TIFA UPDATE: UAE WORKING ON UNIONS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABU DHABI 003384 SIPDIS STATE FOR EB A/S WAYNE AND DAS DONNELLY STATE FOR NEA, NEA/ARP, NEA/PI STATE PASS USTR FOR CATHY NOVELLI E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/27/2014 TAGS: ELAB ECON ETRD TC SUBJECT: TIFA UPDATE: UAE WORKING ON UNIONS REF: A. A) ABU DHABI 3324 ¶B. B) ABU DHABI 3270 ¶C. C) ABU DHABI 3079 Classified by Ambassador Michele Sison for reasons 1.5 (b & d). ¶1. (C) Summary: The UAE Minister of Labor and other UAE labor officials have told us in two separate meetings over the last three days that the UAE is committed to moving forward on developing labor unions, but that the process will be a slow deliberative one, with considerable debate among UAE stakeholders (including the chambers of commerce and the Emirati teachers, engineers, and lawyers associations). Our interlocutors stressed that labor unions and the foreign worker population are serious issues for the UAE, issues which are receiving serious attention. The UAEG is also concerned about balancing their commitment to improving workers' rights with the security and social challenges of having a 98 percent foreign worker population in the private sector. The Minister of Labor emphasized that he was not interested in having Emirati-only labor unions and that a key question for the UAEG was the level and type of foreign participation. For example, should foreign participation be capped at 20 percent of union membership or 30 percent? Should foreign workers be allowed to hold union office? End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) Ambassador called on UAE Labor Minister, Mattar Humaid Al-Tayer, on September 27 to discuss the upcoming TIFA council meeting and to express our concerns about deficiencies in the UAE's current labor law, such as the lack of provision for trade unions and collective bargaining. Al-Tayar said that the UAE knew that it needed to deal with the issue of trade unions on an expedited basis and that UAE stakeholders were engaging in a real, genuine debate on the subject. Al-Tayar said that he would be willing to provide the draft labor law, currently under review by the Ministry of Justice Technical Committee to the U.S. with two provisos: one) the law is a draft and subject to change; and two) he only has an Arabic edition. (Note: In a September 25 meeting, Undersecretary of Labor Khalid Al-Khazraji told EconChief that the UAEG had divided the labor issue into two parts: the revised labor law, which has a clause specifically permitting the creation of labor unions; and a labor union law, which is under draft and about 80 percent completed. End Note.) ¶3. (SBU) Minister Al-Tayar said that creating a labor union law would be a major challenge for him over the next year, adding that he fully expected every clause to be scrutinized and debated in the federal cabinet and the appointed Federal National Council. He explained that labor unions were a complex issue for the UAE. As a young country, the UAE does not have the experience with organized labor to draw on that a country like the U.S. does. More importantly, the UAE has a unique labor demographic, which is overwhelmingly foreign. For this reason, Al-Tayer said, the Ministry of Labor was consulting with the ILO and had brought in several other outside consultants to help draft its new labor laws. MoL was also actively consulting with UAE stakeholders, including professional associations and the various chambers of commerce and industry. Al-Tayer said that the professional associations (associations of nationals in certain professions, like engineering or law) were pushing for the most permissive/liberal trade union law. He added that these organizations, naturally, were pushing to obtain their rights. He noted that the chambers of commerce and business representatives were more concerned about managing potentially negative impacts from foreign workers. MoL was also reviewing existing laws to see what laws promote unions and what laws hinder their creation. He noted that the UAE constitution, for example was silent on the question of unions ¶4. (SBU) Al-Tayer said that UAE stakeholders were going through a vigorous debate about labor reform and labor unions, especially on how much power to grant unions. There were proposals, for example, to include UAE national civil servants in the labor law. Al-Tayer also said that the debate had reached the level of a debate over nomenclature (i.e. should unions be called "unions" or "committees" or "associations"). He added that, in his view, when the UAE allows unions to form, it might as well call them unions. Calling them "associations" could weaken them, he said, but calling them "unions" won't give them any authority not provided for by law. ¶5. (SBU) Al-Tayer stated that the UAE had lagged behind other countries in the GCC in grappling with the issue of labor unions. Even Saudi Arabia was taking steps forward, he noted. Al-Tayer said that Bahrain had the most liberal union law that he was aware of, but Bahrain did not have the same overwhelming population of foreign workers. Qatar had put a clause into its new labor law that unions could establish themselves and Oman provided for workers committees. The UAE, he said, wanted to deal with this in a more comprehensive fashion. (Note: According to MoL U/S Dr. Khalid Al-Khazraji, the revised labor law has an article that specifically permits the establishments of unions.) ¶6. (C) Although there is a vigorous debate within the UAE on how best to create labor unions, it is clear that the most difficult issue for the UAE is the overwhelming foreign population in the country (80-85 percent of the total population and 98 percent of the private sector work force). Al-Tayar said that if the Ministry of Labor wanted to open trade union membership to nationals only and close the door to expatriate participation, it would be easy, but wouldn't solve the problem. As it is, the UAEG is looking at how to regulate foreign participation in unions and is looking at other countries, like Singapore and Switzerland that have large expatriate worker populations to see how they deal with this subject. Speaking rhetorically, he asked whether expatriates be should be allowed to vote, stand for election, or just participate in unions. He said that even the foreign experts that the UAEG has hired find the question challenging, noting potential problems with membership in two unions (home country and UAE) and with the fact that many foreign workers remain in the UAE for only a few years. ¶7. (C) The large expatriate workforce also presents demographic and security challenges. In an earlier meeting, Al-Khazraji noted that the UAE national population was growing rapidly and that almost 48 percent of the UAE national (as opposed to expatriate) population was under 22. He added that he thought that the UAE was currently in a better position than some of its neighbors, job wise, but stressed that bringing these people into the labor force was a challenge that the UAE needed to face. Contacts in the MFA and the UAE military and security services have also stressed the security challenges caused by the large and diverse expatriate population, many of whom were from countries like Pakistan or Afghanistan. ¶8. (C) Comment: The Labor Minister emphasized that the UAE is committed to protecting workers rights. It is also clear that he and the UAEG are trying to grapple with the issue of creating trade unions and balancing security with workers rights. The U.S.-educated Al-Tayer, who comes from a private sector background, believes that workers should have the right to join unions and is looking at providing expatriate workers with some form of representation in the unions. We see the UAEG undertaking a slow deliberative process as it draws in a wide range of stakeholders to consider the issue of trade unions. For the UAE, these are important and sensitive issues and it is more likely that changes will be sustainable if the UAE does pay serious attention to the issues. We are encouraged that the UAEG is working to get "buy-in" from various stakeholders as it develops labor laws that address its interests and seek to conform with international norms. End Comment. SISON