'Wage theft' in UAE robs African deportees of future
Arrested before payday, deported without papers and now stonewalled by their former bosses - hundreds of African migrants thrown out of Abu Dhabi are struggling to start over without key documents and crucial cash...
In early September, the UAE confirmed it had arrested and deported nearly 400 people for offences related to human trafficking, assault, and extortion - charges the migrants and human rights groups have both called bogus.
Group deportations of migrant workers are common in the UAE and often result in "wage theft", migrants suddenly sent home and unable to access weeks - sometimes months - of unpaid wages.
Since being sent home, Nsobe has messaged her former boss at the Golden Tower Gifts shop on WhatsApp, asking him to wire her 900 AED ($245.04) backpay.
Neither her boss nor any of the other firms that employed the deportees responded to requests for comment...
Daniel Ojo, a 31-year-old Nigerian, said he was owed two months wages from Magic World General Maintenance Services by the time he was deported.
"They owe me around 4,500 AED ($1,225). I chatted to my boss, then he stopped responding to my messages," Ojo said.
"He's ready to not pay me because I'm not there anymore."