NEWS FROM THE U.A.E.
Expat secretaries to be allowed new positions
Dubai: 22 July : Expatriate secretaries will be able to continue working for their employers as long as the title and nature of their positions are adjusted, said a senior labour official.
Dr Khalid Al Khazraji, Undersecretary of Labour, said that although secretarial positions were to be emiratised, employers were being given the option to keep their former expatriate secretaries as long as they were given alternative positions.
"There is a need for flexibility in implementing the rules. The idea is to encourage companies to employ UAE nationals," he said.
However, he added that secretarial positions were exclusively reserved for UAE nationals.
A ministerial decision which came into effect on June 24 requires all secretarial positions to be emiratised.
The Ministry of Labour issued a circular last week setting the rules and regulations for the implementation of the decision.
The circular allowed companies to renew the labour cards of their expatriate secretaries provided that they would employ or train a national for the job for a year.
Arvind Kashyapa, general manager of an India-based insurance company welcomed the move saying he would like to keep his Indian secretary employed if he were given the chance, but added that his company would continue to look for a national secretary to take the position.
He also expressed frustration at difficulties faced in trying to find an appropriate UAE national candidate for the position.
"We are desperately looking for UAE nationals. We called sixty-nine people from a list of potential candidates provided by Tanmia [National Human Resource Development and Employment Authority] but not a single one was interested. We're even willing to pay UAE nationals more," he said.
Kashyapa said he had contacted Tanmia about the difficulties faced in recruiting UAE nationals but received no response, attributing the lack of interest to the abundance of attractive government sector jobs for UAE nationals.
Sebastian Joseph, administrative manager at an advertising agency, was not as enthusiastic.
"It wouldn't be practical to create a new position for the former secretary. We have to consider costs and cannot exceed staff budgets," he said.
He added that such a decision would depend on the capability of the expatriate secretary. "We won't do it just for the sake of it," he said.
GULF NEWS
Exorbitant rents forcing expatriates to leave houses
Dubai: 22 July : High rental rates in Dubai are leaving residents without a roof over their heads.
Tenants facing imminent eviction because of development projects or who simply cannot afford the rent are being pushed to outlying emirates which offer cheaper housing.
Gulf News spoke to some residents who were forced to pack their bags because of "greedy" landlords and asked them what they plan to do next.
A.W. is a British marketing professional who has been living in a 52-villa Desert Springs compound for two years.
He will have to leave his home by February because his villa will be among those demolished due to upcoming development projects.
"I was thinking of moving to Ras Al Khaimah where you can get a villa for Dh55,000. Now I'm looking at moving to Al Ain because I would hate to end up living in the Springs.
"But there's just nothing available. I'm 35 and I'm past the age of renting a room or living in shared accommodation. I've been lucky with my rent so far living in one of the oldest compounds but I don't want to spend more than half my salary on rent.
"The real shame is the trees and greenery that will get bulldozed over. There's a lot of wildlife there and mature trees. It's a real community area but if I can't find anything I'll just leave the UAE," he said.
Twenty-seven-year-old Catherine Rankin, a cabin crew from the UK, had to recently leave her villa because her landlord had sold it.
After buying her own one bedroom flat, she found out it will not be ready for occupancy until September.
Apparently during the time Rankin was renting her two bedroom villa in the Springs, the house was sold three times. The final owner decided to just turf her out.
"I'm spending double my housing allowance on a mortgage and now I'm living with my husband and two cats in a bedroom in Al Barsha.
"My husband and I were forced to move from a villa I was renting for Dh60,000 because my landlord told me he had sold it.
"Since then I've seen houses on our old street advertised for at least Dh100,000. They just want us out so they can increase rents for new tenants," she said.
"This is just not worth it. It's really put me off living in Dubai. It's a big mess. We're really considering selling the flat by Christmas and just go home," she said.
Thrown out
Swedish Hanna Nordell, 27, works in a law firm and used to live in the Springs before her landlord told her that he was increasing the rent from Dh70,000 to Dh89,000.
"To keep our home, I was only willing to go as high as Dh86,000 and he agreed but the real estate agent said we had to leave as soon as the contract expired in July.
"We were literally being thrown out of the place we had made our home and in the end, the owner ended up selling the place," she said.
Mohammad Malik, a 45- year-old Indian businessman will leave his family home of 10 years as he can no longer afford the rent.
"My family and I have been living in Al Ghusais for 10 years in a property built by the Development Board.
"Last year the building was sold back to the original land owner and the rent was increased from Dh22,000 to Dh28,000 for a two-bedroom apartment.
"Three months later the new landlords told us they would increase rent to Dh40,000 at the beginning of 2006 or we would have to leave," he said.
The landlord then told Malik that aside from the rent, he would also be charged an additional Dh1,000 as car park fee.
"I took the case to the municipality and won the case, but I was the only one in the building who did.
"Then recently I was told that I would have to leave, as there was a clause in the contract that said it was only valid for a period of six months. But everyone else in the building has the same contract, but no one else is being made to leave.
"This is very distressing for my family, especially my three children, as it has been our home for so long and come September we are being told we will have to move, but I am still not sure where," he said.
David Willimott, 37, a British graphic designer who lives with his wife and two children in a three-bedroom apartment on Shaikh Zayed Road, said their rent increase had gone from about Dh6,000 a month to Dh9,000.
"I think it's inevitable that we'll have to move and I'm not very happy about that because I like where I am. We simply cannot afford it though.
"I don't want to move out of town to one of the new developments.
Traumatic
"Before I came here, I lived in a village in France and what I like about Dubai is that it's a city. I don't want to go and live in a suburb," he said.
Willimott said one thing he would be particularly sad to leave was the community of children in the same block that his son and daughter had become friendly with.
"Certainly if we leave it will impact on our quality of life. It is going to be really, really traumatic," he said.
GULF NEWS
Labour ministry to crack down on visa racketeers
DUBAI — 22 July : As part of all-out efforts to stamp out visa malpractice, which has become rampant in the country, the Ministry of Labour has resolved to come down heavily on both erring employers and employees.
The move was aimed at creating a healthy atmosphere in the labour market, the ministry announced, taking note that the value of bogus residence visas in the local labour market had shot up from Dh8,000 to Dh10,000.
Unscrupulous companies trading in such residence visas had jacked up the price to exploit the increase in number of daily wage earners, it was stated. The workers, being paid only Dh10 earlier, were attracted following the revision of wages to Dh15.
Dr Ali bin Abdullah Al Ka'abi, Minister of Labour, said the ministry had embarked on a course of strict penalties to combat the menace of fictitious residence visas. The strict new rules would apply to both parties to the fictitious agreement, he said.
Elaborating, Al Ka'abi said the errant employee would get his visa cancelled and be deported. The establishment at fault would be slapped with a fine of Dh10,000 for breaching the Labour Law and its file would be referred to the public prosecution for legal action, he added.
The first company to get on the wrong side of the new regulations was the Abu Dhabi-based Al Kabi Establishment, Al Ka'abi divulged.
The action came after Mohammed N., an Arab expatriate, lodged a complaint with the ministry requesting that his official documents, labour card and employment contract be recovered from the firm. Mohammed also sought the right to be allowed to work stating that the company had only issued him a residence visa but not featured him on its payroll.
The ministry had struck upon certain employers who claimed to have issued labour permits and residence visas to expatriate workers on "humanitarian grounds", Dr Ka'abi revealed. Such excuses were categorically unacceptable to the government, which was not to be mistaken for a social welfare body, he said.
Those wanting to help others in a sorry state were welcome to do so but such acts didn't mean that the ministry would bypass the law and procedures pertaining to sponsorship, he asserted. When such clandestine applications were rejected, employers pursuing such documents would be held accountable, he clarified.
Dr Al Ka'abi said bogus residence visas amounted to forgery and fraud. Such sponsors gave the ministry the wrong impression that a legal relationship existed between him and the employee, he pointed out.
Those exploiting visa procedures brought in expatriate workers to the UAE solely with the intent of employing them and their actions in no way correlated with the residence visa stipulation that allowed one to live in the country without doing any work, he noted.
If such malpractices continued, the ministry would publish names of companies flouting the law in newspapers so as to deter such violations, he said. The ministry would also not hesitate to initiate legal actions against such offenders, he added.
In the context of the Al Kabi Construction Establishment and its Arab employee, the ministry had discovered that the residence visa issued to the complainant had been issued on the basis of marital relationships existing between the two sides, sources at the ministry said. The Labour Relations Department had summoned the employer, who failed to turn up. Instead, the director general of the company had responded to the notice and admitted that he had only followed the instructions of the owner, the sources added.
KHALEEJ TIMES