18/01/2021
As the economy suffers, even profitable UAE companies leave employees in the lurch | Migrant-Rights.org
Business & Human Rights
As the economy su ers, even
pro table UAE companies leave
employees in the lurch
Hundreds of Sobha Engineering and Contracting LLC
employees owed months of unpaid dues are
struggling for survival in the United Arab Emirates.
On June 5, 2020
As the Covid19 crisis wrecks Gulf economies, long-standing labour issues are further aggravated and a ecting some of
the biggest companies in the region. One such ongoing case involves several hundred employees, including
construction workers and o ce sta , of UAE-based Sobha Engineering and Contracting LLC (SECL). SECL is a highly
pro table company with several major projects including the Kempinski Business Bay Hotel (KBBH); two projects for
Al Wasl group; Dubai Creek Harbour Development – The Cove on Plot 20 and Acacia for Emaar; and Rochester
Institute of Technology – Dubai Silicon Oasis.
Growing unrest amongst workers in the UAE
As part of a broader trend in the UAE, hundreds of Nepali workers from AM
Hertel oil and gas company in Abu Dhabi staged a strike due to two months
non-payment in May 2020. According to the Kathmandu Post, most of the
workers were con ned to their accommodation for the last two months wit
work and pay. The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre reached out
the company, which is a subsidiary of France-headquartered Altrad, but
received no response.
In another ongoing case, which involved both recruitment fraud and labour
violations, around 800 victims of the Seabird supermarket continue to be
stranded without hope of redressal of their grievances.
https://www.migrant-rights.org/2020/06/as-the-economy-suffers-even-profitable-uae-companies-leave-employees-in-the-lurch/
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