BUILDING A DREAM (2005)
In 2003 Dubai opened up its residential market for foreign buyers. Since then this major city of the Arab Emirates has grown explosively. With Arab financing, European and American project developers throw up one residential tower after another. The construction workers come primarily from India and Pakistan, where the monthly salary of 300 dollars is seen as relatively high. The dreadful labor conditions are the other side of the coin. They work long hours, sleep in overcrowded barracks, and are completely dependent on their employers. About 800 die on the building sites every year, chiefly from the extreme heat. There is hardly any medical care, and salaries often go unpaid. At present, guest workers form about eighty percent of the population of Dubai.
