These stories are not new and whilst nationalities and specific cases of exploitation change, the hotel industry is yet another sector where migrant workers are often isolated, unaware of their rights and lack English language skills.  This can make them easy victims for exploitation. The Newsnight story follows a flurry of reports this year relating to the mistreatment of migrant workers in the UK garment, meat and fruit industries.

Impactt have often found that labour standard issues tend to be more prevalent at sites using agency, temporary and migrant labour.  These issues are complex and cannot be reduced to a matter of blame; sustainable improvement relies on cooperation from all involved.  As a result, Impactt specialises in engaging with workers and acting as an avenue through which practicable improvements for workers can be developed with buy-in from both sites management and customers.   

Low taxes and political stability have made this an attractive location for an increasing number of manufacturers in the past 10 years. The key products being made include cement, building materials, aluminium, fertilisers, foodstuffs, beverages, garments, furniture, plastics, glass, fibreglass and processed metals. Its central location in the Gulf region makes the UAE an ideal sourcing hub for both European and U.S. based purchasing companies. 

However, to date little attention has been given to conditions for workers in these sectors. In our experience they, like the construction industry, use a high proportion of migrant labour from countries such as Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and India. Whilst middle men demanding recruitment fees may be less common according to reported findings, the following issues have been identified:

• Retention of passports by employers
• Low pay and long hours
• False records
• Inadequate maintenance of fire equipment and other H&S facilities
• Outsourcing to smaller units where there is low visibility of conditions

Impactt encourages attention being placed on the conditions for construction workers, because it is certain that action is needed in this area. However, non-construction related industries should be aware that their supply chain here may present them with considerable risk because of poor labour standards.   

Author: Jaana Quaintance

A spokesperson from the Ministry reported on Friday that they are conducting an education programme for migrant workers. This is said to involve both educational seminars in labour camps and the development of a workbook setting out the obligations of employers, what the employee should expect and what action they should do if they are not met.

In addition, the Ministry reported that they are to extend their Indian information campaign about phony recruitment agencies that take advantage of workers in Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan, where awareness of abuses is low.

Impactt welcomes such initiatives by the Ministry, as they recognise the need to address the gap in information available and accessible to workers. By providing workers with the tools to understand their legal rights in their own language, violations are less likely to occur and where they do, the government is more likely to be aware of them.

By educating people in their home country, before they arrive in the UAE, and monitoring the recruitment process from the outset, the Ministry are tackling some of the problems at source. Overall, this announcement demonstrates that the Ministry has recognised that inspections cannot be the whole answer and is taking a realistic and hands-on approach to improving the lives of Dubai’s thousands of migrant workers.

To strengthen this approach still further, Impactt recommends two further initiatives.  First that the Ministry consult workers to ensure that policies and programmes meet workers needs. Second that the ministry provide a free, independent and widely publicised whistle-blowing helpline in workers’ own languages so workers can report abuses without fear of reprisal, and the government can act quickly to improve the situation.

After last year’s Primark on the Rack, BBC Panorama has been investigating labour standards again. This time the BBC exposé focuses on the conditions of migrant workers building luxury estates in Dubai. Dubai is a by-word for 1^st world seven-star living, with developments endorsed by footballer Michael Owen, cricketer Andrew Flintoff and celebrity chef Jamie Oliver. But behind the façade migrant workers face 3^rd world wages and conditions.

Eighty percent of Dubai’s population are migrants, mainly from the Asian sub-continent, lured to Dubai by employment agents selling the dream of making good money of 1500 dirham (£277.54) a month. But, on arrival, the dream rapidly becomes a nightmare. Wages are less than half the promised level, Panorama exposed workers being paid £120 per month, working 12 hour shifts, six days a week. At these rates workers could only afford to eat meat two or three times a month. And it gets worse, Panorama also found workers working unpaid to repay the £2000 ‘transit fees’ they owe to the employment agency for getting them the ‘dream job’ in the first place.

In labour camps belonging to Arabtec Construction, a sub-contractor to the Jumeriah Golf Estates, Panorama found workers accommodation overflowing with sewage and persuaded a recruitment agent to tell her story

And things are getting worse, the global financial downturn has led to thousands of workers losing their jobs and being sent back to their home countries prematurely. Not only do they often still owe the employment agents their ‘transit fee’, but their home economies are suffering from the reduction in remittances being sent back on a monthly basis.

Impactt’s own experience in Dubai underlines that migrant workers’ jobs are very poor quality.  Far from being better off than they would be at home, the balance has tipped and a migrant job is often the gateway to poverty and despair.   

Clearly something must be done, and we believe that it is possible to make change. There are cost-effective ways for companies using migrant labour to have an impact on basic conditions for workers, particularly in accommodation standards, payment of transit fees and working hours. All that is needed is the determination to change the current business model.

As a first step, it is vital to establish an industry-wide dialogue to harness the power of the construction giants, the contractors and the UAE government to create a new framework for managing migrant labour in Dubai. This should recognise the mutual dependency that exists between the industry and the workers, and be a vehicle for tackling the issues highlighted by the Panorama programme.

The Impactt Middle East and North Africa office opens in Dubai next week and will be constantly surrounded by migrant workers – in fact we overlook two buildings which are under construction. You can expect regular updates on the conditions these workers face and our efforts to improve them.

A campaign launched by The Independent last week aims to highlight the treatment of waiters and waitresses working in some of the biggest name high-street restaurant chains. In an article entitled “Revealed: how the restaurant chains pocket your tips” The Independent exposed a series of unfair practices in the restaurant industry. The article showed how some restaurant workers are not paid their tips in addition to a standard wage; instead, tips given by customers in the belief that they are rewarding good service are used to top up wages to the legal minimum wage. Other restaurant workers receive no tips, and workers in one Covent Garden restaurant in London reported receiving no basic wages at all, and instead are being paid entirely by the tips that they receive. According to the article, the restaurants are simply exploiting a loophole in the law, but the feeling that they are also exploiting their workers is difficult to shake.

Working conditions in the hospitality industry have long been criticised as being below expected standards. In the US, the union UNITE HERE have organised a high profile Hotel Workers Rising campaign aimed at raising the wages of workers throughout the States. In the UK, the TUC recently published findings from the Commission on Vulnerable Employment, which focused on low wage service work. But there has been no specific focus on improving wages or working conditions in the restaurant trade.

An increasing number of workers within the hospitality industry are vulnerable migrant workers. Many work behind the scenes as kitchen attendants, cleaners, pot-washers or night porters. In May this year, the Justice 4 Cleaners campaign in the City of London, successfully raised the issues of wages for cleaners employed by cleaning contractors to work in some of the City of London’s largest and most affluent high-rises. The Independent’s story suggests campaigners may have to broaden their focus from cleaners to all low wage service workers.

In Impactt’s experience, where working conditions are not transparent and there is no pressure to improve, there is widespread non-compliance with expected standards and, in some cases, legal requirements. Many workers in this industry are young workers who are working over the legal maximum for evening or night hours. Migrant workers are particularly susceptible to working excessive hours during the peak season, in order to send remittances home, cover for reduced incomes during the low season, or simply to make ends meet.

Impactt welcomes Trade Union and media attention on the conditions of workers in the hospitality industry. Restaurant-goers should be prompted to ask questions about what their tips are funding, showing their unwillingness to be complicit in the underpayment of waiting staff, and ensuring that restaurants and hotels are held accountable for conditions at the ‘fork face’.  

Here at Impactt, we believe that the issues facing these workers have been anything but overlooked in the past years. There has been a steady increase in the number of reports of the issues faced by migrant workers in the UK. The British public may rightfully feel bombarded with news reports, articles and commentaries about the suffering of our considerable migrant workforce.

What causes the greatest concern is the number of industries that fall outside of the remit of the increasingly successful Gangmasters Licensing Agency (GLA). Recent BBC productions have shown that migrant workers are not travelling to the UK merely to work in fields and pack houses. The Open University and BBC series ‘Meet the Immigrants‘ illustrates the breadth of industries which utilise the influx of migrant workers; from pizza delivery companies to taxi ranks and hotels; migrant workers are contributing to the UK economy in more ways than just agriculture.

Asked to comment on the murky world of Britain’s low wage migrant workers, Paul Whitehouse, explained how his agency was powerless to stop gangmasters in sectors outside of agriculture, food-processing, fishing and shell-fishing. Mr Whitehouse stated: “I have absolutely no doubt the Government passed this law because it believes it is wrong for people to be exploited…. I cannot see why if you work in one area you should be protected, but not in another.”

This intervention was a contribution to a continuing debate which has been raging over what sectors the Gangmasters Licensing Act should cover. Recently, the TUC General Council called for the Act to cover other industries such as construction, after research by Sheffield University estimated that there are over 10,000 gangmasters in operation in unlicensed sectors of the British economy.

We at Impactt believe that regulation and continued debate about the rights of migrant workers will only serve to increase pressure on those groups capable of changing the lot of vulnerable workers such as migrants and long term agency workers. The media, trade unions, NGOs and social enterprises such as Impactt need to maintain the pressure on stakeholders to ensure that all workers are treated fairly whilst at home, and abroad.