Employer vanishes with staff salaries

More than 11 Egyptian workers living without money for food or essentials for last five months in Ajman Hamdi said their contract, which was approved by the Ministry of Labour in Dubai, stipulated a sum of Dh3,000Dh3,500 as their monthly salary, but their

More than 11 Egyptian workers have been living in difficult circumstances for the past five months as their employer has vanished without paying their salaries.

Sleeping in an accommodation in Ajman industrial area, the stranded workers have no money for food or other daily essentials. “Our employer has not paid the rent for the accommodation since October and we fear we will be asked to vacate,” Engineer Thamer Hamdi, one of the workers, told Gulf News.

The workers were recruited five months ago by Mukhtar Ebrahim Contracting Company based in Dubai.

Complaint filed

The workers had filed a complaint with the Ministry of Labour in Dubai in November.

Hamdi said their contract, which was approved by the Ministry of Labour in Dubai, stipulated a sum of Dh3,000-Dh3,500 as their monthly salary, but their employer only paid them Dh100Dh200 a week, making them sign a paper saying they had received the money. A total of Dh33,000 was paid to the employer as recruitment charges, Hamdi said.

Three of the workers are still on visit visas, he said. “We never thought we would end up this way,” said Hamdi.

Some Good Samaritans have been giving the workers food, but they say they would prefer to be gainfully employed. “We don’t want to be a burden on others,” said Hamdi.

Mohammad Abu Al Hijazi, director of Al Engaz LL Company which owns the licence of the contracting company, told Gulf News he is aware of the workers’ plight and is in touch with them. The contracting company’s licence expired on November 29 and Al Hijazi refused to renew it as the employer had cheated workers. Al Hijazi said if the employer does not return within the legal period of 30 days, he would be banned from entering the country and the workers compensated from the bank guarantee of the company’s licence.

As for workers trying for jobs elsewhere, Al Hijazi said, “We told them they can find another job and we can give them a ‘No Objection’ letter”.