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