Abu Dhabi - A mechanism is in place to enforce Article 14 of the law governing labour relations.
Published: Wed 8 Feb 2017, 10:03 PM
Last updated: Thu 9 Feb 2017, 11:40 AM
An existing law that gives priority to qualified Emirati job-seekers in private sector jobs would help meet Emiratisation targets.
Saqr bin Ghobash Saeed Ghobash, Minister of Human Resources and Emiratisation, said a mechanism had now been put in place to enforce Article 14 of the law governing labour relations. This provision, the minsiter said, will boost job opportunities for qualified Emirati job-seekers and also serve the interests of employers.
What does article Article No (14) say?Article 14 of the UAE Labour Law states that the Labour Department may not give its approval to the employment of non-nationals until it is satisfied that there are no unemployed nationals registered with the employment section who are capable of performing the work required.
Saqr bin Ghobash Saeed Ghobash, Cabinet Member and Minister of Human Resources and Emiratisation, said the ministry stressed to put into force Article No (14) of the law on organising the labour relations, which entitles Emirati jobseekers and gives them priority to occupy vacant jobs in the private sector.
Ghobash said a mechanism has been laid down to put into effect Article No (14) to guarantee that the article will be well implemented. The minister said that as per the article, no work permit would be issued to any non-Emirati employee in the private sector if an Emirati jobseeker registered in the ministry's database was found and all the job roles are applied to him/her. Article (14) also takes into consideration the interests of all parties of employment.
The Emiratisation programme started a couple of years ago when federal and local governments in the UAE launched a number of initiatives such as the creation of several entities including Tanmia, the National Human Resources Employment Authority, Abu Dhabi Tawteen Council and the Emirates Nationals Development Program to promote Emiratisation.
The government however gave great importance to the subject of Emiratisation in 2013, having announced that was to be the year of Emiratisation along with launching the "Absher" initiative.
Absher is based on four main themes, namely the creation of job opportunities for nationals, vocational guidance and counselling, training and development, and the encouragement of nationals to work in the private sector with the aim to increase the current number of UAE nationals working in the private sector by tenfold by the year 2021.
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He made these remarks during a meeting in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday. Ghobash stressed that 80 per cent of the ministry's priorities are on Emiratisation and following up on companies' progress in this regard.
The ministry, he said, has worked on enhancing the Emiratisation e-registration portal so that qualified Emirati job-seekers can register. The labour permit system will be connected to the ministry's database, which will help activate the provision of the law that grants qualified Emiratis priority. This will help the ministry ensure that a qualified Emirati is not overlooked before granting a work permit to a non-Emirati.
He, however, stressed that no work permit has been rejected on these grounds so far.
Ghobash underscored that the interests of all parties concerned will be taken into account. "We won't apply the law blindly without identifying the impacts of this on employers," he said.
He said companies that meet Emiratisation targets will be granted advantages such as discounts on fees.
The ministry is also mulling over launching an Emiratisation award across the country in order to encourage private sector companies to attract and recruit Emiratis, the minister added.
Visa ban is now rare
Labour bans are a thing of the past, a top official has said. Humaid bin Deemas Al Suwaidi, assistant under-secretary for labour affairs, stressed that the ministry does not impose a labour ban on employees.
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He said the ministry received around one million applications for imposing labour bans on workers last year. However, only 800 applications were heard by the labour court.
malzarooni@khaleejtimes.com
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