Pyramid Builders
Chapter 5: Arabian Forasol
Chapter 6
Good news! I received word that my friend, cyber-friend, that is, would be flying in from India. Abdul Rahim got the opportunity to develop some prospective business opportunities in Dubai and decided to make the trip in from Hyderabad. No surprise, visiting the MAG 218 site was high on his agenda. I had arranged to meet him at the airport. Unfortunately, due to my working situation I was unable to offer him a place to stay. My own accommodations were at my desert worksite during the week and in a rundown studio in Abu Dhabi I had rented for weekend stays. It would, of course, have suited me better to rent in Dubai, but I wasn't one for settling for bedspace. Besides, I had too much stuff to put up in a room or flat shared with others, which seems to be the norm for most in Dubai.
I managed to arrange for Abdul Rahim to stay in a less expensive hotel in Dubai during his two week stay. At sixty-five dollars, the rate was reasonable, but for anyone needing longer stays, even that would get pricey. There was little in the way of cheap these days in Dubai. A few years ago, 30 dollars could get you a seedy room in a seedy part of town, but even that was hard to come by now. The city takes pride in not only all of its fabulous 5-star properties, but also in the fact that its hotels have been rated the second most expensive in the world, second only to Paris.
My weekend upon me I headed straight to Dubai, bypassing my apartment in Abu Dhabi. I was anxious to see if Arabian Forasol had begun any work at the MAG 218 site and update my Dubai Marina blog with new photos. I left pre-dawn from the worksite and reached Dubai Marina at 6:30 a.m., after a 2 1/2 hour drive. Although the Marina and most of its worksites were quiet, many workers were arriving onsite. At the MAG 218 site there was little sign of activity. It appeared that the plot had been levelled further, but there was no evidence that Arabian Forasol had begun their job. I didn't suppose that Abdul Rahim would be very glad to see that.
I wandered on from the MAG 218 site to take photos around the Marina. I was interested in the towers already completed, those still coming up and even the sites with nothing more than an excavated pit. Even that was a positive sign that progress was being made even if the final product was some 2-3 years away. On one site at the edge of the Marina the workers who had already gathered had not yet begun to work. I took the opportunity to chat with one who stood nearby.
He worked every day even on Fridays, normally a day off. His job was Ok. He was a friendly fellow, in his mid-20's, and seemed to speak better English than anyone else among the small group of co-workers who had gathered around as we talked. Not wanting to make a scene or get the young man in trouble, I thanked him for his time. Upon my exit, I made a quick double-take, abruptly entreating whether he and his mates could pose for a quick photo. They all happily obliged. I wanted to add that they could get a look at their photo at http://..., but instead offered only another quick thank you.
6:30 p.m. and Abdul Rahim was due to emerge from the arrival bay at any moment. I was curious to see his reaction to all the changes that would have taken place in Dubai since his last visit more than a year earlier. A half-hour later and my charge was riding with me down Sheikh Zayed Road (SZR). This was the premiere expressway linking old Dubai to new Dubai and continuing further on to Abu Dhabi. The transition between old and new takes place at the Dubai World Trade Center (DWTC) tower. This 39-storey tower emerged on the Dubai horizon as long ago as 1979. It long represented the outer limits of the city, until the equally iconic Emirates Towers were constructed and completed in 2000. From that time onward this stretch of the SZR became the center of development as towers began rising one-by-one on either side. This might have been suitably referred to as the new Dubai until post-2005 when the construction in the city began to explode even further outward.
Jebel Ali, some 20 km from the Trade Center, was once the distant port that propelled Dubai toward the status of regional trade, shipping and business hub. The Dubai Marina and neighboring Emirates Hills developments came to represent the new center of activity. Within short order, however, the entire 20 km stretch between the first new Dubai at the DWTC and the second new Dubai in the area of Jebel Ali became the focus of extensive development and construction. No sooner would one pass one row or clump of skyscrapers under construction, when another would emerge, and among them sprawling road interchanges, massive shopping malls and, soon to add to the mix, the beginnings of an elevated railway, to be christened the Dubai Metro when partially completed in 2009.
Although having taken this drive just over a year earlier, Abdul Rahim was in for a treat, as surely the number of towers rising along the horizon would have doubled and others would have begun to reach soaring heights. The most notable among these was the Burj Dubai, planned to be the tallest building in the world. At the end of 2004, the tower was still no more than an architectural render. By this time, however, the skeletal structure of the tower had finally begun to rise out of a deep excavation pit upon a newly poured foundation. Per my expectations, Abdul Rahim was indeed taken aback by the level of change and progress that just one year brought.
Next morning, in the light of the day, Abdul Rahim and I visited the MAG 218 site, where he was predictably disappointed. There was little to do there but photograph the open sand pit and attempt to visualize the dimensions of the tower to rise. There were a few Arabian Forasal workers onsite who Abdul Rahim was able to speak to in their native language. Not certain that one could really rely on their accounts, we were told that there were about 20 construction workers assigned to the site. They were awaiting heavy equipment to be transferred there from another project site where Arabian Forasol was carrying out piling works.
Upon leaving the MAG site, I asked Abdul Rahim if he would accompany me to other sites where we might talk to some of the workers to find out what conditions were like for them. News of unrest and hardships for construction laborers in the UAE was being regularly reported on in the leading news publications. A new tempo of protest seemed to have been set with a march by nearly a thousand constructtion workers on Sheikh Zayed Road, just in front of the Dubai Marina. It was 19 September 2005, when the workers, clad in blue coveralls, construction helmets, caps and towels, marched down one side of SZR at the peak of morning rush hour. The resulting traffic jam stretched for miles. The protestors, all belonging to the same firm, were complaining that they hadn't received salaries in months.
Their plight was rather typical, where contractors often claim they are unable to pay workers for not having been paid by the project developers. Company officials offer these and other excuses for not only non-payment of salaries, but also for many other hardships and abuses workers are forced to endure. Accommodation is nearly always provided, but at standards that are often shockingly poor. Over-crowding and unsanitary conditions are the rule. A single dorm-style room will house 20 men in bunk beds. Storage space is limited to what can be pushed under the lower bunks or stuffed into small cabinets the men, themselves, buy or build and attach to the wall beside their bunks--effectively reducing the clear space above their thin mattresses. The lower bunks double as seating space although the occupant must usually assume a crouching position due to the low height of the upper bunk. There is insufficient bathing, toilet and other basic facilities, and unsurprisingly a total lack of recreational facilities.
Basically there is no regard for the worker's personal lives, and in many instances they are in effect indentured--indebted to sponsors or agents who got them into the country and to whom they are unable to repay due to woefully low wages. An 8-10 hour construction work shift, plus up to two hours in transport time, will often find workers compensated by as little as 80 cents on the US dollar, per hour. This, in an environment where finished properties generate revenues in the millions of dollars--sometimes even before construction has even begun.
By my own reckoning, the sale price of a single 2 or 3-bedroom apartment in the city's most exclusive tower (under construction)--the 160+ storey Burj Dubai--could pay the salaries of an army of 2500 laborers working 365 days, for a year, at a better than average wage of $10 per day. At the less than $5 per day that many laborers report earning, the cost of the 2 or 3-bedroom apartment could fund this army of 2500 unskilled and semi-skilled workers for 2 years! The fact is that, while property prices have risen to unjustifiable heights, labor has remained an insignificant component of the total building cost in the UAE. The price of raw materials, the millions to be paid for plots of land, consultants' fees and service contracts account for the primary burden. Furthermore, the 10 percent within the company who occupy the middle and senior positions, will probably earn some multiple beyond what the 90% who make up the labor force earn.
One can almost visualize the scale of the grand development projects rising in the deserts of Dubai and at sea as a modern-day version of the pyramids and the great temple cities of ancient Egypt. The armies of construction workers in Dubai--into the hundreds of thousands--are akin to the slaves who were forced to labor then. While no worker can argue that he was forced to come to Dubai, many will have been lured on false promises. Furthermore, the conditions they are often forced to endure cannot be rationalized on any basis, even if they all voluntarily take the risk.
Laborers are not like investors or speculators who chose to take risks in the hope of multiplying their investments. Migrant laborers, as are all who work in such a capacity in the UAE, seek little more than what it takes for them and their families to survive in decency. To deprive them of even this basic level of compensation is unjust within any context, but even more so when the projects they work on are generating enormous sums of wealth in the form of revenues and profits for owners and others involved in the design, construction, marketing and sale of these projects.
Abdul Rahim was not particularly interested in spending much time probing these issues, but he was amenable to humoring me. From his perspective, the laborers were consigned to their fate. Whether back in India or having migrated elsewhere, their lot, he concluded, would be one of hardship. These were not the kind of words I was prepared to hear. In any event, whatever the rationale or cause of these workers' plight, I preferred to hear more about it from the horses mouth, as it were. These men were clearly beasts of burden, but they deserved a measure of respect much greater than that which they were receiving.
2146 (this post), total 10,198 words
Chapter 7: Pay Day
Technorati Tags: labor protests in the uae, worker rights in the UAE, Dubai construction, Sheikh Zayed Road
Chapter 6
Good news! I received word that my friend, cyber-friend, that is, would be flying in from India. Abdul Rahim got the opportunity to develop some prospective business opportunities in Dubai and decided to make the trip in from Hyderabad. No surprise, visiting the MAG 218 site was high on his agenda. I had arranged to meet him at the airport. Unfortunately, due to my working situation I was unable to offer him a place to stay. My own accommodations were at my desert worksite during the week and in a rundown studio in Abu Dhabi I had rented for weekend stays. It would, of course, have suited me better to rent in Dubai, but I wasn't one for settling for bedspace. Besides, I had too much stuff to put up in a room or flat shared with others, which seems to be the norm for most in Dubai.
I managed to arrange for Abdul Rahim to stay in a less expensive hotel in Dubai during his two week stay. At sixty-five dollars, the rate was reasonable, but for anyone needing longer stays, even that would get pricey. There was little in the way of cheap these days in Dubai. A few years ago, 30 dollars could get you a seedy room in a seedy part of town, but even that was hard to come by now. The city takes pride in not only all of its fabulous 5-star properties, but also in the fact that its hotels have been rated the second most expensive in the world, second only to Paris.
My weekend upon me I headed straight to Dubai, bypassing my apartment in Abu Dhabi. I was anxious to see if Arabian Forasol had begun any work at the MAG 218 site and update my Dubai Marina blog with new photos. I left pre-dawn from the worksite and reached Dubai Marina at 6:30 a.m., after a 2 1/2 hour drive. Although the Marina and most of its worksites were quiet, many workers were arriving onsite. At the MAG 218 site there was little sign of activity. It appeared that the plot had been levelled further, but there was no evidence that Arabian Forasol had begun their job. I didn't suppose that Abdul Rahim would be very glad to see that.
I wandered on from the MAG 218 site to take photos around the Marina. I was interested in the towers already completed, those still coming up and even the sites with nothing more than an excavated pit. Even that was a positive sign that progress was being made even if the final product was some 2-3 years away. On one site at the edge of the Marina the workers who had already gathered had not yet begun to work. I took the opportunity to chat with one who stood nearby.
Where are you from?The rudimentary conversation continued for several minutes. In that time I learned that the worker had been in the UAE for only 3 weeks. He was from a small village and this was his first time out of India and out of Andhra Pradesh. He was living now in company accommodation in Al Quoz, one of the newest and largest labor camps, as they are called, in Dubai, only a 20-minute drive from Dubai Marina.
(This question is so common in the UAE that it has become a cliché. Even those who don't speak English can understand it.)
India, he answered.
Which state? I probed. Kerala, Tamil Nadu...?
Andhra, he answered with some hesitation.
Andra Pradesh? I repeated.
He worked every day even on Fridays, normally a day off. His job was Ok. He was a friendly fellow, in his mid-20's, and seemed to speak better English than anyone else among the small group of co-workers who had gathered around as we talked. Not wanting to make a scene or get the young man in trouble, I thanked him for his time. Upon my exit, I made a quick double-take, abruptly entreating whether he and his mates could pose for a quick photo. They all happily obliged. I wanted to add that they could get a look at their photo at http://..., but instead offered only another quick thank you.
6:30 p.m. and Abdul Rahim was due to emerge from the arrival bay at any moment. I was curious to see his reaction to all the changes that would have taken place in Dubai since his last visit more than a year earlier. A half-hour later and my charge was riding with me down Sheikh Zayed Road (SZR). This was the premiere expressway linking old Dubai to new Dubai and continuing further on to Abu Dhabi. The transition between old and new takes place at the Dubai World Trade Center (DWTC) tower. This 39-storey tower emerged on the Dubai horizon as long ago as 1979. It long represented the outer limits of the city, until the equally iconic Emirates Towers were constructed and completed in 2000. From that time onward this stretch of the SZR became the center of development as towers began rising one-by-one on either side. This might have been suitably referred to as the new Dubai until post-2005 when the construction in the city began to explode even further outward.
Jebel Ali, some 20 km from the Trade Center, was once the distant port that propelled Dubai toward the status of regional trade, shipping and business hub. The Dubai Marina and neighboring Emirates Hills developments came to represent the new center of activity. Within short order, however, the entire 20 km stretch between the first new Dubai at the DWTC and the second new Dubai in the area of Jebel Ali became the focus of extensive development and construction. No sooner would one pass one row or clump of skyscrapers under construction, when another would emerge, and among them sprawling road interchanges, massive shopping malls and, soon to add to the mix, the beginnings of an elevated railway, to be christened the Dubai Metro when partially completed in 2009.
Although having taken this drive just over a year earlier, Abdul Rahim was in for a treat, as surely the number of towers rising along the horizon would have doubled and others would have begun to reach soaring heights. The most notable among these was the Burj Dubai, planned to be the tallest building in the world. At the end of 2004, the tower was still no more than an architectural render. By this time, however, the skeletal structure of the tower had finally begun to rise out of a deep excavation pit upon a newly poured foundation. Per my expectations, Abdul Rahim was indeed taken aback by the level of change and progress that just one year brought.
Next morning, in the light of the day, Abdul Rahim and I visited the MAG 218 site, where he was predictably disappointed. There was little to do there but photograph the open sand pit and attempt to visualize the dimensions of the tower to rise. There were a few Arabian Forasal workers onsite who Abdul Rahim was able to speak to in their native language. Not certain that one could really rely on their accounts, we were told that there were about 20 construction workers assigned to the site. They were awaiting heavy equipment to be transferred there from another project site where Arabian Forasol was carrying out piling works.
Upon leaving the MAG site, I asked Abdul Rahim if he would accompany me to other sites where we might talk to some of the workers to find out what conditions were like for them. News of unrest and hardships for construction laborers in the UAE was being regularly reported on in the leading news publications. A new tempo of protest seemed to have been set with a march by nearly a thousand constructtion workers on Sheikh Zayed Road, just in front of the Dubai Marina. It was 19 September 2005, when the workers, clad in blue coveralls, construction helmets, caps and towels, marched down one side of SZR at the peak of morning rush hour. The resulting traffic jam stretched for miles. The protestors, all belonging to the same firm, were complaining that they hadn't received salaries in months.
Their plight was rather typical, where contractors often claim they are unable to pay workers for not having been paid by the project developers. Company officials offer these and other excuses for not only non-payment of salaries, but also for many other hardships and abuses workers are forced to endure. Accommodation is nearly always provided, but at standards that are often shockingly poor. Over-crowding and unsanitary conditions are the rule. A single dorm-style room will house 20 men in bunk beds. Storage space is limited to what can be pushed under the lower bunks or stuffed into small cabinets the men, themselves, buy or build and attach to the wall beside their bunks--effectively reducing the clear space above their thin mattresses. The lower bunks double as seating space although the occupant must usually assume a crouching position due to the low height of the upper bunk. There is insufficient bathing, toilet and other basic facilities, and unsurprisingly a total lack of recreational facilities.
Basically there is no regard for the worker's personal lives, and in many instances they are in effect indentured--indebted to sponsors or agents who got them into the country and to whom they are unable to repay due to woefully low wages. An 8-10 hour construction work shift, plus up to two hours in transport time, will often find workers compensated by as little as 80 cents on the US dollar, per hour. This, in an environment where finished properties generate revenues in the millions of dollars--sometimes even before construction has even begun.
By my own reckoning, the sale price of a single 2 or 3-bedroom apartment in the city's most exclusive tower (under construction)--the 160+ storey Burj Dubai--could pay the salaries of an army of 2500 laborers working 365 days, for a year, at a better than average wage of $10 per day. At the less than $5 per day that many laborers report earning, the cost of the 2 or 3-bedroom apartment could fund this army of 2500 unskilled and semi-skilled workers for 2 years! The fact is that, while property prices have risen to unjustifiable heights, labor has remained an insignificant component of the total building cost in the UAE. The price of raw materials, the millions to be paid for plots of land, consultants' fees and service contracts account for the primary burden. Furthermore, the 10 percent within the company who occupy the middle and senior positions, will probably earn some multiple beyond what the 90% who make up the labor force earn.
One can almost visualize the scale of the grand development projects rising in the deserts of Dubai and at sea as a modern-day version of the pyramids and the great temple cities of ancient Egypt. The armies of construction workers in Dubai--into the hundreds of thousands--are akin to the slaves who were forced to labor then. While no worker can argue that he was forced to come to Dubai, many will have been lured on false promises. Furthermore, the conditions they are often forced to endure cannot be rationalized on any basis, even if they all voluntarily take the risk.
Laborers are not like investors or speculators who chose to take risks in the hope of multiplying their investments. Migrant laborers, as are all who work in such a capacity in the UAE, seek little more than what it takes for them and their families to survive in decency. To deprive them of even this basic level of compensation is unjust within any context, but even more so when the projects they work on are generating enormous sums of wealth in the form of revenues and profits for owners and others involved in the design, construction, marketing and sale of these projects.
Abdul Rahim was not particularly interested in spending much time probing these issues, but he was amenable to humoring me. From his perspective, the laborers were consigned to their fate. Whether back in India or having migrated elsewhere, their lot, he concluded, would be one of hardship. These were not the kind of words I was prepared to hear. In any event, whatever the rationale or cause of these workers' plight, I preferred to hear more about it from the horses mouth, as it were. These men were clearly beasts of burden, but they deserved a measure of respect much greater than that which they were receiving.
2146 (this post), total 10,198 words
Chapter 7: Pay Day
Technorati Tags: labor protests in the uae, worker rights in the UAE, Dubai construction, Sheikh Zayed Road
posted by B.D. at Wednesday, November 08, 2006
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