Foreign Workers Strike and Protests in the United Arab Emirates - Literature review Example

?Literature Review: Foreign Workers’ Strike and Protests in the United Arab Emirates. Barry, M. and Wilkinson, A. (Eds Research Handbook of Comparative Employment Relations. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. This is a comprehensive overview of Employment Relations in different countries across the world. It has some comparative studies involving two countries, and some theoretical chapters on issues such as the role of MNEs (chapter 17) and international labour standards (chapter 18). There is one chapter (chapter 15, pp. 357-374) entitled “Employment relations in oil-rich Gulf countries” by Kamel Mellahi and Ingo Forstenlechner which depicts the UAE as one of the slowest to reform in terms of employee rights, and lists the lack of success in shifting the balance between indigenous and foreign workers as one of the reasons why this is not likely to improve in the near future. Another factor is the way that residence permits are used to make sure that expatriates stay tied to one particular employer. This article shows that restrictive employer practices in the UAE are contributing to calls for strikes among foreign workers. Bohning, W.R. (1996) Employing Foreign Workers: A manual on policies and procedures of special interest to middle- and low-income countries. Geneva: International Labour Organization. This handbook is an exhaustive guidebook on all the HRM mechanisms that could be useful for countries and companies which employ a large number of foreign workers. It deals with all the usual processes of hiring and firing, along with the rights of the workers and employers in terms of sickness benefits, remuneration and choice of location and living conditions. It is interesting to note that there is no section on worker rights to strike, or take part in any other kind of industrial action, but instead there is a reference to the desirability of “special complaint and redress mechanisms” (p. 73). This suggests that the international community has not yet thought through the implications of foreign worker strikes, such as have appeared recently in the UAE, and there may be a gap in the advice to professionals in the field. Budhwar, P.S. and Mellahi, K. (Eds.) (2006) Managing Human Resources in the Middle-East. Abingdon and New York: Routledge. This book contains a collection of articles on managing human resources in different countries within the Middle East area. It is structured country by country and there is an introduction and concluding chapter by the two main editors. The fourth chapter is on the United Arab Emirates and is written by Abubakr Mohyeldin Tahir Suliman. This analysis gives brief introductions on the political and economic background to the UAE and then highlights some of the main HRM challenges which face the country including “employee theft, conflicts of interest, discrimination in hiring and promotion, quality control issues, and misuse of proprietary information” (p. 65) Although some of the data used in this article is quite old, it does give a good summary of the different industries which have developed in the last fifty years. It attributes the advanced state of HRM in the UAE to the contribution of well qualified and experienced foreign workers. Suliman explains the role of the UAE National Human Resources Development and Employment Authority (Tanmia) and the various professional Institutes which aim to manage the process of Emiratisation. He notes also that “there are no labor unions, and freedom of association is not recognized as a fundamental right in the UAE. Accordingly strikes are illegal…” (p. 74) Significantly, there are no institutions in the UAE which offer specialized degree or certificate courses in HRM and this is an interesting finding which may help to explain why the whole issue of striking foreign workers is not being adequately approached in UAE at the present time. Godwin, S.M. (2006) Globalization, Education and Emiratisation: A Study of the United Arab Emirates. The Electronic Journal on Information Systems in Developing Countries 27 (1), pp. 1-14. This online journal article explores some of the problems that have arisen in the UAE due to rapid globalization and the large majority of expatriate workers. It shows how UAE nationals have an excellent education system, but this system does not feed well into the jobs market. Economic growth has affected the expatriate workers and the UAE nationals alike, but there are increasing problems linked to obesity, diabetes, road traffic deaths and diseases related to smoking. All of these are problems which are usually less common in developing countries and they reflect the relative wealth of the population. Differences between the two major Emirates of Abu Dhabi and Dubai threaten the stability of the country but efforts are being made to improve the job opportunities of UAE nations through the policy of “emiratisation” which means replacing expatriate workers with UAE nationals. The emergence of strikes in protest at this measure, despite strikes being officially banned, is a worrying trend and Godwin explains this in terms of the social changes that are being planned from the government. Santos, A. ‘Labor Flexibility, Legal Reform and Economic Development.’ Virginia Journal of International Law 50, 2009, pp. 43-106. Available online at: http://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1294&context=facpub&sei-redir=1&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.co.uk%2Furl%3Fsa%3Dt%26rct%3Dj%26q%3Dsantos%2520labor%2520flexibility%26source%3Dweb%26cd%3D2%26ved%3D0CCwQFjAB%26url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fscholarship.law.georgetown.ed This article examines the concept of labor flexibility and categorizes three different types of labor regime: Type I Employee Friendly – which maximizes the bargaining power of employees; Type II Employer Friendly – which maximizes the bargaining power of employers and Type III Free-for-all – which implies guaranteeing all privileges and relatively few rights to both parties. This is an interesting framework for analysis, into which the UAE system of HRM fits well (as a prime example of Type II HRM). Santos explains that no country can be completely tied to one model, however, and there are always “vanguard” and “rearguard” elements which struggle for and against reform. Using Chile and Mexico as examples, this framework proves to be useful in understanding complex HRM issues. Santos takes issue with some of the World Bank “Doing Business” recommendations and provides an interesting alternative view of how HRM should be applied in developing economies. Surk, B. (2007) Foreign construction workers go on strike in Dubai. The New York Times October 28. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/28/business/worldbusiness/28iht-labor.4.8084022. This short newspaper article reports on the 2007 construction worker strikes in Dubai and the riot police reaction to them. It presents the issues as a head to head confrontation against UAE management of the Jebel Ali Industrial Zone. The Emirates’ minister of labor is quoted as describing worker behavior as “uncivilized” and “endangering residents’ safety” which stresses the way that foreign workers are regarded as lower class people in the UAE. The sanction of deportation is used against those found to be involved in strikes, which raises the interesting issue of differential punishments being applied to foreign workers as compared to indigenous workers. Read More