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/ 1/6

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