Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Abu Dhabi: The UAE has become the first country in the Gulf region to partner with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) for implementing a labour governing programme, officials said on Monday.

The announcement was made during an event organised by the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation in Abu Dhabi on Monday.

Senior officials from the ministry and the ILO said a new strategic programme, ‘Innovations in Labour Market Governance’, has been developed in close collaboration with the ILO to improve working conditions for employees.

The new programme will focus on three main pillars — labour inspection, especially concerning inspecting employers’ compliance with workplace rules and regulations; dispute resolution to prevent disputes between employers and workers; and enhancing the labour market information system.

“The UAE labour market is strong, and improving labour market governance is extremely important for this market,” said Saqr Ghobash, UAE Minister of Human Resources and Emiratisation.

The UAE hosts around eight million foreign workers, making it one of the largest labour-receiving countries in the world. The ministry decided to approach and work closely with the ILO to solve challenges that rise from governing such an enormous labour market.

In his address, Ghobash said, “The programme consists of three elements that will be implemented over two years. We seek the improvement of labour information and statistics systems, develop policies related to occupational safety and health of the workers as well as inspectional affairs, along with the development of the labour disputes systems.”

“Our ties with the ILO pushes us towards benefiting from their experiences in order to enable the ministry to make a quantum leap in the labour market governance, ensure labour rights protection while keeping employers’ interests stable to strengthen our knowledge-based national economy and enable our citizens to reach higher positions across different sectors,” he added.

A senior official at the ILO told Gulf News that the three identified areas were those that faced challenges and had room for improvement. The improvements are thought to come from tools that will analyse detailed data in each pillar and find the cause of issues, before providing recommendations for implementation.

Using labour disputes as an example, Kinan Bahnassi, chief technical adviser of the programme, said data gathered from analysing labour data can be used to find the cause and root of the issues in order to make recommendations to the employer and employees.

He also said that the ministry’s inspection team will start working closely with the ILO to implement new ways of inspecting work areas that take into account ILO’s standards. He highlighted that the minister has been very welcoming to ILO’s ideas and recommendations.

“This new project will equip the ministry with modern and state-of-the-art tools to govern the labour market, show the ministry’s leadership role in ensuring decent work and set an example for other countries in the region to follow,” said Dr Ruba Jaradat, ILO Regional Director for Arab States.

“It is very important to stress here that such collaboration between the UAE and the ILO is a first of its kind in the GCC region and that other countries in the region have expressed interest in following suit,” she added.

Speaking to Gulf News, Ghobash said, “The ministry will never stop and will always strive for the best.” He said it was natural for the ILO to seek to partner with them to raise standards even further. He noted that working standards in the UAE were already high and at international levels. However, if there was room for improvement the ministry would do the necessary.

In addition to the new decrees introduced earlier this year a number of initiatives have been implemented in the last year to improve employer and employee relations including awareness campaigns and smart systems. One such system introduced by the ministry entailed a smart programme that would assist the ministry’s inspection team monitor employers better and more efficiently.

By Sarvy Geranpayeh Staff Reporter

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