Dubai: Labourers wishing to work in the UAE will have to come through the Ministry of Labour, as a plan to shut down agencies that recruit construction workers is underway.
Speaking to the media yesterday, Dr Ali Bin Abdullah Al Ka'abi, Minister of Labour, described recruitment agencies as corrupt and mafia-like organisations.
He said he was planning a tour to Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal and the Philippines after Ramadan to discuss the possibility of signing labour exchange agreements with these countries, to eliminate middlemen that recruit construction workers.
Ramadan is expected to start on September 24.
"All labour agencies, foreign and UAE alike, are corrupt and operate like the mafia, and must be eliminated," said Dr Al Ka'abi.
There are about 170 labour agencies licensed by the ministry, many of them pressure workers to take illegal loans to pay for their own visa, sources said.
The practice is illegal under UAE Labour Law and has forced many workers to take loans carrying high interest rate.
Earlier, Gulf News undertook an investigation and found dozens of companies engaged in this trade often exploiting labourers for salaries ranging from Dh3 to Dh6 an hour.
Labour consuls and attaches from South Asian countries welcomed the minister's announcement and said that it would give a better perspective about workers from that part of the world.
"If both sides sit down together, the UAE will be able to get a good idea and a better perspective of Filipino workers," Vicente M. Cabe, Labour Attache at the Philippine Consulate General in Dubai, said.
He said illegal recruitment was a problem in the Philippines, with many unlicensed labour agencies recruiting workers to the UAE and other countries.
Thousands of Filipino job-seekers come to the UAE on visit visas every month, most of whom are lured by promises of well-paying jobs here.
Cabe also said the Philippine government was taking stern action to curb the practice by educating the public on the dangers of illegal recruitment, and helping victims to file cases and arrest the illegal recruiters.
He added that the government's efforts were complicated by the willingness of some Filipino workers to put themselves in harm's way.
"They know they are dealing with unlicensed recruiters but they still go ahead in the hopes of landing jobs," he said.
India, meanwhile, is already working out the procedures for drafting a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on labour with countries in the Gulf, said a diplomatic source.
The source said the Overseas Ministry of Foreign Affairs had asked the Indian missions in the Gulf to forward case studies on labour issues to the ministry.
