• Home

23 workers not paid wages for 5 months

ABU DHABI — Twenty-three labourers working with Abu Dhabi-based El Nessr El Arabi Construction Company yesterday filed a complaint with the Ministry of Labour (MoL) stating that they were not paid wages for the past five months.

They also complained of being deprived of overtime dues and weekend benefits, in addition to their annual leave.

Wassim Habib, public relations officer of the company, admitted that the workers were not paid their dues.

"Yes, the workers' wages are pending. The company paid them two months' salary yesterday. The salaries for the rest of the months will be given to them during the next few days," Habib told Khaleej Times.

However, he said, regarding the overtime and the annual leave, the workers were not having any problem. In fact, he said, some of them preferred to get money in lieu of holidays.

Explaining the delay in paying the wages, Habib said that as was the case with almost all construction companies, firms first needed to finalise their projects so that they could pay their labourers.

This whole process always caused a delay, he said.

Ahmed Al Masher, a legal advisor at the Labour Dispute Department, said the ministry had reached an agreement with the company whereby the latter would pay two months' salaries to the workers while the rest of the money would be paid during the next 10 days.

• UAE