Comments on The Zeitgeist: Dubai ticking time bomb

This is so true. Considering the fact that there a...

2008-03-12T19:48:00.000+11:00

This is so true. Considering the fact that there are more construction workers in this city rather than the people actually living here, and even then, the men behind them desks cant give them what they deserve. The UAE stands No. 16 in the per capita income chart, well it doesn't appear so, obviously they've surveyed the emiratis only. I was having a little chat with a European guy once, he mentioned how greedy Indian laborers are. He was working as a manager in a chemical company and was 'complaining' that they give 20 Dehrams to the Indian Labors per day for lunch, but these guys are so greedy that they end up fulfilling their hunger with just 5 Dehrams. Seldom does he understand that the labors have come here to take something back for the wives and kids back home, and that mere 20 makes a huge difference. His statement left me feeling miserable.

Hmm yeah you maybe right that people don't know th...

2008-02-19T09:18:00.000+11:00

Hmm yeah you maybe right that people don't know the extent of how bad it is but I'm definitely sure that the money in the Gulf is better than back home. But that's changing it seems...

That sounds pretty pathetic...A noose that gets ti...

2008-02-19T09:15:00.000+11:00

That sounds pretty pathetic...A noose that gets tighter and tighter cutting out all possibility of a better option.

And i just assumed that the money they get here is already less than they would be able to get working back home, especially considering they wouldn't need to spend on transfer rates etc and they would be with their families. To me it seems the opportunity cost of working here is already lower than working back home, so i failed to understand why they still stayed.

And while the glamorous image of dubai may not have much to do with the continued stream of foriegn labour in Dubai, people back home always seem to assume we live lives of luxury here and i thought that may be a reason these labourers thought dubai offered more opportuinty plus the fact that while there may be news of the horrible labour conditions in Dubai, these labourers may not have any idea how bad it is, like many are taken by surprise that their passports are taken away when they get here etc, i believe many people back in India and abroad are still unaware that while Dubai is growing steadily, conditions for living and earning for both the labour and middle class are becoming harder.

and there is definitely no glamour by the way, peo...

2008-02-19T01:23:00.000+11:00

and there is definitely no glamour by the way, people in the sub-continent for example know very well how workers get treated in the Gulf, its all over the media for a start. the situation has been there for ages and nobody thinks its going to get better, they stay and endure for the money in the hope of building a better life for them and their families...

they stay for one reason and one reason only. mone...

2008-02-19T01:21:00.000+11:00

they stay for one reason and one reason only. money. the money they earn over there is always more than they can earn back home so they work there and send money back home to support their families. there are a great deal of fees involved with transferring the money also so the amount they earn needs to be more than the opportunity cost of working back home, plus the transfer and currency conversion fees. the plan is to work for a few years there, support the family and hopefully move back home and live off some of the savings if possible. this is why they endure the conditions that they do.

So this is the danger with the currency fluctuation. If the USD plummets further taking the Gulf currencies with it, to the extent that the amounts they earn are no longer significantly greater than the opportunity cost of working back home and transfer costs mentioned above then they will have no more reason for enduring those conditions. The natural thing to do would be to move back home but the countries have loose labour laws and many bosses impose draconian restrictions on foreign employees such as signing them on mandatory 2-3 year contracts and taking their passports away when they arrive, many of which they dont know about before actually coming.

If the currency fell to the point where the workers became dissatisfied and wanted to leave, this would create a massive exodus of foreign labour from the Gulf very quickly, much like when a stock market crashes. Since the Gulf economies are almost totally built and dependent on the backs of foreign labourers, the economies would totally collapse if this happened. The Rulers would never let this happen so they would support the draconian measures to keep the workers there and even increase them. This would create a lot of anger among the labourers and would thus create a situation ripe for massive class conflict...

I didn't understand everything or agree to everyth...

2008-02-18T10:36:00.000+11:00

I didn't understand everything or agree to everything exactly, some of it is speculation but the last part about the situation of labour was a very interesting point, the question that always bugs me is so why are they still here? why do they stay when theyre treated so unfairly? are they unaware? do they keep hoping it'll get better? Or is it just the old glamour of "working abroad"? have they become so used to such conditions that they have become content? Why?