Five strikers paid, and going home



Five carpenters who were unpaid for months have received their salaries and one-way airline tickets to their home countries. Weeks ago a group of 14 workers went on strike and filed suit against the Al Mushrif Oasis Technical Works, a Dubai-based company that subcontracts a team of 23 carpenters, because they had not been paid for five months.

The group of five men received a settlement of Dh500 each and a ticket home last week in addition to the back pay they were owed. The men were hired out to various projects by Oasis Technical Works, including one on Saadiyat Island. They worked from July to December without pay. When they stopped work in protest, they were removed from their accommodations in Musaffah to a farm in Semeih, 80 kilometres from Dubai.

They filed suit at the labour court in Dubai in December, and the case went to arbitration under the supervision of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, which settles collective labour disputes. A representative for Abu Dhabi's Tourism Development & Investment Company (TDIC), which oversees the development of Saadiyat Island, said it "took the matter of late payment of construction workers employed by a sub-contractor very seriously", and became aware of the situation in early January.

"After immediate investigation by our employment relations manager, TDIC closely monitored discussions that took place between our appointed contractor and their sub-contractor to resolve this matter," a spokesman said. Syed Mohammed Afsar, the company supervisor who has been sending some workers home in batches, said he was unable to pay them because his subcontracters were late in paying him. Mr Afsar said all 14 workers wanted to leave the Emirates and return to India and Bangladesh. The last nine will be in court today to receive the remainder of their arbitration-mandated settlement of past-due salaries, a plane ticket and Dh500. But, Mr Afsar said, he could only afford the passage and full salaries for only six of the nine that will appear before the board. He plans to ask for an extension to pay the others.

"We are paying the money through the court," said Mr Afsar. "The court said to give them their salary and Dh500 but we are giving them the ticket also." An additional seven workers have chosen to remain with the company and they have not been paid for work after November. They did not participate in the strike. Sujit Kumar, one of the workers due in court today, will travel from Semeih to Dubai to find out whether he will be paid and sent home.

"We are all just sitting around waiting. There has been no work in the past month," he said. "Even the ones who have agreed to stay with the company and continue working, they too are sitting around doing nothing. I don't think we have any new contracts in hand." @Email:sbhattacharya@thenational.ae

RESULTS

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Jan Vertonghen 13'

Norwich 1

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2-3 on penalties

Paatal Lok season two

Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy 

Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong

Rating: 4.5/5

How to protect yourself when air quality drops

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Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.

When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.

How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
The Sand Castle

Director: Matty Brown

Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea

Rating: 2.5/5

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Torque: 850Nm

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Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)

On sale: Now

MATCH INFO

What: India v Afghanistan, first Test
When: Starts Thursday
Where: M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengalaru

THE LIGHT

Director: Tom Tykwer

Starring: Tala Al Deen, Nicolette Krebitz, Lars Eidinger

Rating: 3/5

COMPANY PROFILE

Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

Schedule:

Pakistan v Sri Lanka:
28 Sep-2 Oct, 1st Test, Abu Dhabi
6-10 Oct, 2nd Test (day-night), Dubai
13 Oct, 1st ODI, Dubai
16 Oct, 2nd ODI, Abu Dhabi
18 Oct, 3rd ODI, Abu Dhabi
20 Oct, 4th ODI, Sharjah
23 Oct, 5th ODI, Sharjah
26 Oct, 1st T20I, Abu Dhabi
27 Oct, 2nd T20I, Abu Dhabi
29 Oct, 3rd T20I, Lahore