NYU spokesman John Beckman responds to the claims in the Gulf Labor report.
Claim: Workers did not have possession of their passports
Our primary commitment is to ensure that all workers had access to their passports and other personal documents whenever they needed them. On NYUAD-held contracts, all workers are in possession of their own passports. On construction-related contracts, Mott MacDonald has noted that construction contractors are willing to hold passports if asked, but importantly, they found workers could access their passports and other personal documents whenever they needed to.
Claim: Some workers were working without a contract
Workers on the NYUAD project are given special contracts that set out their rights, which are also explained to them verbally. Without additional detail, it is hard to decipher this allegation, and it could either be a case of confusion about which jobsite they were working on (per above), or something else.
Claim: Issues with overtime, wages being paid and recruitment fees
Though the commercial terms of our contracts are not public, I can say that the salary ranges in the report were very far off, and that workers on the NYUAD project are paid significantly more (just on base wages alone) than they report (in fact, wages on the NYUAD project are designed to place workers at the top of the range in their respective categories).
Over the past two years, NYUAD has identified 20 workers who had paid employment agency fees in exchange for positions at its campus; all 20 were reimbursed those fees by their employers.
None of the auditors on our project identified concerns about working overtime. In fact, they have heard the opposite that there is not enough overtime available.
I should also point out that one of the contractors mentioned by Gulf Labor as being late with wage payments, Robodh, has not been on the NYUAD campus site in more than a year, and was shown to be fully compliant at the time their work had concluded. But per above, there was an issue with payments with another contractor in late 2013 which has since been resolved.
Claim: Workers were lodged in substandard housing
As we noted previously, we have some concerns that there may be some conflation of NYU's campus construction with other projects. The majority of companies spoken to by Mott MacDonald have their workers in fully compliant accommodation in one of three sites in Abu Dhabi, within a short distance from the project. There have been times when we have identified workers in non-compliant housing, and we have worked to get individuals moved as quickly as possible.
Claim: Employees who protested and stopped working were deported
This was the first time we had ever heard this allegation, and are working with our partners to have it investigated. It's the weekend in Abu Dhabi right now, and we wont have more information on this until sometime next week, but we are looking into it.
Claim: Salary increase promises had not been met
Per above, we have never heard this allegation before. The bottom line is that those working on the NYUAD campus project are paid significantly more than what is quoted, and are squarely atop the market.