View of part of the Fujairah Corniche and the Hajar Mountains in the Background

Saturday, November 3, 2007

Falling Dollar+Rising Costs= Protesting Labourers +Anxious Property Developers

In the past week the falling dollar and a steadily rising cost of living have prompted a series of violent strikes by workers, whose demand is simple: they want more pay.

“I no longer have enough money to send home to my family. My expenses are too great,” Mr Khan, 33, a crane operator from Haripur, Pakistan, said. He was jailed last week after a protest against his employer, Pauling Middle East Company, a general contracting company, turned into a riot.

More on this article on the UAE’s labour crisis can be found at:

Sonia Verma, Dark side of Dubai’s Economic Boom Exacts Harsh Human Toll’, Times Online, 3 November 2007.

Image: Workers Sitting Down on the Job (courtesy, Times Online).