Hundreds of Asian labourers working in Dubai have been deported after thousands downed tools and staged an illegal strike at the weekend over poor wages and working conditions, reports said on Monday. The authorities took the decision after several thousand manual workers occupied and reportedly vandalised a building before attacking police and vehicles with stones on Saturday.
The government denounced the “barbaric behaviour” of the strikers and gave them an ultimatum to return to work or be deported without pay with their contracts cancelled and being forbidden to return. A senior labour ministry official said the prime minister and deputy premier had put in place measures to help foreign workers. |