Thursday, November 29, 2007

Good news for labourers?

Apparently about 150 major contracting companies have decided to raise their labourers' pay by 15% to 20%.

The raise was confirmed by an official of the UAE Contractors' Association, although each individual company will decide on the amount and from when the increases will be paid to their workers.

Even if the 20% is paid it's not really a pay rise, it will just bring them back to where they were before the US$ crash devalued their earnings - the AED being pegged to the dollar.

The pay levels are sobering. According to labourers interviewed by Gulf News unskilled workers get AED350 to 550 a month (that's US$95 to 150) while skilled workers are paid the princely sum of AED700 to a whopping AED1200 (that's US$190 to 326).

Not a lot is it.

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