Striking Dubai workers face mass deportation

Dubai, United Arab Emirates - A world away from the glitzy skyscrapers and pulsing nightclubs of downtown Dubai, Bangladeshi labourer Mohamed Ashraf stares at the metal gates of his labour camp, terrified about his future after management broke a strike at the company where he has worked for six years.

Backed by security forces, bosses at Arabtec - a massive construction firm with interests across the oil-rich Gulf states - ended a strike on Monday, but the fallout continues as more workers are receiving deportation orders.

"Between 20-25 people just got the [deportation] letter now," Ashraf, a scaffolding installer at Arabtec, told Al Jazeera on Wednesday after receiving a phone call from a co-worker.

"When we got the news of the [first] deportations [on Monday] everyone came down shouting. When the police came, we just went back to our rooms. People were trying to be part of the group without coming to the front," he said.

Unions and strikes are illegal in Dubai and across the Gulf and rather than demonstrating or holding placards, a few thousand workers simply stayed in their accommodations last weekend and didn't show up for work.

The strike ended after management refused to accept demands for increased wages from people earning about $200 a month to complete mega-projects in 40 degree Celsius heat. Worker demands varied from a monthly pay raise of between $100-$135, while others wanted free food that they say was promised to them.

Arabtec, Dubai's largest construction firm, has tens of thousands of employees and contracts to work on the city's airport, the Abu Dhabi branch of the Louvre museum, and other high-profile projects.

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[link to www.aljazeera.com]