Salary guarantee extended for fishermen

Dubai fishermen welcome new ruling allowing more workers to claim a Dh8,000 salary but want the committee intended to further their interests replaced.

Indian fishermen Ravi, left, and Muthukumar, right, repair nets while waiting for better sailing conditions at the port in Jumeirah in Dubai.

DUBAI // Dubai fishermen have welcomed a new ruling allowing more workers to claim an Dh8,000-a-month salary. But they have called for the replacement of the committee intended to further their interests.

Many of the 500-strong fishing community have criticised the Dubai Fishermen's Co-operative Society (DFCS) saying the organisation has failed to deliver on promises of better conditions.

Some of the fishermen have called for the DFCS to be abolished and replaced with a new oversight organisation with authority over salary levels and financial benefits, such as discounts on equipment.

Trouble between the fishermen and DFCS dates back to 2008 and the introduction of a regulation to provide workers with regular salaries.

The move was welcomed, but strict conditions, which the fishermen blame on the DFCS, meant that fewer than 20 per cent of the fishermen received the Dh8,000 monthly.

The 2008 order, which the DFCS said was not a royal decree, mandated that fishermen over 50 years of age who are Emirati citizens receiving no other government benefits would be allotted a salary.

The DFCS said the new directive, issued by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, removes the age limit, requiring instead at least 15 years of membership in the DFCS. The other conditions are unchanged.

Fishermen thanked Sheikh Mohammed for his intervention and called for the abolition of the DFCS and its replacement. "We thank Sheikh Mohammed for the decree that recognises our needs but ask that an oversight committee other than the fishermen's society be put in place … to meet our needs," said one fisherman who asked not to be identified.

"In 2008 a similar plan was put into place for us to receive salaries but very few qualified for it. DFCS [exists] to meet our needs but has done nothing for us."

Hamad al Rahoomi, the DFCS director, defended the organisation, saying: "The fishermen are being unfair towards the society, placing the blame on us.

"It is the society that worked hard to bring the needs of the fishermen to the attention of the government, which resulted in … this decree. This is the society in action."

But another fisherman, wishing to be identified only as Khalifa, also criticised the DFCS, saying previous requests to the organisation for help had yielded few results if any.

"We have asked for discounts on marine supplies, gas cards, the ability to purchase supplies such as nets and cages on credit, and lots of other things that have been promised us but not fulfilled," Khalifa said.

Mr al Rahoomi said that, following the new decree, more fishermen would take advantage of the new salary benefit. "Until this decree was issued only 81 fishermen were receiving the salary. Now 30 to 40 per cent more will qualify," he said.

The salaries were set up to guarantee fishermen a stable income when they are unable to fish, because of bad weather, for example.

The new decree also calls for any fisherman injured on the job to receive a salary while he recuperates, regardless of his age or tenure with the society, the DFCS said.

If a fisherman receiving a monthly salary dies, his family will continue to receive the payments until the eldest son reaches the age of 21 or until the eldest daughter marries.

Fishermen were also displeased that DFCS had not called a formal meeting on the matter.