GoD: (sort of) open for business

World’s Tallest Most Useless Building Burj Dubai will open in September. No, in December. No, no, wait, it will open whenever Emaar decides it can open the Armani steam rooms without bankrupting itself. (But not before Emaar begins to ‘manage the development of what could be the next tallest tower in the world, the 1km Kingdom Tower in Saudi Arabia.’)

The worker-led protests at the Burj Dubai construction site in 2006 finally brought some world attention to the plight of the mostly South Asian work force. What sparked that revolt—apart from illegally withheld wages, passport swiping by construction agencies, decrepit living conditions, and other indignities—was an incident involving Burj Dubai’s guards harassing the workers as they waited for the slums. ‘Workers at the nearby Burj Dubai airport stopped work in support of the workers at the Burj Dubai. The next day workers returned to the Burj Dubai site but refused to go back to work until working conditions were improved and their wages were raised.’

GoD’s response to the workers’ demands for more humane work and living conditions? The institution of a brief midday pause from the scorching heat.

(Photo by Imre Solt, 2008.)