Abu Dhabi, September 29

The United Arab Emirates is introducing labour reforms that aim to tighten oversight of employment agreements for the millions of temporary migrant workers that make up the bulk of the country’s workforce, a top Emirati official said today.

Like its oil-rich Gulf Arab neighbours, the Emirates has long faced criticism for its treatment of low-paid labourers who build and staff the sleek skyscrapers, hotels and cutting-edge infrastructure in cities such as Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Critics say existing policies that tie workers to a sponsoring company leave employees open to exploitation and with limited options to leave an abusive work environment.

The reforms are being implemented through three government decrees that will take effect on January 1, Labour Minister Saqr Ghobash told journalists in the federal capital, Abu Dhabi.

They focus on improving transparency of job terms and employment contracts, spell out how contracts can be broken, and could make it easier for workers to switch employers. Ghobash said the reforms are meant to guarantee that relations between workers and employers are governed only by government-monitored work contracts and the labour law.

“We wanted to ensure that the labour relation is entered into voluntarily and freely, and for such a relationship to continue, the voluntary nature also must continue,” Ghobash said.

“It takes two parties to agree to enter into a work relationship, but it needs only one party to decide to end that work relationship,” he said of the new regulations.

Under the new policies, prospective workers would be asked to sign a standard employment offer in their home country that would in turn be filed with the Labour Ministry before a work permit is issued. That agreement would then be registered as a legal contract once the worker arrives in the country, and no changes would be allowed unless they extend additional benefits that the worker agrees to.

Contracts can be broken by either side under certain circumstances, and once that is done workers would be free to switch to a new employer.

The seven-state Emirates federation, an OPEC member that is the Arab world’s second-largest economy, is home to at least 4.5 million registered migrant workers, Ghobash said. Many of them come from South Asia, the Philippines, other Arab countries and parts of Africa. At 2.6 million strong, Indians alone far outnumber the local population. Hundreds of thousands of westerners, many employed in professional positions, also call the country home. The Labour Ministry has about 500 labour inspectors charged with ensuring that companies comply with existing laws, Ghobash said.

Rights groups have long raised concerns about conditions for workers, including inadequate housing, low pay, the illegal confiscation of passports and limits on workers’ ability to change employers. Labour unions are not allowed to operate in the country and strikes are illegal. Protests over working conditions do occasionally occur, however.

The Emirates has faced intensified scrutiny of its labour practices in recent years, particularly as it embarked on high-profile projects.