It's good that the international press is finally giving coverage to this issue that has existed for decades. But it's sad that it was only after a violent protest that the press started paying attention.

Its also sad that the govt is now more concerned about its reuptation being ruined in the international press rather than the long term economic effects of its labour policies (not to mention basic human rights).

I would imagine then that there will be several more violent protests to come in the future.

The way I see it, labor rights in the region are more or less a zero-sum game on the part of workers and companies. For obvious reasons, governments have thus far altered the rules of the game to favor the latter, but I think they are now being forced to take a slightly less one-sided position.
Is it sad that's how things work? Sure. But that's the way things are right now, and just feeling sorry won't change it. The key is to convince governments that it is in their own interests to improve the labor situation... or failing that, to embarrass them into acting.
Dubai's seen some violent labor protests over the past few days. The government has gotten scared that it is sitting on a powder keg, and has come out with some strong statements. Additionally, it has announced deportations and replacement workers for those who refuse to work.

In the short term, yes its a zero-sum game. But in the long run there is no way for Dubai to have sustained growth without having happy workers, so it's not a zero-sum game.

My point about it being sad was that if the press only pays attention when the protests are violent, and if the govt only takes action when things are reported in the press, then it implicitly encourages angry workers to express themselves violently.

That's why its important for the govt to understand that it needs to worry about more than just its reputation. It has to take care of the workers if they hope to be successful 10 years from now.

I think it's not only because of the violence that this got the international media attention it did, but also because Dubai has hit the "big time", especially with the DPW thing. The word "Dubai" now means something to the typical American media consumer, so the American press will be willing from here on out to pay for the occasional "appalling migrant labor conditions" story that otherwise would have been filed under "a far-away people of whom we know little".

It will be interesting to see how long it takes the Dubai authorities to work out that this isn't just going to blow over.

I think Tom's right.

It's interesting, though, that the workers brought to Iraq to work on U.S. military bases have many of the same complaints.

By the way, where does all that money go that's paid to brokers in the workers' home countries?

Chanad:
no way for Dubai to have sustained growth without having happy workers
Depends on how unhappy they are. Keep in mind Dubai's been growing for decades now with the current model. The single largest change, as Tom has pointed out, has been that people now pay attention to the place, and so exploitation has much larger negative repercussions. At any rate, the government is far more worried about long-term growth than individual companies, whose interest in growth stems purely from how this would help their bottom lines. And even in the long run, exploiting workers is likely to be better for corporate profits than paying them well - at least, so long as doing so remains legal and tolerated.

I'm no economist, but paying workers well and limiting the number of possible working hours would not just improve their conditions, but ought to increase productivity as well. If you start enforcing labor standards, companies will no longer be racing to the bottom in terms of paying workers as little as possible and then keeping them on-site for the maximum amount of time in order to get the maximum amount of work done. If they try and get the maximum work possible for a given amount of money and in a given amount of time out of a particular worker, this may involve giving said worker more than the bare minimum possible, not just in terms of take-home pay, but also with respect to working conditions. A freer labor market would also help in a big way- if workers could move to employers offering them more, everyone would be forced to maintain certain standards to keep all their workers from walking out. Needless to say, all of this would go against the interests of the companies involved.

if the govt only takes action when things are reported in the press
While violent protests certainly do get more attention, the government had quietly and slowly been moving towards better rights even before the Burj Dubai incident. You have a good point in that if violence is seen to speed things up, the government will have a problem. But the government has also shown that it will make life hard for those it claims are instigating trouble; if those inciting do not personally benefit from violence, this ought to help tamp down the situation.

It has to take care of the workers if they hope to be successful 10 years from now.
The government has to walk a fine line. From its perspective, it has to give workers enough rights that they do not cause problems for Dubai's image internationally, but not so many that they make the city lose its competitive edge in terms of low labor costs. This is made harder for it given that inflation is already a massive problem, and high costs in Dubai are causing companies to set up shop elsewhere (although, no one based here has actually left yet).

Tom:
It will be interesting to see how long it takes the Dubai authorities to work out that this isn't just going to blow over.
I think they already know this, and this is why we've seen some shifts over the past year or two. They know the status quo ante is unsustainable. But they are still working out what exact line to take.

By the way, where does all that money go that's paid to brokers in the workers' home countries? To the brokers bank accounts.

As to Tom's comment, I think that is spot on. Dubai's little head got a bit too far above the trench.

DW:

My general opinion on the Dubai labour market is that liberalising it in terms of workers rights (i.e. freedom to change contracts, etc) would do wonders for removing at least the grossest abuses while keeping access to low-cost.

Re the brokers, it would be really interesting to see a full end-to-end trace of the money, talking to a respectable broker (assuming such things exist) and seeing what his home-country office looks like, how much of a cut he has to give to the UAE "sponsor", and so forth, then seeing what kind of impact the money-from-the-Gulf has in the workers' home villages, and so forth. Probably most practical from one of the Indian papers.

I'd be happy to do it myself is someone could spot me a couple thousand in walking-around money.