Friday, June 23, 2006

It's not our fault

From Asia toils to build UAE for a pittance:
Brigadier Said Matar bin Bileila, chairman of the Dubai government's new Permanent Committee of Labour Affairs, is well aware of the workers' plight.
But he lays a lot of the blame on the labourers and their governments for not protecting the men from recruiting "sharks". Firms in the UAE employ agencies in Asia to find workers and many men say they pay thousands of dollars to secure jobs.

"Most of the labourers who come here have already been bled dry by recruiting companies who take huge fees, so they come here already heavily in debt," Bileila said. "That is not the fault of the UAE government or the employer, but the problem lies with the Asian governments and the workers themselves, they have to deal with these agents that are like a mafia."

Bileila said the UAE offered foreign labourers a golden opportunity to better their lives.

"We know how these labourers live at home. They don't have houses but here they get a room, air-conditioning, a kitchen, three clean meals a day, transportation and a salary that is 10 times better than what they would make at home," he said.
10 times? I doubt it. But if it is that would explain why the sharks are feasting. The recruiters are in the position of selling these job openings to the workers. The workers are willing to pay the difference between what they get in the UAE and what they can at home. The fact that jobs can be sold is proof that the UAE is providing the better jobs. Or that there are a lot of gullible people out there.

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