Interesting Gulf News Articles... Labor and Corruption

Will anything change here?... the "jury is out" I'd say.

Discrimination common among UAE companies

By Saifur Rahman, Business News Editor


Dubai: About 65 per cent of the UAE's companies discriminate among employees on grounds of age, 41 per cent on gender and 41 per cent on disability, a latest survey said.

UAE least corrupt among Mideast states

By Duraid Al Baik, Foreign Editor


Dubai: The UAE has been named the least corrupt country in the Middle East by Transparency International (TI) in its latest report. The UAE ranked first among Middle East and Arab countries with a score of 6.2, and 31st among 163 countries in the world in the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) issued yesterday by TI in Berlin, Germany. The CPI is measured on a scale from 0 to 10, with higher numbers indicating less corruption.

According to the index details obtained by Gulf News, Israel and Oman, which ranked first and second in 2005 declined to the third and fifth positions respectively, paving the way for the UAE to become the first in the region.

Mohammad: Protect rights of workers

Gulf News Report


Dubai: All necessary measures must be taken to ensure the rights of expatriate workers are protected and their living and working conditions are significantly improved, His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai ordered authorities yesterday.

He also instructed the Minister of Labour, Dr. Ali Bin Abdullah Al Ka'abi, during a meeting attended by other senior officials, to implement "an effective mechanism that empowers workers whose salaries have been withheld for more than two months to receive what is rightfully theirs, as well as enable them to switch jobs with no obstacles, as long as they meet the rules set by the UAE and the Ministry of Labour in this matter," WAM reported yesterday.