UAE’s Dubai Workers Hold Strike for More Wages

TEHRAN – Thousands of workers employed by Dubai’s largest construction company went on strike for a second day to back wage demands in a labor protest in the UAE, where trade unions are banned.

Blue-collared laborers employed by Arabtec, the company behind projects including the world’s tallest building Burj Khalifa, did not show up for work on Sunday, said a spokesman for the company, UAE’s labor ministry and workers.

Employees said the strike began on Saturday and that the workers were determined not to end it without a pay rise.

“They are upset at the low wages and also about not being paid for overtime work,” one employee told the Reuters news agency. He said workers at his site were paid between $160 and $190 a month.

“The protest started in Abu Dhabi on Saturday … workers in Dubai have also joined,” the employee said.

Most blue collar workers in the Gulf Arab states are migrant laborers hired on a contract basis from South Asian countries such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal, and strikes are rare.

R.S