Workers gather in protest against unpaid salaries

Around 500 workers block street in Ras Al Khaimah in peaceful protest against unpaid wages for four months.

RAS AL KHAIMAH // About 400 workers took to a street in the Al Hamra Industrial area yesterday morning to protest about unpaid wages.

The men blocked the street near Al Madina supermarket from 5.30am before returning to work after their employer, Al Hamad Contracting Company,  agreed to pay the owed salaries in three instalments.

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The men were complaining that they had not been paid for four months, and a 28-year-old steelworker from south India, who earns Dh800 a month, said: “We told them yesterday we would strike. We went to the camp boss at 4.30am and he told us to talk to management. Then we went to block the road.”

Police arrived at the scene at 8.30am and the workers moved on to their accommodation where they remained until it was agreed their wages would be paid.

Workers complained that they had their passports taken and were not paid in full for their overtime. Many work 12-hour shifts six days a week.

A spokesman for Al Hamad Contracting Company could not be reached for comment.

Sources at the scene said labour ministry officials had been called in to negotiate with the workers and their companies.

An official from the Ministry of Labour, who asked not to be named, stressed that it was a gathering and not a protest.

When told of the dispute, the labour committee investigated reasons for the lack of payment and reminded the owner of the company that failure to pay wages was illegal.

According to a decree passed by the Minister of Labour, Saqr Ghobash, any company which exceeds 60 days without paying employees will be fined Dh5,000 per employee.

The company owner said he would pay the overdue amount in three instalments, the first by June 23, and the rest within the month, according to the workers committee.

Workers said they stopped work as a last resort after trying to resolve the dispute within the company.

“They said they feared consequences from their company if they approached the Ministry of Labour for help.

“The company rule is, don’t go to the labour office,” said a worker in his 20s from Tamil Nadu, India who did not want to be named.

“If we go to the labour office maybe they will block our passport and for this [reason] all the labourers are afraid. The problem is solved for now but we don’t know what will happen after one month.”

Under the new company classification system, which will come into effect in January 2012, failure to pay wages would result in companies receiving 100 black points. They would also  be banned from employing any new workers.