not expect to receive their back wages until early April.

It is not the first time the employees of Al Otaiba and Garg Contracting have heard a contradictory promise since their firm started winding down operations in 2008 and eventually left them without any means of supporting themselves or returning to their home countries.

Still, there are signs that their ordeal may finally be ending.

Ansari Sainuddin, their lawyer, said Al Otaiba and Garg, an Emirati-owned company that operated for two decades and once had more than 400 employees, was in the final stages of liquidating assets worth about Dh3.65 million (US$1 million) to pay its debts.

“The collection of money through the assets of the company has caused delays,” Mr Sainuddin said. “The money collected will be used to pay the workers as well as debts to other clients that are owed.”

Last September, the emirate’s Sharia court outlined how much compensation 128 of Otaiba’s former employees should receive.

Since then, the company’s supervisors and engineers have received their money. Another 45 employees, mostly workers, have also received compensation and have all since left the country.

According to a court official, the company, which became insolvent last year, paid more than Dh100,000 to the first group of employees.

The second group, comprised entirely of labourers, stands to receive about Dh350,000.

Most of the 83 remaining workers have been with the company for more than 20 years and claim they are each owed more than Dh50,000 in back pay and benefits.

They continue to live in their run-down labour accommodation in Musaffah.

Although authorities stepped in to provide them with food and medicine more than seven months ago, they say they have faced problems with rubbish disposal and have not had enough to eat.

They faced more heartbreak on Tuesday when they went to the court to collect their money, but the session was postponed again until April 5 since the company had failed to liquidate its assets.

They returned to their camp disappointed and empty-handed.

One of the workers, Yamna Singh, 54, from India, said the payment date had been delayed several times since last September. “We have built this country for the past two decades,” he said.

Al Otaiba and Garg’s sole remaining representative said he hoped to receive the money from the company very soon so it could be handed over to the court for re-distribution.

“I hope to receive it next week and will deposit it in the court. It will cover everything and more,” said Nabil Abujabarah, the company’s public relations officer.

“We cannot blame [the workers] for not wanting to take new jobs because many want to return home. About 90 per cent of them want to see their family.”

He added that some of the remaining workers now had airline tickets – but still needed clearances from ministries, including the immigration department, to avoid fines as most of their visas and passports had expired.

“They have tickets but they do not have the documentation,” said Mr Abujabarah.

He added that “before the March 15, everyone will be home”, apparently unaware that the workers will now have to wait at least until April to receive their money. There is no guarantee that the money will be ready by then.

The workers’ lawyer stressed that it was Mr Abujabarah “responsibility to tackle issues like expired visas and passports”.

Mr Abujabarah, a Jordanian who spent 13 years with the company, said he was “in the same shape”.

“I have also not been paid. After they get paid, I will release myself and go to my country,” he said.

‘Agents’ still preying on job seekers

ABU DHABI - FEB 25:Three recruitment agents who illegally charged people hundreds of dirhams to place them in jobs, including ones that never materialised, are still operating seven months after the Ministry of Labour was provided information on them.

An investigation by The National on Saturday in July found that the agents, based in Dubai and Sharjah, were illegally charging job seekers.

Recruiters can only seek payment from the firms that hire the employees.

The ministry, which pledged to look into the companies at the time, said this week that the three agents were still under investigation.

It said it had taken action against a similar agency operating in Umm al Qaiwain.

“The Ministry of Labour has opened an investigation about the mentioned companies based on many complaints that [they are] receiving fees from candidates,” said Maher Hamad al Obad, the head of the ministry’s inspection sector.

“The inspectors should check on each case and detect real-life practices. And so, some cases might take longer than others, as [the ministry] might need to do several undercover visits through different inspectors to achieve the needed evidence.”

When called this week by a reporter posing as a job seeker, all three companies said they required candidates to pay a fee, and as before were only able to give sketchy details of supposed vacancies.

One had doubled its initial charges. The agents cannot be named for legal reasons.

The National on Saturday investigation found two companies that used a similar pattern: charging a Dh100 (US$27) registration fee for an initial interview, then calling a few days later for a second interview where the job seeker is charged Dh300 as a “guarantee” for the job – only to find they are never contacted again.

The firms see in excess of a 100 job-seekers a day.

Another Dubai-based recruiter charges a Dh150 registration fee, though some job-seekers said they were charged as much as Dh1,500 by the agent. The company claimed it was allowed to charge fees because it is a “management consultancy” rather than a recruitment agent.

When one of the recruiters was contacted this week about a telemarketer job advertised in a local newspaper – with an advertisement that clearly stated “no charges for candidates” – the reporter was asked to bring a Dh200 registration fee, double the rate the agency charged for the initial interview seven months ago.

The agent declined to disclose the name of the company the position was with, saying only it was a “Dubai free zone company”.

“They just target innocent people and try to take advantage,” said Royston Cardoz, 37, an Indian national who was charged Dh400 by one of the recruiters to guarantee a job that never materialised.

“It’s just a money-making racket and they are targeting poor people. It’s really sad.”

Internet complaints boards are littered with grievances about the companies. On one board, more than half of the complaints against UAE-based companies this year were about the three firms.

An agent at the Sharjah-based recruiter asked the reporter to bring a Dh100 fee for a secretarial job. When asked if there would be further charges, the agent said: “Just come to the office and I will explain the charges then.”

Ayham Kalla, a photographer and graphic designer, who spoke to The National in July about his experiences with two of the agents, said yesterday he was not surprised the agents had not been shut down, but hoped action would be taken soon. “If they are acting illegally, then of course they should be shut down,” he said. “It’s immoral.”

Phones at the Umm al Qaiwain-based company found by the Ministry of Labour to be charging fees – Al Resala Employment Management and Consultancy – were not answered yesterday. That company was also the subject of frequent complaints.

The Ministry of Labour said it had stopped issuing work permits to the company and transferred its case to the public prosecution last week for the legal action.

As well as illegally charging fees, the agency was also unlicensed, the ministry said.