US embassy cable - 05ABUDHABI1333

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ABU DHABI 001333 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS USTR 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/26/2015 
TAGS: ELAB, ETRD, PHUM, PREL, TC 
SUBJECT: LABOR UNION RIGHTS A LENGTHY AND COMPLICATED TASK 
FACING UAE 
 
REF: A. A) ABU DHABI 1274 
 
     B. B) ABU DHABI 349 
     C. C) ABU DHABI 296 
 
Classified By: Classified by Richard A. Albright, Charge d,Affaires, a. 
i., reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
1.  (U) This is a joint Abu Dhabi and Dubai cable. 
 
2.  (C) Summary:  DoL D/US Levine held labor consultations 
March 19-21 with a wide range of senior UAE officials, 
professional associations, and businesspeople.  The labor 
delegation discussed current labor laws and practices and 
workers rights in the UAE, and also discussed the status of 
proposed UAE changes to their labor law and a new trade union 
law.  Most strikingly, no official could give a time frame 
for the passage of a trade union law, and officials admitted 
that they are still unsure how to approach the problem of 
including foreign workers in such unions.  Even Emirati 
leaders of current professional associations expressed 
concerns about the inclusion of foreign workers in a future 
union, illustrating the challenges the UAEG will face in 
passing such a law in a short time frame.  End summary. 
 
3.  (U)  Department of Labor (DoL) Deputy Under Secretary 
Arnold Levine led a labor consultations delegation, 
consisting of representatives from DoL, USTR, and DoS, to the 
UAE on March 19-21 for discussions related to the labor 
chapter of the Free Trade Agreement.  They met with the 
Ministers of Labor and Interior, MFA U/S Abdullah Rashid Al 
Noaimi, and MinFin A/US Khalid Al-Bustani.  They also met 
with US businesses and UAE professional associations, 
lawyers, and a Dubai-based labor attache.  Levine took 
advantage of the visit to emphasize the labor requirements of 
Trade Promotion Authority with regard to FTAs.  He focused 
specifically on the UAE,s need to address freedom of 
association, the right to bargain collectively, and the 
problem of child and forced labor in the form of camel 
jockeys (see Ref A).  He particularly made the point that the 
UAE must take effective steps to enforce and strengthen its 
domestic labor laws. 
 
----------------- 
CURRENT SITUATION 
----------------- 
 
4.  (U)  The UAE,s labor law dates from 1980, and is 
currently being revised.  The UAEG consulted the 
International Labor Organization (ILO) in the drafting of the 
original 1980 law, and Minister of Labor Dr. Ali Al-Ka,abi 
confirmed that the UAE is again asking the ILO to review the 
revised draft law.  The ILO sent a contact team to the UAE in 
October 2003, when they discussed a number of labor issues 
(including camel jockeys) and met with a number of federal 
ministries and emirate-level government officials.  Al 
Ka,abi also met recently with the Lebanon-based head of the 
ILO regional office when they were both in Algiers in 
February. 
 
Standards of Work 
----------------- 
 
5. (U) The UAE does not impose a minimum wage or have minimum 
wage guidelines, but in practice Ministry of Labor (MoL) 
officials inspect all contracts to ensure they include all 
legally required benefits, allowances, and time of payments. 
(Note: In the UAE, the majority of contracts provide for 
housing allowances, transportation to home country, and 
educational stipends for children in addition to the base 
salary.  End note.)  Ministry officials noted that UAE 
citizens can receive social insurance benefits from the 
government if they do not earn a sufficient salary.  Foreign 
workers usually remit the majority of their salaries to their 
home countries, and their daily living needs (i.e. housing 
and food allowances) are often provided separately in their 
work contracts from the base salary. 
 
6.  (U)  The current labor law sets health and safety 
standards, and MoL inspectors and the individual emirates all 
retain enforcement bodies to oversee these requirements. If a 
workplace is unsafe, workers can report this to the MoL. 
They have the legal right to stop working until major safety 
problems are corrected.  (Note:  In the draft law discussed 
during AUSTR Clatanoff,s January visit, officials noted the 
revised labor law will strengthen these provisions.  See ref 
B.  End note.) 
 
Strikes and Collective Bargaining Units 
--------------------------------------- 
 
7.  (U)  Current law does not explicitly prohibit strikes or 
collective bargaining units for private sector employees, nor 
does it state explicitly that they are permitted.  Collective 
dispute resolution is allowed and takes place regularly. 
(Note:  Public servants and employees working in some public 
utilities that may endanger human life are prohibited from 
striking.  End note.)  In practice, workers in the UAE 
frequently file complaints with the MoL and sometimes strike, 
primarily for the purpose of collecting unpaid wages.  Post 
knows of no instances where workers went on strike in 
anticipation of changing working standards or gaining further 
rights, and the MoL officials gave no such examples. 
Protection against unfair dismissals (for workers or 
representatives in an unsolved dispute) are included in the 
current labor law, but there do remain concerns about 
reprisals due to the fact that companies serve as sponsors 
for nontransferable visas that are required of all foreign 
workers in the UAE. 
 
8.  (U)  Freedom of Association, like collective bargaining, 
is also not expressly prohibited or permitted by current law. 
 Social clubs arranged by nationality, such as an Indian Club 
or Pakistani Club, do exist in the UAE, but such groups are 
not associated with workplace issues and do not engage in 
collective bargaining. 
 
Structure of Professional Associations 
-------------------------------------- 
 
9.  (U)  Professional associations are the only workers, 
associations that currently exist in the UAE.  They are 
organized by profession: teachers, jurists, engineers, 
medical professionals, and social workers.  Most members of 
these associations are Emirati.  Although foreign workers do 
belong to these associations, they do not have voting rights 
and cannot serve on the boards of the organizations.  Twenty 
people from the same profession can request that the Ministry 
of Labor permit an association to be formed.  Every two 
years, each society holds elections for its board, which are 
supervised by the Ministry of Labor.  Officers must be UAE 
citizens.  Each association has a constitution, written by 
its members and approved by the MoL.  Members pay annual dues 
of approximately 33 USD each. 
 
10.  (C) Members of the professional associations vented 
their frustrations about the MoL and the UAEG to Levine. 
They said that during the first ten years everything went 
smoothly (1986 to 1996), but since 1996 the societies have 
faced harassment from the government and close supervision by 
the State Security Directorate (SSD).  Members noted that the 
government and SSD had forced out many association board 
members.  They speculated the reason for this close 
supervision and restrictions was the UAEG,s fear of any form 
of elections.  Association leaders also noted that the UAEG 
restricted them from officially affiliating with 
international professional associations (saying MoL officials 
had refused more than ninety percent of their requests for 
travel to official functions in the region), although in the 
1980,s most of the associations had been members of Arab 
professional association leagues.  The leaders also 
acknowledged that the UAE is very sensitive about the use of 
the word &union,8 preferring instead to use &society8 or 
&association.8  They felt the fear came from the perception 
that a union would bargain for specific rights and have 
explicit powers. 
 
11.  (C) Speaking to the delegation in Dubai, the ex-head of 
the UAE Jurists' Association described his frustration with 
the law: "The law does not allow the employer associations to 
flourish.  By law, an association cannot defend the interests 
of its members.  So if a group of teachers is fired, the 
association cannot protest, as that would be like a union." 
 
----------------------- 
Future Labor Prospects 
----------------------- 
 
Foreign Workers in Collective Bargaining Units 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
12.  (C) UAEG officials reiterated their concerns 
that granting freedom of association and collective 
bargaining rights to foreign workers may threaten UAE 
national security, since the vast majority of the private 
sector workforce is foreign (98 percent).  In an effort to 
gain a better understanding of the demographics involved, 
government officials are planning to issue biometric 
identification cards to all residents (national and 
non-national) within the next three years.  The program will 
begin in June with Ministry of Interior and Defense 
employees, followed by residents over the age of 18. 
Government officials have expressed particular concerns that 
the major nationalities represented in the worker population 
come from politically or economically troubled countries, 
including Pakistan, Iran, and India, and represent 80 percent 
of the UAE population.  Al Ka,abi illustrated UAEG concerns 
about demographics by saying he didn,t want his children to 
see his picture in a museum as an example of the &former 
rulers8 of the UAE, in a future UAE with a president named 
Khan (a Pakistani name).  He stressed that no one in the UAE 
would allow that to happen. 
 
13.  (C) Even the leaders of the professional associations 
expressed security concerns about granting full worker rights 
to foreign workers.  They stated that they had not thoroughly 
examined the issue, but thought a solution limiting foreign 
membership to a percentage of the board, or not allowing them 
to vote, would grant them basic workplace rights without 
violating the precepts of national security.  They 
specifically stipulated that foreign workers should not be 
allowed to represent the UAE in international fora or in 
negotiations with the government.  In Dubai, the ex-head of 
the Jurists' Association expressed doubts about the plan to 
introduce unions.  "Everything in this society has to be 
controlled by the government, and I don't know how the 
government could control unions.  I don't think the 
government will allow genuine labor unions," he said. 
 
Trade Union Law? 
---------------- 
 
14.  (C) No official could give Levine a timeline on the 
passage or implementation of the proposed trade union law. 
Sheikh Abdullah and Dr. Al Ka'abi both admitted to AUSTR 
Novelli during the first round of FTA negotiations that the 
UAE has not finished drafting legislation to allow for 
collective bargaining and freedom of association, but said 
that the Ministry of Labor is working with the ILO to ensure 
that the draft law conforms to ILO standards.  Al Ka'abi 
explained that the UAE is considering a staged approach to 
the freedom of association that may initially permit 
membership for nationals only.  He said the ILO agreed in 
principle to this strategy, but that a Bahrain-based 
representative would come to the UAE at the end of March or 
early April to review the specifics of the draft law.  Al 
Ka,abi told Levine that the UAE wants to meet ILO standards, 
but it must deal with the demographic realities of the UAE 
labor market. 
 
15.  (C)  Leaders of the professional associations expressed 
serious concerns about the proposed labor union law, although 
they had not yet seen a draft of the proposal.  In 
particular, they were concerned that the law would have so 
many restrictions on unions that it could actually be more 
prohibitive to union formation than the current practices 
are.  The leaders noted that currently only 3,000 Emiratis 
are employed in the private sector, and that 2,000 of these 
are in management positions.  They were specifically 
concerned that the new law may require 99 people in a 
profession to form an association, rather than the current 20 
people needed, and that this requirement could restrict the 
formation of almost any union since there are so few Emiratis 
in the private sector.  They were also frustrated that the 
government had not consulted them about any proposed union 
law. 
 
-------- 
Comment 
-------- 
 
16.  (C) It appeared from the meetings that developing ILO 
compliant rights of collective bargaining and freedom of 
association remains a lengthy and complicated task.  Given 
the UAE,s unique demographics, the question of how to grant 
these rights to foreign workers while still preserving 
national security is the biggest challenge for the proposed 
new law.  This will likely require lengthy consultations with 
the ILO, private sector, and the various government 
ministries.  The speed with which the UAEG would be ready to 
implement such a law remains an open question.  An advisor to 
Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed told Charge March 
22 that the government would be unlikely to resolve the labor 
issues until all other elements of the FTA were settled.  Al 
Ka,abi told Levine that he is interested in sending a UAEG 
representative to the United States to consult about the 
UAE,s labor situation and the status of its laws. 
 
17.  (U) The delegation has cleared this cable. 
ALBRIGHT