Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05ABUDHABI1333
2005-03-26 03:58:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Abu Dhabi
Cable title:  

LABOR UNION RIGHTS A LENGTHY AND COMPLICATED TASK

Tags:  ELAB ETRD PHUM PREL TC 
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Diana T Fritz 12/06/2006 03:04:48 PM From DB/Inbox: Search Results

Cable 
Text: 
 
 
C O N F I D E N T I A L ABU DHABI 01333

SIPDIS
CXABU:
 ACTION: AMB
 INFO: DCM POL ECON

DISSEMINATION: AMB
CHARGE: PROG

APPROVED: CDA:RALBRIGHT
DRAFTED: ECON:ELWILLIAMS,CG:M
CLEARED: ECON:OJOHN, CG:JDAVIS

VZCZCADI159
PP RUEHC RUEHZM RUEHC
DE RUEHAD #1333/01 0850358
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 260358Z MAR 05
FM AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8863
INFO RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ABU DHABI 001333 

SIPDIS

STATE PASS USTR

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/26/2015
TAGS: ELAB ETRD PHUM PREL TC
SUBJECT: LABOR UNION RIGHTS A LENGTHY AND COMPLICATED TASK
FACING UAE

REF: A. A) ABU DHABI 1274


B. B) ABU DHABI 349

C. C) ABU DHABI 296

Classified By: Classified by Richard A. Albright, Charge d,Affaires, a.
i., reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ABU DHABI 001333

SIPDIS

STATE PASS USTR

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/26/2015
TAGS: ELAB ETRD PHUM PREL TC
SUBJECT: LABOR UNION RIGHTS A LENGTHY AND COMPLICATED TASK
FACING UAE

REF: A. A) ABU DHABI 1274


B. B) ABU DHABI 349

C. C) ABU DHABI 296

Classified By: Classified by Richard A. Albright, Charge d,Affaires, a.
i., reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (U) This is a joint Abu Dhabi and Dubai cable.


2. (C) Summary: DoL D/US Levine held labor consultations
March 19-21 with a wide range of senior UAE officials,
professional associations, and businesspeople. The labor
delegation discussed current labor laws and practices and
workers rights in the UAE, and also discussed the status of
proposed UAE changes to their labor law and a new trade union
law. Most strikingly, no official could give a time frame
for the passage of a trade union law, and officials admitted
that they are still unsure how to approach the problem of
including foreign workers in such unions. Even Emirati
leaders of current professional associations expressed
concerns about the inclusion of foreign workers in a future
union, illustrating the challenges the UAEG will face in
passing such a law in a short time frame. End summary.


3. (U) Department of Labor (DoL) Deputy Under Secretary
Arnold Levine led a labor consultations delegation,
consisting of representatives from DoL, USTR, and DoS, to the
UAE on March 19-21 for discussions related to the labor
chapter of the Free Trade Agreement. They met with the
Ministers of Labor and Interior, MFA U/S Abdullah Rashid Al
Noaimi, and MinFin A/US Khalid Al-Bustani. They also met
with US businesses and UAE professional associations,
lawyers, and a Dubai-based labor attache. Levine took
advantage of the visit to emphasize the labor requirements of
Trade Promotion Authority with regard to FTAs. He focused
specifically on the UAE,s need to address freedom of
association, the right to bargain collectively, and the
problem of child and forced labor in the form of camel
jockeys (see Ref A). He particularly made the point that the
UAE must take effective steps to enforce and strengthen its
domestic labor laws.

--------------
CURRENT SITUATION
--------------


4. (U) The UAE,s labor law dates from 1980, and is

currently being revised. The UAEG consulted the
International Labor Organization (ILO) in the drafting of the
original 1980 law, and Minister of Labor Dr. Ali Al-Ka,abi
confirmed that the UAE is again asking the ILO to review the
revised draft law. The ILO sent a contact team to the UAE in
October 2003, when they discussed a number of labor issues
(including camel jockeys) and met with a number of federal
ministries and emirate-level government officials. Al
Ka,abi also met recently with the Lebanon-based head of the
ILO regional office when they were both in Algiers in
February.

Standards of Work
--------------


5. (U) The UAE does not impose a minimum wage or have minimum
wage guidelines, but in practice Ministry of Labor (MoL)
officials inspect all contracts to ensure they include all
legally required benefits, allowances, and time of payments.
(Note: In the UAE, the majority of contracts provide for
housing allowances, transportation to home country, and
educational stipends for children in addition to the base
salary. End note.) Ministry officials noted that UAE
citizens can receive social insurance benefits from the
government if they do not earn a sufficient salary. Foreign
workers usually remit the majority of their salaries to their
home countries, and their daily living needs (i.e. housing
and food allowances) are often provided separately in their
work contracts from the base salary.


6. (U) The current labor law sets health and safety
standards, and MoL inspectors and the individual emirates all
retain enforcement bodies to oversee these requirements. If a
workplace is unsafe, workers can report this to the MoL.
They have the legal right to stop working until major safety
problems are corrected. (Note: In the draft law discussed
during AUSTR Clatanoff,s January visit, officials noted the
revised labor law will strengthen these provisions. See ref

B. End note.)

Strikes and Collective Bargaining Units
--------------


7. (U) Current law does not explicitly prohibit strikes or
collective bargaining units for private sector employees, nor
does it state explicitly that they are permitted. Collective
dispute resolution is allowed and takes place regularly.
(Note: Public servants and employees working in some public
utilities that may endanger human life are prohibited from
striking. End note.) In practice, workers in the UAE
frequently file complaints with the MoL and sometimes strike,
primarily for the purpose of collecting unpaid wages. Post
knows of no instances where workers went on strike in
anticipation of changing working standards or gaining further
rights, and the MoL officials gave no such examples.
Protection against unfair dismissals (for workers or
representatives in an unsolved dispute) are included in the
current labor law, but there do remain concerns about
reprisals due to the fact that companies serve as sponsors
for nontransferable visas that are required of all foreign
workers in the UAE.


8. (U) Freedom of Association, like collective bargaining,
is also not expressly prohibited or permitted by current law.
Social clubs arranged by nationality, such as an Indian Club
or Pakistani Club, do exist in the UAE, but such groups are
not associated with workplace issues and do not engage in
collective bargaining.

Structure of Professional Associations
--------------


9. (U) Professional associations are the only workers,
associations that currently exist in the UAE. They are
organized by profession: teachers, jurists, engineers,
medical professionals, and social workers. Most members of
these associations are Emirati. Although foreign workers do
belong to these associations, they do not have voting rights
and cannot serve on the boards of the organizations. Twenty
people from the same profession can request that the Ministry
of Labor permit an association to be formed. Every two
years, each society holds elections for its board, which are
supervised by the Ministry of Labor. Officers must be UAE
citizens. Each association has a constitution, written by
its members and approved by the MoL. Members pay annual dues
of approximately 33 USD each.


10. (C) Members of the professional associations vented
their frustrations about the MoL and the UAEG to Levine.
They said that during the first ten years everything went
smoothly (1986 to 1996),but since 1996 the societies have
faced harassment from the government and close supervision by
the State Security Directorate (SSD). Members noted that the
government and SSD had forced out many association board
members. They speculated the reason for this close
supervision and restrictions was the UAEG,s fear of any form
of elections. Association leaders also noted that the UAEG
restricted them from officially affiliating with
international professional associations (saying MoL officials
had refused more than ninety percent of their requests for
travel to official functions in the region),although in the
1980,s most of the associations had been members of Arab
professional association leagues. The leaders also
acknowledged that the UAE is very sensitive about the use of
the word &union,8 preferring instead to use &society8 or
&association.8 They felt the fear came from the perception
that a union would bargain for specific rights and have
explicit powers.


11. (C) Speaking to the delegation in Dubai, the ex-head of
the UAE Jurists' Association described his frustration with
the law: "The law does not allow the employer associations to
flourish. By law, an association cannot defend the interests
of its members. So if a group of teachers is fired, the
association cannot protest, as that would be like a union."

--------------
Future Labor Prospects
--------------

Foreign Workers in Collective Bargaining Units
-------------- --


12. (C) UAEG officials reiterated their concerns
that granting freedom of association and collective
bargaining rights to foreign workers may threaten UAE
national security, since the vast majority of the private
sector workforce is foreign (98 percent). In an effort to
gain a better understanding of the demographics involved,
government officials are planning to issue biometric
identification cards to all residents (national and
non-national) within the next three years. The program will
begin in June with Ministry of Interior and Defense
employees, followed by residents over the age of 18.
Government officials have expressed particular concerns that
the major nationalities represented in the worker population
come from politically or economically troubled countries,
including Pakistan, Iran, and India, and represent 80 percent
of the UAE population. Al Ka,abi illustrated UAEG concerns
about demographics by saying he didn,t want his children to
see his picture in a museum as an example of the &former
rulers8 of the UAE, in a future UAE with a president named
Khan (a Pakistani name). He stressed that no one in the UAE
would allow that to happen.


13. (C) Even the leaders of the professional associations
expressed security concerns about granting full worker rights
to foreign workers. They stated that they had not thoroughly
examined the issue, but thought a solution limiting foreign
membership to a percentage of the board, or not allowing them
to vote, would grant them basic workplace rights without
violating the precepts of national security. They
specifically stipulated that foreign workers should not be
allowed to represent the UAE in international fora or in
negotiations with the government. In Dubai, the ex-head of
the Jurists' Association expressed doubts about the plan to
introduce unions. "Everything in this society has to be
controlled by the government, and I don't know how the
government could control unions. I don't think the
government will allow genuine labor unions," he said.

Trade Union Law?
--------------


14. (C) No official could give Levine a timeline on the
passage or implementation of the proposed trade union law.
Sheikh Abdullah and Dr. Al Ka'abi both admitted to AUSTR
Novelli during the first round of FTA negotiations that the
UAE has not finished drafting legislation to allow for
collective bargaining and freedom of association, but said
that the Ministry of Labor is working with the ILO to ensure
that the draft law conforms to ILO standards. Al Ka'abi
explained that the UAE is considering a staged approach to
the freedom of association that may initially permit
membership for nationals only. He said the ILO agreed in
principle to this strategy, but that a Bahrain-based
representative would come to the UAE at the end of March or
early April to review the specifics of the draft law. Al
Ka,abi told Levine that the UAE wants to meet ILO standards,
but it must deal with the demographic realities of the UAE
labor market.


15. (C) Leaders of the professional associations expressed
serious concerns about the proposed labor union law, although
they had not yet seen a draft of the proposal. In
particular, they were concerned that the law would have so
many restrictions on unions that it could actually be more
prohibitive to union formation than the current practices
are. The leaders noted that currently only 3,000 Emiratis
are employed in the private sector, and that 2,000 of these
are in management positions. They were specifically
concerned that the new law may require 99 people in a
profession to form an association, rather than the current 20
people needed, and that this requirement could restrict the
formation of almost any union since there are so few Emiratis
in the private sector. They were also frustrated that the
government had not consulted them about any proposed union
law.

--------------
Comment
--------------


16. (C) It appeared from the meetings that developing ILO
compliant rights of collective bargaining and freedom of
association remains a lengthy and complicated task. Given
the UAE,s unique demographics, the question of how to grant
these rights to foreign workers while still preserving
national security is the biggest challenge for the proposed
new law. This will likely require lengthy consultations with
the ILO, private sector, and the various government
ministries. The speed with which the UAEG would be ready to
implement such a law remains an open question. An advisor to
Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed told Charge March
22 that the government would be unlikely to resolve the labor
issues until all other elements of the FTA were settled. Al
Ka,abi told Levine that he is interested in sending a UAEG
representative to the United States to consult about the
UAE,s labor situation and the status of its laws.


17. (U) The delegation has cleared this cable.
ALBRIGHT