Adie writes

I agree with the statement by the Labour minister in stating that “”It’s the restructuring of the economy rather than labour procedures that will phase out this problem,” of the imbalance in the demographics.

Middle East including UAE currently has been the highest importer of Human labour. What we see of Dubai today has been built today through imported labour. While this is a feasible and easy option for a cash rich state like Dubai and the rest of the Middle East, it comes across as contradictory when the FNC members claim to remove this element of the populace.

They seem to be either disconnected with the reality of their own social lives, not realising that every worker around them on the streets, building the tallest building, the largest island and the best metro is not an Emirati. The fact that these workers have very little to speak of in terms of their benefits they receive for their hard toiling is another matter.

Further, I think the FNC members should just come clean with their intentions on what is the issue that affects this labour state. While the local businessmen find it cheaper and more profitable to run their establishments on cheap imported labour, that includes even the semi-skilled manpower and even professionals, how are they going to effectively remove this workforce from the system when there are no replacements?

The only feasible policy would be to shut down growth in Dubai and other M.East states and the expatriate work force would leave. The local population can then fill the gaps. This of course would change the face of the place where about 87% workforce is expatriate.

What the FNC must understand that while the expatriate workforce is here for their own future they also contribute by being part of the society and sharing their culture and their skills. A more inclusive approach where both the local population has fair opportunities to compete fairly with the others and fair rights and benefits to the expatriate workforce is in place, then the growth can continue across the region where the local population benefits most through the sponsorship stakes and even owning these enterprises.

Just raising alarms on the expatriate population increasing and knee-jerk reactions of imposing fees to make life unbearable for this workforce is not just unfair but even ungrateful coming from the very people who have build their rich enterprises, the state through the toiling of this very workforce. If the workforce start to leave which eventually it will, I hope the local population would be trained up and skilled to take on the running of these enterprises.

I think the lawmakers and the council need a reality check.