In UAE, Tales of Paradise Lost

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The Builders of Dubai's Miracle Grow Restless
For a decade now, the United Arab Emirates and, in particular, the city-state of Dubai, have emerged as a rare success story in a troubled Arab world. It is a story of breakneck, even relentless development. But there is growing unrest among the hundreds of thousands of unskilled workers here who have built its skylines, crowded with one-fifth of the world's cranes.

"My children," he said, "expect something from me."

The trek to the court Tuesday took two hours, and there was a logic behind their numbers.

"If there's one or two, they won't listen to us," Siddiq said. "When there's more, they'll pay attention."

They reached a waterway that bisects Sharjah and clambered into a ferry that charged them each a 14-cent fare. Once on the other side, they walked up a red-brick sidewalk, then a staircase of red granite. They stamped their feet, covered in dust and sand, at the entrance to the domed courthouse. A look of ease graced their faces as they stood in the air-conditioned lobby.

Siddiq and Bairawa led the team to the desk, behind a colonnade of arches and arabesque.

"Not everybody here," demanded the receptionist, Ali al-Mulla. "We only need one. Everybody else out."

Siddiq spoke, grasping his court order and explaining their plight: no electricity, no water. They just wanted their salaries.

"There's no point in coming all the time," Mulla said in broken Hindi. "Our work is done. We issued the ruling."

They pleaded, and he agreed to let one of them see the judge when he arrived.

In another room stood Yusuf, the company's attorney. He didn't question the salaries they were owed, but the company, he explained, was bankrupt. Its assets -- construction equipment, cars, an office and furniture -- wouldn't cover what they wanted. Besides, he said, the company also owed far more money to banks, equipment contractors and dealers of building materials.

"They really are honest people," he said of the company's owners. "Their problems just became bigger than them."

For two hours, the workers sat in black leather chairs, waiting. Some used the bathroom. Others napped. Then the judge, Abdel-Rahman bin Talia, arrived, and Bairawa and Louhaya Ram, another worker, went into his office, No. 14.