01 March, 2009

Public holiday for UAE private sector changed

Abu Dhabi: Saturday, March 7 will be a public holiday for private sector instead of Monday. In a circular issued by the Minister of Labour Saqr Gobash Saturday 10 of Rabbi Al Awwal (March 7) will be public holiday for all employees in the private sector in the UAE instead of Monday 12 of Rabbi Al Awwal (March 9).

36 comments:

Rami said...

Why do they hate us? :(

hemlock said...

wtf! wasnt this supposed to be a THREE day weekend?
i already HAVE a saturday off! :/

Anonymous said...

not in alain universtiy, we have sunday the 8th of :)))

Anonymous said...

Another random, arbitrary, ill thought action by Dubai's governing body.

Are these sudden non-explained non-sensical decisions ever going to stop?

Do they not realize that people like to plan ahead and book days off of work and buy tickets for travel etc.?

Thanks for nothing, Public Holiday changed to Saturday? That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Note to Ministry of Labour, incase you didn't know previously, we already have saturdays off.

I'm getting sick and tired of this place and it's backwardness.

...and I'll save you sheep who don't mind living with stupidity the time and tell my self to leave if I don't like it......

Anonymous said...

First, way to go for being one of the most indecisive ministries ever.

Second, thank you. What we don't need, is another public holiday. There's a lot of work to be done and public holidays are just a waste of time.

Third, if you HAVE a Saturday off, then chances are, you have a 2-day weekend. That's good enough. If you don't, then you get a day off. No harm done.

Fourth and last, I don't even understand why this is a public holiday to begin with. But, whatever.

Anonymous said...

Is'nt it always the same thing every year. The private sector got used to it!!!!

hut said...

"THANKS A LOT"

Kyle said...

Just out of curiosity, is that word 'Rabbi Al-Awwal' a journalistic folly, as in typo?

Today's Gulf News (rag-version) lists it as 'Rabi Al Awwal' while online says 'Rabi'al-Awwal'.

Which one's the right terminology?

As for the holiday advancement, every one else beat me with their contempt for-you-know-who. So, I rest my case, well, at least for now!

Anonymous said...

Second, thank you. What we don't need, is another public holiday. There's a lot of work to be done and public holidays are just a waste of time.

Third, if you HAVE a Saturday off, then chances are, you have a 2-day weekend. That's good enough. If you don't, then you get a day off. No harm done.

Exactly. Remember last December, when 1/2 the month was off? I got shafted at work. And then came the new years, both of them.

What they should do is give NONE of these holidays, instead add them all together, and give us Ramadan off.

Seriously, instead of having these holidays that annoy the hell out of people who have work to do. Just offer us NO holidays but give us one month off.

Last year public holidays were more than a month off, right?

This would stop the whole annoyance of wondering is it off, isnt it off?

Anonymous said...
Another random, arbitrary, ill thought action by Dubai's governing body.

Actually the guy is a MINISTER. So this rule wasnt made by Dubai's government, It was made by the Govt of the whole UAE and is applicable in all 7 emirates.

Anonymous said...

"...and I'll save you sheep who don't mind living with stupidity the time and tell my self to leave if I don't like it......"

hey you cant do that! you're taking work away from locals!! (namely the one-bit-if-u-dont-like-it-leave-brigade) not to mention it gives them purpose in life...

Lirun said...

can anyone talk about this?

http://www.smh.com.au/world/now-13-aussies-arrested-in-dubai-collapse-20090301-8li0.html

Dubai Jazz said...

Dubai Entrepreneur,

With all due respect Sir, you may save the ‘There's a lot of work to be done.....’ speech to your employees. You were well aware of all the public holidays of the UAE when you'd established your business, and I also daresay that your overhead cost is calculated accordingly.

Dubai Jazz said...

Kyle,
I think “Rabi' al-Awwal” is the correct transliteration.
I am not sure if it was a folly. But yeah, I can see what you mean : )

Anonymous said...

Instead of calling it public and private sector holidays, why isn't it referred to as Emirati and non-Emirati holidays? Sure there are a few, perhaps ABIT, who will get it off, but in the long run what impact do they really have?

And let's give a warm round of applause to the MoL for making it harder, once again, to hire and retain Emiratis.

Emirati: I am taking Sunday off
Employer: Why?
Emirati: All my friends and family who work for banks and government are off.
Employer: That's against your contract and the MoL has not declared it for us, the private sector.
Emirati: The police will boycott you if you fire me!
Employer: 'sighs and gives in to fate'

Anonymous said...

Dubai Jazz: As you know August was a dead summer month as always, September a lazy ramadan that pushed well into October and December a half-off month followed by a frozen by fear Jan and Feb...
You should expect that any company owner feels a bit annoyed to give away anymore vacation time ;)

hemlock said...

DE: I don't even understand why this is a public holiday to begin with. But, whatever.

it's like christman, minus the shopping frenzy, snow or santa's elves. but not, since jesus wasnt even born on december 25th (source: da vinci code)

annnnnyways, the central bank has announced that banks will be closed on sunday, so:
a) hurrah
b) if the 'central' bank is run by the federal govt, and the federal govt announces on holiday, and the central bank another, who trumps who?

Kyle said...

since jesus wasnt even born on december 25th (source: da vinci code)

You know what, Hemlock, I'm Catholic and I say I don't have a problem with this childish statement of yours, so long as you shove a similar statement - on the back burner - I would make about Prophet Mohammad (PBUH).

That apart, I think you're far too brilliant to drag in some creepy & kinky movie code to present a point.

What gives?

Anonymous said...

Dubai Entrepreneur,

I know you are a worcaholic, so I have a beter idea fro you.

No weekends, no public holidays, no Eid, nothing for your employees !

Just think of it, if your employees could work 365 days, 12 hous daily, it would save you even more money !

Anonymous said...

Could companies with day off on Friday and Saturday, celebrate the holiday on Sunday as the public sector?

Anonymous said...

"(source: da vinci code)..."

When it comes to sources...the mother of all sources, a work of fiction. Bravo!

Extensive bodies of study already exist, many acessible on the net, clearly showing winter (in Bethlehem) as an unlikely period for Christ's birth. Apart from shepherds being in the fields by night (usually a summer practice that ends by early October), calculations also exist for the period of service in the temple for John the Baptist's father (his turn to serve--when the angel appeared to him) and time frames for subsequent events. December 25th is a highly unlikely date.

Which of course, does nothing to stop the Worldwide Shopping Festival called Christmas.

And is anyway, completely beside the point, since what what's being discussed in this post is another prophet's birthday.

Just my two bits regarding how to choose one's sources.

More to the point: By and large, the private sector is delighted with the holiday being moved to Saturday for the following reason:

To wit - a very large majority of private sector employees work in firms that, in keeping with UAE Labour Law, give a single day--Friday--as the weekend holiday. This gives them very little time to catch up on pending household chores or spending time with family and children. With the holiday moved to Saturday, this will mean a very rare two-day weekend for them, which is indeed welcome.

Let's face it: not everyone works for multinationals or in insurance and advertising. There's a real world out there...the one that builds the streets you drive on and the buildings you browse the net in.

Anonymous said...

"b) if the 'central' bank is run by the federal govt, and the federal govt announces on(e) holiday, and the central bank another, who trumps who?..."

Hemlock: the Government has already announced Sunday as the holiday for Public Sector entities. The Central Bank is also a public sector entity, hence will not be working on that day. Presumably, since the Central Bank is a controlling body for banks across the country, it may be possible for them to to issue directives to banks under their jurisdiction on matters regarding holidays etc., and they often seem to do that anyway.

With this announcement, the bank holiday will coincide with the public sector holiday, which is on Sunday. It makes sense for the banks to be off on the same day that the Central Bank is not working, even though the banks themselves are mostly private sector entities.

We'll need to see now whether the banks will be working on Saturday, a day on which both private sector and the public sector will be enjoying their respective extended weekends. If they do, then the private sector holiday announced by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs evidently does not apply to them, and they are likely to be very lonely indeed on that day. I'm not sure if the CB's announcement was that the banks will have Sunday off in addition to Saturday as decreed by the Ministry of Labour.

Anonymous said...

so the Government get a 3 day weekend but the rest of us miss out. Way to go "rulers"

hemlock said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
hemlock said...

kyle & tenali: it was a joke people!!! i was hoping the reference to 'santa's elves' would give it away.
err... ha ha?
(umm... more importantly, i was quoting from the book not the movie =D...)

Kyle: as policy, i never make disrespectful remarks regarding any prophets/religious figureheads...
*shrugs* =)

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
Instead of calling it public and private sector holidays, why isn't it referred to as Emirati and non-Emirati holidays? Sure there are a few, perhaps ABIT, who will get it off, but in the long run what impact do they really have?

Actually ABIT is already on his annual leave (AND contracted Salmonella poisoning from a falafel sandwich, NO, DO NOT ask me how the hell that is even possible) so this holiday in particular doesn't really matter on a personal level.

It's just the culture of "Ijazat" here. one after the other after the other. Not needed. To me anyways, and some will agree, the damage in the flow of work that these one off days off do is beyond bad.

Side note. I really hate Zahrat Lubnan (Lebanese Flower) in Abu Dhabi, 2nd time Ive eaten there in 4 months, and both times, food poisoning.

Anonymous said...

Good joke by anon between emirati and employer ...

The ministry is simply useless a bunch of Gov PPl cant decide when to give a holiday .. they plan and change it again plan and change..

show there in comptency.........

Summing it all.....

Anonymous said...

The gov is a big joke they dont want to work ( number one ) the wont let others work ( two )

and they cant sit and decide on one thing for sure ..... ( about the public holiday ).....

rosh said...

"contracted Salmonella poisoning from a falafel sandwich"

umm..you're lying - you work for taco bell, don't you? :p

Feel better!

Culture of "Ijazat" - what is that?

Anonymous said...

rosh said...
"contracted Salmonella poisoning from a falafel sandwich"

umm..you're lying - you work for taco bell, don't you? :p

Feel better!

Dude, I know people rag on Taco Bell, but at least they are clean. Hell, I eat from this neighborhood indian place, you know, not Indian palace, the type of place that will fill you up for 8 AED and the meat is probably stray cats, and even that place is cleaner than Lebanese Flower. Im crapping out what looks like orange tang and what smells like raw sewerage.

Culture of "Ijazat" - what is that?

Ijazat = holidays or days off. its almost EXPECTED. seriously, I have employees, and even superiors, who sit there a month in advance and count the days in the upcoming month.

Also, culturally, we have too many holidays. National day. DAY! but because its so close to new years day, thats 3 or 4 days, basically a working week, and both eids are also a working week each. and the prophet's birthday, and al israa wal mi3raj, and blah blah.

Add them all up, give us Ramadan off, and ONE day for each Eid. and NO other holidays.

Oh, and when someone dies, we dont need off. May God have mercy on his soul. Khalas. we dont need another day or days off. because trust me, we arent going to spend them keepig the departed in mind.

Thats what I meant by culture of ijazat.

rosh said...

ABIT, mafi tang, too much info. Hope you feel better soon.

Culture of Ijazat, universal isn't it. EU, ME or Americas - Independence day is a holiday, come recession or war. Sort of engraved into the psyche.

Agree on "mourning" holidays. I'd think *some* folks have bit of a guilt, having those holidays.

Proud Emirati said...

We have 30 posts because of a silly topic like this one?

The reason why it was changed from Monday to Saturday is because there will be two working days between two holidays so they shifted the holiday so that the private sector where the majority don't even have Saturday off to have two days off, Friday and Saturday. Beside, there is a ministerial decision approved not long time ago that Public holidays with the exception of some of Eids and National day will be moved to weekends.

So the ignorant people out there who don't know what they are talking about, please pay attention.

Anonymous said...

To Mr. Proud

1- Since the day our prophet was born doesn’t really matter to them, they could have moved it to Thursday instead of Saturday mr. proud.
Same logic, no gap , no interruptions.

2- The ministerial decision to move holidays to weekends should apply for both public and private sectors.

3- Enjoy your holiday and don’t call people who express their opinion "ignorant" ... ignorant can also be defined as a person who is narrow-minded and doesn’t accept other people's views without insulting.

Don’t bother to answer, I am off for long week end :)

Proud Emirati said...

Proud Non Emirati

1) This would be like moving it to the week before. It doesn't sound logical.

2) This isn't up to you to decide.

3) People who talk about things they have no idea about are ignorant. For example, the one who is blaming Dubai when it is a federal matter and all other who commented when when they had no idea why such decision was made, like urself for example.

If you don't want to look dumb then try to use ur brain.

Anonymous said...

Don't forget to pay for your parking tickets on Saturday 07 Mar as the RTA inspectors will have a gala time issuing fines to all who assume that Saturday is a public holiday.

Anonymous said...

mr. proud ! here you go again!

You dont agree with anyone here, so i really dont feel offended , and i do respect point of views.

However, "Dumb" and "ignorant" are again "insults" and sign of inner aggressiveness mr. proud! … this is your way of discussing topics but not mine :)) …

Be as proud as you pretend by showing a minimum level of civility, and discuss without employing stinky words.

Having such a baseless "Attitude" and social aggressiveness is not exactly an asset you can be proud of… LOOSEN up a bit and try to find something more enjoyable to do at 02.00 am!!! lol

So Long! Not gonna go any lower.

Anonymous said...

Can you get any lower mate?

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