Creating a robust job market in the UAE.
Latest ministerial decrees and the annual report are major steps towards ensuring workers’ welfare
Gulf News16:53 May 8, 2016
The publication of the UAE’s first annual report on workers’ welfare on Saturday by the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation is a commendable move, underlining the country’s commitment to creating a robust job market where workers are mobile and get equal opportunities. The 2015 report focuses on measures to ensure that all workers who come to the UAE are recruited and employed equitably, are safe in their places of work, and are free to advance professionally and personally.
Saqr Ghobash Saeed Ghobash, Minister of Human Resources and Emiratisation, who wrote the foreword of the report, acknowledged that many foreign workers were exploited by unscrupulous recruitment agencies. The ministry, he said, is working closely with countries to “improve practices within the recruitment industry... taking action and suspending licences of the recruitment agencies”. The report acknowledges challenges in the labour market. “The UAE remains a young country undergoing dramatic change and huge economic growth. That brings significant challenges in terms of the management of the labour market,” it said.
The publication of the report comes months after the ministry introduced a new mechanism to recruit foreign workers. Decrees issued this year allow free movement of workers between jobs and make it mandatory for employers to have a standardised job contract, eliminating possibilities of exploitation by dubious agents. “The UAE’s workforce is our greatest asset: The driver of growth that enables economic diversification and secures the future for tomorrow’s generation,” Ghobash wrote in the foreword.
The report clarifies that no employer can engage workers against their will or on terms that do not meet UAE labour standards. All employment contracts must be consensual by nature and both parties have the right to terminate a contract at any time, in accordance with the terms and provisions of the contract.
While the ministry must be lauded for its efforts, a lot more is needed to make sure workers are treated well by employers, paid on time and have the flexibility to change jobs. For this, effective enforcement of the ministerial decrees and processes is absolutely essential. Secondly, the ministry must sensitise small employers who tend to break labour laws, underpay workers and curtail their benefits. Thirdly, it must work closely with foreign governments as most dubious recruitment agencies are located in the workers’ countries of origin.
The UAE has laid down an ambitious roadmap leading to Expo 2020 and beyond to reduce dependence on oil revenues. In the coming decades, the country will need thousands of skilled workers. To attract talented expatriates, the UAE must provide foreign workers a healthy environment to live and grow. The ministerial decrees and the annual report are two big steps in that direction.