Consultant accused of failing to identify abuses of workers on New York University鈥檚 $1bn Abu Dhabi campus
Mott MacDonald has been accused of failing to identify abuses of workers on New York University鈥檚 $1bn (拢558m) Abu Dhabi campus, on which the consultant has been appointed to monitor workers鈥� conditions.
Artists鈥� pressure group Gulf Labor, which is campaigning for workers鈥� rights on several projects on Abu Dhabi鈥檚 Saadiyat Island, including the NYU project and planned Guggenheim and Louvre museums, made the accusation - denied by Mott MacDonald - in a report published last week.
The report accuses Mott MacDonald of visiting certain workers鈥� camps for its monitor reports but overlooking others where NYU project workers also live, including in the Mussafah area to the south of Abu Dhabi, and Dubai.
Gulf Labor says NYU project workers in these camps did not possess passports, some did not have written contracts, some had not been paid on time, and some had been forced to work overtime 鈥� all in contravention of the NYU project鈥檚 labour standards charter.
Gulf Labor also claims there is a conflict of interest between Mott MacDonald鈥檚 NYU monitoring role and a separate role the firm has overseeing $27bn (拢16bn) of water and electricity infrastructure work across the whole of Saadiyat Island.
Mott Macdonald rejected the claim that it has a conflict of interest, saying its 鈥渃ontract to develop infrastructure for Saadiyat Island does not affect our monitoring鈥�.
鈥淥ur appointment as compliance monitor was made through a competitive process and our contract contains provisions to ensure there are no conflicts of interest,鈥� a spokesperson said.
He said all NYU project workers 鈥渉ad access to their passports and other personal documents whenever they needed them鈥� and workers were 鈥済iven special contracts that set out their rights鈥�.
The spokesperson added that none of the firm鈥檚 auditors on the project had identified concerns about overtime and that wages on the project were 鈥渄esigned to place workers at the top of the range in their respective categories鈥�.
Gulf Labor鈥檚 focus is Saadiyat Island鈥檚 Guggenheim and Louvre projects, which are being developed separately from NYU Abu Dhabi by the Tourism Development and Investment Company (TDIC).
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