India praises UAE’s new labor laws

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Thursday 04 Feb 2016 - 13:06 Makkah mean time-25-4-1437 Dubai, (IINA) - T.P. Seetharam, Indian ambassador to the UAE, stated on Wednesday that UAE’s new labor laws, which came into effect on January 1, are already helping to protect workers from the Indian sub-continent from exploitation, WAM reported. "The UAE’s role in safeguarding workers’ rights is praiseworthy. The new rules will prevent the exploitation of workers by unscrupulous agents", said Seetharam, in an interview with the Gulf News. There are 2.6 million Indians in the UAE, 65 percent of which are workers, according to Dinesh Kumar, First Secretary of Community Affairs in the Embassy of India, UAE. The new labor rules are aimed at enhancing the UAE’s labor market conditions, offer better protection to workers, and consolidate the contractual nature of labor relations. The key element of the new regulation is the unified labor contract that standardizes employment terms, which was drafted by the Ministry of Labor as part of three new Decrees. According to the Indian Ambassador, these new rules are not only worker-friendly but have also gone a long way in weeding out any scope of exploitation of the expat workforce, especially in the semi-skilled and unskilled category. "The first thing the UAE government did was to disallow substitution of labor contracts," Seetharam said. "Usually, workers would sign a particular labor contract in their home countries, which was then substituted by another contract when they arrived in the UAE. "Now they have a greater sense of security and know that they will get what they signed for and expect in terms of remuneration and other working conditions", he said. Seetharam expressed his happiness that the UAE labor contract could now be signed in several languages, including many Indian languages such as Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam. "Most of the semi-skilled and unskilled workers who come from India do not read or write English," he said. "By making the contract available in their mother tongue, comprehending the nuances of the labor contract is much easier for them. This will also ensure that they are not misled or duped into false commitments". The ability of expat employees to switch jobs under the new rules is another welcome step, Seetharam said. "The other most important rule that has come into effect since January 1st is the mobility of the workforce from one job to another, of course under certain conditions”. "I think this is a welcome move for the workforce as well for as the employers, as these new laws have created a positive atmosphere at the workplace and have benefited all". AG/IINA