Some 850 laborers—mainly from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh—marched in downtown Dubai, United Arab Emirates, September 19 to protest going unpaid for months and abysmal working conditions. In an unprecedented action, the ministry of labor ordered their employer—Al Hamed Development and Construction of Abu Dhabi—to hand over back wages totaling $7 million within 24 hours and pay fines, the New York Times reported. The workers got paid within days. About 6,000 immigrant laborers who live in desert work camps outside Dubai have gone without pay for over four months. Many spend almost $2,000 to get to Dubai, and toil in summer heat that can exceed 120 degrees for less than $200 per month. Eighty percent of 1 million Dubai residents are immigrants. Labor unions are illegal in the country.
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