U.A.E.: Labour ministry e-unit gets 'operational'.

The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs has operated the newly established e-unit on an experimental basis covering 15 big companies as a start, Dr Khalid Al Khazraji, Under-Secretary of the Ministry for Labour Affairs, told reporters last week.

The electronic unit was established as part of the ministry's strategy to create an electronic environment, not only through providing computers and processing transactions electronically, but also by changing the attitude of the ministry's employees and the companies' representatives towards e-work, Dr Al Khazraji said, inviting companies to cooperate with the ministry in its drive through training their representatives and qualify for the upcoming phase of electronic dealings.

"Since we have started operating the e-unit recently we processed 500 applications for various labour transactions from the 15 companies covered in the initial stage. We were able to issue the work permits and labour cards within 24 hours," Dr Al Khazraji said, hoping that when the e-unit functions properly and deals with more companies it would maintain this speed in processing the applications for labour cards and work permits.

Among the priorities of the ministry is to establish a precise data base about the labour market in regard with the number and status of establishments and those of the expatriate workers, besides the reconstruction of the labour procedures gradually in order to offer distinguished services at record time and high efficiency that ensures the stability of the labour market, the under-secretary observed.

In this context, he disclosed that the ministry issued daily between 500 and 800 work permits nationwide, while it cancels between 300 and 400 labour cards per day. "We estimate the rate of the expatriate employees growth in the country by eight per cent ...