A total of two million workers in the construction sector across the country will benefit from the month long midday break, which will be enforced from today. The break will be will be effective from July 1 to August 31 from 12.30pm until 3pm during which workers will take a break.
The decision has been enforced for the fifth year consecutively and has been successful in reducing the heat related cases like sun stroke.
"The Ministry of Labour has formed a number of inspection teams countrywide, and held meetings over the last two weeks to familiarise them with the instructions and the mechanisms of implementing the decision,'' said Humaid Rashid bin Deemas Al Suwaidi, Acting Director General of the Ministry of Labour.
"A number of private companies had willingly implemented the decision in some work sites in the country last month, though the rule had not yet been enforced,” he said.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, Bin Deemas said the UAE was the forerunner in enforcing it in the region, and it was followed by other AGCC member states. The decision won accolades by the International labour Organisation in Geneva last month. Bin Deemas called on employers not to make unjustifiable excuses of not abiding by the decision.
"The commitment to the decision was more than 98 per cent, and the ministry has managed, through the crackdowns it is launching, in reducing the number of defaulters, whose number fell from 1240 in 2005 to 862 in 2006 and to 612 in 2007', Bin Deemas said.
"The ministry will not exclude any establishment from enforcing the decision, nor will it lift the punishments unless the period of being suspended is elapsed, and which is linked to the violation, and its repetition'', he said. – Khaleej Times
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