MINISTERIAL
DECREES ON PART TIME AND TENOIRARY JOBS
The Minister of Labour and Social
Affairs, Mattar Humaid Al Tayer, yesterday issued two ministerial orders
concerning part time and temporary jobs in the private sector. The first
order deals with the nature of part time and temporary work and the classes
of labourers able to take up such work with establishments other than their
sponsors. Part time work is defined as additional work by employees engaged
in a permanent job and whose ordinary working hours are less than those
of other employees holding similar jobs or occupations. Part time working
hours are limited to three hours a day for government employees and two
hours for those in the private sector.
A temporary job is classed as work not exceeding eight hours a day or 48 hours a week for those who are not engaged in a permanent job. Conditions for the 19 classes of labourers who can be issued with the relevant job permits were also laid out. The second ministerial order outlines the cases in which an employer is able to transfer his employees.
The categories of workers able to undertake part time or temporary work are as follows: physicians, consultants, specialists, pharmacists, nurses, engineers, legal advisers, economists, financial experts, teachers, accountants, auditors, translators, computer operators, laboratory technicians, students studying within the country, employees at temporary exhibitions and shopping centres, tourism and product promoters, equipment, fitting and maintenance technicians, athletes and professional coaches. The list also includes persons authorised by an establishment which is based outside the country, workers at local and government offices, vehicle drivers, crane operators and any other classes specified by the Labour and Social Affairs Ministry.
Individuals visiting the country on invitation by an establishment, and wives and daughters are allowed to take up temporary jobs provided they are issued with a labour card. To qualify for a part time/temporary work permit, the applicants must have a valid residence visa, have spent at least one year with their present sponsor and should present a written no objection note from their sponsor. No one may work as a part timer/temporary staff for more than one establishment. Temporary positions may also not exceed a period of six months.
A national employer may transfer labourers from
one post to another if he solely owns the establishment which has different
branches around the UAE, or has other national partners. Transfer does
not require the amendment of contractual terms. (The Emirates News Agency)
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MINISTRY
TO REFORM MEDICAL PROCEDURES
The Ministry of Health will soon
have a unified medical procedure for expatriate workers and a single format
for medical test forms for all the medical districts in the country. Dr.
Mahmoud Fikri, Acting Assistant Under Secretary for Preventive Medicine,
Ministry of Health, told reporters that this was one of the decisions taken
at the fifth meeting of the Directors of Preventive Medicine held here
yesterday.
All the different types of medical test forms currently being issued by the medical districts will be reviewed by a committee to be set up specifically for this purpose, Dr. Fikri said. One unified format will then be chosen that will be made applicable to all the medical districts, the official said. Among other measures to unify procedures will be a move to maintain medical records of each expatriate worker in the Preventive Medicine Department. The complete medical history of the worker will be kept for reference, Dr. Fikri said.
The fitness medical certificate will be issued by the Ministry only after the worker's record is reviewed. It will also be cancelled if the worker has not renewed his visa, Dr. Fikri explained. The test for the fitness medical certificate could be carried out in any Emirate. It is not restricted to the applicant's residence Emirate, Dr. Fikri said. The meeting also urged all medical districts to abide by an administration order issued two weeks ago on the cost of birth and death certificates as well as substitute certificates. It had been decided that this fee should not exceed Dh 50.
Procedures to be to control the spread of tuberculosis in the country were also reviewed. The national tuberculosis control plan for the UAE which aims to reduce the incidence of TB to less than one case by the year 2010, was examined at the meeting. Dr. Fikri said that WHO's recommendations are being taken into consideration while outlining the national strategy. Procedures to be adopted by all district preventive medicine departments, if a TB case is reported, will be part of the national plan, Dr. Fikri said. The meeting agreed on the importance of setting up a central unit with a managerial team and an advisory committee with supporting laboratory services that is needed for an effective surveillance system to detect TB cases.
The meeting also discussed the draft ministerial order on Hepatitis B. Dr. Fikri said that the draft order has been reviewed by the Director of Preventive Medicine and it will now be discussed with the Ministry's Under Secretaries before it is submitted to the Ministry for final approval. The Ministry's anti-polio campaign was discussed at the meeting and the committee's decisions on preparations for the third National Immunisation Programme to be held later this year was also reviewed. The immunisation programme will be launched on October 15. The programme will cover children in the age group of two months to five years. It will be supervised by committees set up in each district in co-operation with the Preventive Medicine Department and the medical district.
Two sub-regional committees were also set up.
One in Abu Dhabi to cover Abu Dhabi city, Al Ain and the Western region
and another in Dubai to cover the Northern Emirates. Prizes have been planned
as an incentive to induce more children to participate in the campaign.
Ten winners will be selected from each district. (The Emirates News)
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FOCUS
ON UAE ARCHAEOLOGY AT OXFORD SEMINAR
Recent discoveries in archaeology in the United Arab Emirates are
to figure prominently at the annual Seminar for Arabian Studies in Britain,
according to Jakub Czastka, resident archaeologist for the Abu Dhabi Islands
Archaeological Survey. The Seminar takes place at Oxford University from
July 17-19. Two papers are expected to be given on recent work in Abu Dhabi,
one by Jodie Benton, of Australia's University of Sydney, on sites on the
island of Merawah, west of Abu Dhabi, and one by ADIAS Director Dr. Geoffrey
King on survey work on some of the islands in the Emirate's far west.
Another archaeologist linked with ADIAS, Soren Blau, also of Sydney, will present a paper on studies of skeletal remains found in excavations on sites from the Third Millennium BC. Blau's work, the first detailed study of such remains, has focussed on skeletons from Ras Al Khaimah and Sharjah. Also related to the Northern Emirates is a paper by Professor Tatsuo and Mrs. Hanae Sasaki, of Kanazawa University in Tokyo, who will present a paper on ceramics from the Arabian peninsula. The Sasakis have spent several years excavating on the Islamic sites of Julfar and Hulayla in Ras Al Khaimah, with a particular interest in imported Chinese and Thai porcelain and celadon.
The Seminar is expected to be attended by a number of other archaeologists
working in the Emirates, and will also include papers covering work in
Oman, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Kuwait. "The annual Seminar provides
an ideal opportunity for an exchange of opinion among archaeologists working
in the region," Czastka said. "It also provides a forum for the
preliminary announcement of results from excavations and other studies.
(The Emirates News)
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ABU
DHABI, DUBAI MOVE UP IN COST OF LIVING
Abu Dhabi and Dubai have climbed
six steps in the list of the most expensive cities in the world, as indicated
by a recent study, Al Khaleej Arabic daily said yesterday. The UAE's major
cities occupied the 74th place in the list of 121 cities surveyed by the
Economist magazine. The study is held every six months and is recognised
by international agencies and firms in determining allowances to their
employees when transferred abroad.
Abu Dhabi and Dubai were in the 80th place in
the previous study. The Bahraini capital Manama retained its 56th place
while the Jordanian capital Amman moved from the 59th to71st. Al Khobar
in Saudi Arabia came in the 84th place, thus proving more costly than Jeddah
and Riyadh which occupied the 91st and 92nd places respectively. (The Emirates
News)
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