A few years ago my eyes were opened to the dark side of the construction industry. In 2006, young Qatari students took me to go and see the migrant worker camps. And since then I’ve followed the unfolding
____________ of worker rights.
In the last six months, more than 300 skyscrapers in the UAE have been put on hold or canceled. Behind the headlines that lay behind these buildings is the fate of the often-indentured construction worker. 1.1 million of them. Mainly Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, and Nepalese, these laborers risk everything to make money for their families back home. They pay a middle-man thousands of dollars to be there. And when they arrive, they find themselves in ____________ camps with no water, no air conditioning, and their passports taken away.
While it’s easy to point the finger at local officials and higher ____________ , 99 ____________ of these people are hired by the private ____________. And so therefore we are equally, if not more, accountable. Groups like Buildsafe UAE have emerged. But the numbers are simply overwhelming. In August 2008, UAE public officials noted that 40 ____________ of the country’s 1,098 ____________ camps had violated minimum health and fire safety regulations. And last summer, more than 10,000 workers protested for the non-payment of wages, for the poor quality of food, and inadequate housing.
And then the ____________ collapse happened. When the ____________ had gone bust, as they’d been over leveraged like everyone else, the difference is everything goes missing, documentation, passports, and tickets home for these workers. Currently, right now, thousands of workers are abandoned. There is no way back home. And there is no way, and no proof of arrival. These are the boom-and-bust refugees.
The question is, as a building professional, as an architect, an engineer, as a developer, if you know this is going on, as we go to the sights every single week, are you complacent or complicit in the human rights violations? So let’s forget your ____________ footprint. Let’s think about your ethical footprint. What good is it to build a zero-carbon, energy efficient complex, when the ____________ producing this architectural gem is unethical at best? Now, recently I’ve been told I’ve been taking the high road. But, quite frankly, on this ____________ , there is no other road.
So let’s not forget who is really paying the price of this ____________ collapse. And that as we worry about our next job in the office, the next design that we can get, to keep our workers. Let’s not forget these men, who are truly dying to work. Thank you. (Applause)
| The following words will fill the gaps: | contractors | environmental | financial | financial | issue | issue | labor |
| labor | labor | percent | percent | sector | authorities |
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