Industrial Relation in UAE - Case Study Example

Industrial Relation in UAE  Industrial Relation in UAE Article No Al Jandaly, Bassma. “Woman fined Dh850,000 for illegally employing 17” Gulf News: March 28, 2011-http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/visa/woman-fined-dh850-000-for-illegally-employing-17-1.783856 The article highlights an incident that took place in Dubai when an employer was fined for Dh 850,000 for hiring 17 illegal workers. She talks about the issue of illegal workers working in Dubai without a working permit. Many of the illegal workers were arrested and are waiting to be sentenced where as the employer was fined for hiring illegal workers to work at a wedding reception. The officials said in the article ‘According to UAE residency law, employing persons not on ones sponsorship face jail and Dh50,000 for each illegal employee and if employing an infiltrator there will be a fine of Dh100,000 for each infiltrator’ (Jandaly, 2011). When such disputes arise in an organization it tends to hurt both parties, the employer’s work is often disrupted and the reputation of the firm is affected in a bad way plus they also get fined and they often incur losses. The illegal workers often get deported or are jailed and may never get to travel back to the country. Looking at the issue at hand in the given article the employer could have employed workers that were issued working permits by the government; saving him or her the money which was fined by the officials when they arrested the illegal workers from a wedding reception. According to chapter XI which talks about the penalties any one would face if they go against the law in UAE. Article 181’ ‘ Without prejudice to any severe penalty provided for in another law of imprisonment for a period not to exceed six months, and a fine not less than Dhs three thousand and not more than Dhs. ten thousand or either of the two penalties shall be inflicted to:1. Any person who violates any of the obligatory provisions of this Law or any of the executive regulations or orders issued thereunder (UAE Labor Law Federal Law no 8 of 1980, 1980). And according to the law in UAE hiring workers without working permit is illegal. Article No 2: Kannan, Preeti. “Arabtec workers in UAE strike over wage dispute” The National: May 20, 2013-http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/arabtec-workers-in-uae-strike-over-wage-dispute The article that was recently published in The National by Preeti Kannan talks about the ongoing protest by the workers of Arabtec regarding their increase in salary. Arabtec is one of the largest contractors at Louvre Abu Dhabi on Saadiyat Island. Workers have told the author that they have stopped working for the past three days as they demand that their salary should be raised by Dh 200. The article also mentions the steps that are being taken to resolve the issue. It brings to light the talks that are going on between the workers, Arabtec, Ministry of Labor and police to resolve the issue; and issue that is not first of its kind in the history of Arabtec (Kannan, 2013). In the theories that we have studied in the Industrial Relations, the Labor Market Theory applies here. This theory mainly focuses on the settlement of wages, employment and allocation of work. The theory states that people are ‘rational economic maximisers’ and perfectly competitive labor and product markets yield most efficient economic outcomes. Such disputes when arrive cause problem to not only the workers but also the employees, as the workers who are strike are not getting enough to support their living; whereas on the other hand the organizations face problems in respect to delayed work and slow progress that costs them not only time but money. Labor Law (UAE Federal Law No.8 of 1980) talks about the end of service gratuity under law number 8. According to the article an employee if terminated is entitled to a sum of money to value his or her service and every employee is liable to pay the employee if they terminate the employee (Saher, 2012). According to the section VIII of UAE Labor Law, states the law about end of service remuneration, ‘The employee who has completed one year or more in the continuous service, is entitled to the end of service remuneration at the end of his service. Days of absence from work without pay are not included in computing the period of service, and the remuneration is to be calculated as follows :- 1. Twenty one days pay for each year of the first five years of service. 2. Thirty days pay for each additional year. Provided that the entire total remuneration shall not exceed two years pay.’ (UAE Labor Law Federal Law no 8 of 1980, 1980) Article No 3 Menon, Praveen. “Code drawn up to protect labourers” The National: September 19, 2009-http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/code-drawn-up-to-protect-labourers Praveen Menon published an article in The National named ‘Code Drawn Up To Protect Labor Laws’ which she highlights the issue of poor living conditions of Indian workers that come to Dubai for a job mainly to work as a part of the labor force for the construction companies in Dubai. New set of laws are made to protect Indian workers specially their living conditions. In the article Talmiz Ahmed, India’s ambassador to UAE talks about how this new procedure is very necessary and this would facilitate both the governments to keep check on the agreements that are drawn up between the employer and employee; to make sure that the agreements are held up and the workers are given the conditions they have been promised. He talks about how not only the minimum wage is important but the living standards are also important to these workers and they should be check upon by the government (Menon, 2009). This dilemma is often faced by the workers and organizations as these problems with living standards discourages labor to come and work for organizations which in turn decreases the supply of labor and thereby making labor expensive for the organizations to afford. Such kind of issues can be avoided if the employers go by the agreements they signed with the employees that come from India to work. And the employees are giving the living conditions they are promised upon the signing and employing. And to protect the workers that were not provided with the terms and conditions and the employer could be held responsible for it. One of the theories of industrial relations; Human relations theory and Neo-Human relations theories focuses on the social and psychological needs of the workers. The theory states that a firm can maximize its outputs if the social and the psychological needs of the workers are fulfilled. In this case the living conditions of workers come under the social needs of the workers and if they are met any firm or organization could easily maximize their outputs. According to the Chapter 10, Labor inspection, the Article 166, states that specialized labor inspectors should make visits to employers. In the Article 167 (a) it talks on of the duties of the labor inspector and that is the provisions of labor law are implemented properly and ensure that the safety and health of employees are protected (UAE Labor Law Federal Law no 8 of 1980, 1980). Works Cited Kannan, Preeti. "Arabtec workers in UAE strike over wage dispute - The National."Latest and breaking news | thenational.ae - The National. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 June 2013. . Menon, Praveen. "Code drawn up to protect labourers - The National." Latest and breaking news | thenational.ae - The National. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 June 2013. . UAE Labor Law Federal Law no 8 of 1980. Al Jandaly, Bassma. “Woman fined Dh850,000 for illegally employing 17” Gulf News: March 28, 2011-http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/visa/woman-fined-dh850-000-for-illegally-employing-17-1.783856 Read More