Per second billing approved for etisalat mobile subscribers

Etisalat, du working on common landline services and ending location monopoly: TRA chief

Etisalat will start charging mobile phone subscribers per second for calls, reported Arabic newspapers. Mohamed Nasser Al Ghanim, Director-General, Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), said etisalat has been given the approval to charge subscribers per second for the calls they make. This is to ensure healthy competition in UAE telecommunications market.

The TRA's role ends with giving approval for services, the price packages. The time of implementaion is up to the operator to decide, he added. Franchise rights are imposed by the Ministry of Finance and TRA does not have a say in that, Ghanim said.

According to latest estimates, etisalat has about 47,000 'distinguished subscriber's whom it charges per second for mobile phone calls.

Meanwhile, TRA will meet with representatives of etisalat and du separately to discuss strategic plans for the next three years, Ghanim said and added that both the telecom operators are curently working on offering common landline telephone and internet services. They are working towards opening terrestrial networks by the year-end and ending geographic monopoly, he said.“The two companies recently have begun testing systems, communications networks before starting to extend the area of operation to include all areas of the UAE,” said Ghanim.

"The TRA oversees direct negotiations between the two companies," he added.

In UAE six-month employment ban is still very much in force

Ministry says new law only makes job shift more flexible as it turns down several requests.New rules enforced by the UAE at the start of 2011 allowing workers to shift to another job still include a six-month ban on those who do not fully abide by the specified terms, the ministry of labour has said.

In a statement carried by the Arabic language daily Alkhaleej on Sunday, the ministry said it turned down applications in January by many workers who had left their employers and wanted to move to another sponsor because they failed to justify their move.

“Those workers mentioned some mistakes committed by their employers but they did not comply with the new cabinet decision nor did they know the measures that govern such a decision or the terms needed to be met in order to get consent by the ministry for their shifting to another employer,” it said.

The statement said the ministry found that those workers had quit their jobs without any real reason, trying to benefit from the new job transfer measures without clearly understanding them.

“This prompted the ministry to impose a six-month ban on them because an exemption of this ban will be granted only under the new regulations…the six-month ban is still in force but the new decision was introduced only to add some flexibility to job transfer under certain conditions and rules which should be enforced by the ministry of laour without any exception,” it said.

“Such condition must mainly include that the work contract between the employee and the employer should be terminated with the consent of both parties and the worker has competed at least two years in the job with that employer.”

But the ministry said such a condition could be excluded in case the employer breaks terms of the contract or fails to pay workers their wages for at least 60 days. Workers can also apply for transfer in case their establishment has shut down.

“Another case involves a court suit against the employer by the employee provided the court issues a sentence in favour of the employee…in any case, the worker should not quit the job without any reason or justification as this will result in a six-month ban.”

Students on university sponsorship can legally work part-time in UAE

Dubai: Students on university sponsorship can now legally work part-time upon receiving a permit from the Ministry of Labour under a new decree issued as part of the UAE Labour Law. The new part-time work permit regulation went into effect this year and is aimed at protecting student rights to stop employers exploiting them, said a ministry official.

It was previously illegal for students above the age of 18 on university sponsorship to take up work unless they transferred their sponsorship to their employer, added the official. The new part-time work permit decree was issued along with the teenage work permit that allows those aged 15 to 18 to take up work within stringent guidelines. Nevertheless, before the introduction of the permit some students on university and parental/guardian sponsorship still took up part-time work through temporary promotional jobs that paid cash.

However, university officials believe that the introduction of this new decree will put employers at ease, increasing part-time work opportunities on offer for students."It used to be that previously employers were reluctant to formally approach students or universities about part-time employment because of the legal issues," said Fouad Jasem, Manager of career development services, Middlesex University Dubai. "After the announcement of the new decree the number of employers approaching us has increased significantly."

Jasem added the Middlesex careers department now posts up to three part-time jobs daily as opposed to previous sporadic internship postings. Yet, Career Services officer at the Canadian University of Dubai, Mary Allison, believes the new decree will increase student opportunities for paid internships.

"Previously a lot of companies were willing to pay students for their internships but because they were on the university's visa it became illegal for them to do so," she said.

It would seem the new decree is just in time as Dubai Women's College (DWC) reports unprecedented student interest for part-time work by its nearly 2,500 strong Emirati student body.

"I would say approximately 15 per cent of our students definitely want to take up part-time employment," said Rabiaa Bekhazi, Careers supervisor, DWC. "This is the first year we've seen increasing student demand for part-time jobs; which indicates a level of maturity in their thinking, as work to be something they now expect to move towards."

Although students across the country are eager to earn their keep, Bekhazi believes companies in the UAE may take longer to come to terms with a new concept.

"The student demand is evident but we need a market answer, where companies prepare tailored packages and roles, from an HR perspective, for this character of workers," she said. "A lot of work needs to go into companies preparing to accept part-time student workers as they differ greatly from mature workers."

Even though it is too early to gage employer response, students are no doubt pleased with the introduction of the new decree."It is still going on, those employers that don't pay or lie about their contracts and this might not change, but at least now students are protected by the government," said Sany Jab, a student at the SAE Institute Dubai.

The part-time work permit applies to four categories of persons:

1. Resident workers in full-time employment holding a valid labour card

2. Co-dependent sponsored residents i.e: housewives on their husband's sponsorship

3. Residents aged 18 and above

4. Government employees

Those issued with a part-time work permit are not limited to the number of part-time jobs they can take up.The government can issue a part-time work permit despite the objection of a full-time employer and an individual's residency status if there is a labour case raised at the courts through the labour ministry

60-day work permits for first-time workers in UAE

Ministry of Labour has announced that new workers can now come to the UAE on work permits valid for 60 days, provided they are above 18 years of age and posses a passport valid for more than six months. Most importantly, the rule is applicable only to those who have never worked in the UAE before.Such work permits can be extended six times provided the fee and bank guarantee are paid before each expiry date. Expired work permits will incur a fine of Dh500 for every 10 days from the date of original expiry or the extended expiry date.

And in case of non-payment of fees and bank guarantee within 60 days, the permit will be automatically cancelled.UAE citizens and GCC nationals cannot apply under this permit.

Similarly, companies bringing such workers must possess a valid licence and the person in charge must possess the authority to have an electronic signature.Tasheel centres are authorised to issue such work permits

UAE Ministry of Labour approve requests for temporary work permits without employer’s consent

The Ministry of Labour will approve requests for temporary work permits without the consent of the former employer, as long as the residence visa and labour card of the applicant is valid.The ministry’s latest ruling came in reference to labour cases referred to it by the courts, according to a report in Al Khaleej newspaper.

The Ministry of Labor stated that it has received requests from workers for temporary work permits.

The ministry statement said, “The labourers confirmed in their applications that they are working for a private construction company and the project was stopped due to circumstances involving the company.“So they wanted to work, for a limited time, for another company till the conditions of their original company improved.”

According to the employment contract they were not allowed to work for anywhere else for the term of their contract - two years.However, the ministry granted temporary work permits because the company is not paying them wages on a monthly basis.

The ministry, however, requires that the workers submit documents proving that the current establishment has not paid the wages for two months or more, based on a report of the Office of Protection of Wages, or the Labour Relations department.