Besix workers turn violent, beat up their colleagues :: Khaleej Times
Quote:
I've been arguing for a relaxation of the rules that limit or make it costly for firms to hire workers on the local market. I have in mind giving workers greater freedom to change jobs.
It's not what I had in mind, but the recent proposed plan for Worker Cities, where there would be large labor renting companies, would also make it easier for a firm to swap out its workers if it wished. It's not immediately obvious that workers such as those striking at Besix would be better off under the Worker Cities plan.
Rashid Bakheet, Member of the Permanent Committee of Labour Affairs, told your favourite No. 1 newspaper, Khaleej Times, yesterday that the committee checked all the documents of the company and visited the labour camp. The company is paying on time and the accommodation is good. The committee is satisfied with the company and it is a well- run company,” he said. “The workers’ demand of an increase in their salary to Dh1,000 and provision of Dh300 for food allowance is not an acceptable demand. They should abide by the labour contract they signed,” he added.An easy solution for the firm would be to call in replacement workers. The trouble is the UAE labor rules do not allow firms to go onto the local market to hire workers - all ex pat workers in the UAE (over 98% of the private sector workforce) are essentially locked into employment with the employer - that is, they can't change jobs readily.
I've been arguing for a relaxation of the rules that limit or make it costly for firms to hire workers on the local market. I have in mind giving workers greater freedom to change jobs.
It's not what I had in mind, but the recent proposed plan for Worker Cities, where there would be large labor renting companies, would also make it easier for a firm to swap out its workers if it wished. It's not immediately obvious that workers such as those striking at Besix would be better off under the Worker Cities plan.
Labels: **2006, Best of EmEc 2006, Best of Emirates Economist
posted by John B. Chilton at 5/21/2006 12:17:00 PM
3 Comments:
By local market you dont mean those who already have job contracts, becuase this is what i get when i read your article... Can you imagine the chaos that might happen!
because when a woker come to UAE tied to a contract that justify his residence in the country and determine the tie interval will make them into thier work and less manipulative...
The chances of manipulating by the workers and the firms will increase... the firms may try to get other firm's workers... or the worker will try to find somewhere else... I can write a book on the expected stories if such thing happened... we are strict now and look what is happening ! this will also increase the unleagal immegrates like the case of USA... so nah i dont think its a good idea!
What would a minimum wage do? By definition it would pay the worker more than necessary to attract the worker. That's cream to be skimmed either by someone who can extract from the worker. That someone might be the recruiter who can sell the valuable job for the value of the cream, or it could be the employer, or it could be a supervisor of the worker.
Please help me understand if I am missing the point of the minimum wage.
Papadose,
Thank you for the comment. It's food for thought - that there's informational content to a government set minimum wage. Perhaps the government could simply report what the terms of existing contracts are. These norms would be useful for the reasons you articulate.
I concur, too, that strife can be infectious. What is the government policy implication?
Post a Comment
<< Home