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Juxtaposed by the opulence of the adjacent Dubai Mall, hundreds of migrant construction workers staged a protest in downtown Dubai, in a pay dispute over their work on the Fountain Views development.
Employees of Arabian Construction Company (ACC) took strike action in response to the company stopping overtime work and pay.
Reuters reported that Hassan Auji, ACC’s general manager, said: “Their main complaint was on incentives – which, by law, we are not obliged to pay.”
The Arabian Construction Company (ACC) was continuing to pay workers for some overtime, but had cut back on incentive pay, reported Reuters. The incentive pay had been used to speed up construction work, but became unnecessary.
Emaar Properties’ Fountain Views development is nestled between the Burj Khalifa and The Dubai Mall, both of which are also developed by Emaar Properties.
The protest, and in particular its location in such an affluent area of Dubai, served to highlight the chasmic socio-economic divide between the area’s residents and its workers migrant workers, the majority of whom hail from Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and India.
The Dubai Media Office tweeted that the issue was resolved peacefully by Dubai Police within an hour.
Published: 11-03-15
