Dubai

Dubai is really going for it and are currently in the process of creating a millionaires paradise in order to be the best up market tourist spot in the world. Of course the Al Maktoum family who basically own Dubai realise that eventually the oil reserves will run out so they are making a provision to ensure their little paradise remains firmly on the World map.

But are we aware how this massive palatial construction site is being evolved ? It is , in fact being put together by poorly paid offshore workers such as the Filipinos, Indians etc. who are being kept in far from satisfactory conditions near these building sites . In the case of the Filipino's, there are unscrupulous agencies back in the Philippines who are misrepresenting the jobs, salaries and accommodation so that when the hapless workers arrive in Dubai desperate for work they find that the salary they negotiated is not there. It is lower and they are working 12 hour days 6 days a week and the accommodation is being shared and not even a refridgerator in place to keep their food in during the exceedingly hot weather. Most workers when they arrive have to accept the conditions because they need to support their families back home and of course their employer takes their passport when they arrive so they cannot leave easily. Or they just cannot afford the return fare. The salaries also work on different grades according to your ethnicity, so for the same work you could get paid differently according to your country of origin. In the case of Dubai, Filipinos and Indians are bottom of the scale and arabs from other arab countries a level higher and so on. If your white it's jackpot time guys !! I know all this because my partner worked in Dubai and I had to rescue him and fly him home because despite his University Degree and business qualifications he was tricked into an outpost in the desert by one of the unscrupulous agencies in Manila.

So when you visit Dubai and you gasp with wonder at the paradise you are beholding, just remember that it was mainly built on modern day slave labour .