Timeline

• March 2017: Gulf Labor issues statement on ongoing travel restrictions
• June 2016: Guggenheim, British Museum end relations with human rights NGOs
• April 2016: Gulf Labor critiques PwC’s 4th annual monitoring report
• April 2016: G.U.L.F. resumes protests after Guggenheim refuses to engage with GLC
• April 2016: The Guggenheim severs negotiatons with Gulf Labor Coalition
• March 2016: Gulf Labor research cited by ILO in report on forced labor in UAE
• November 2015:  “The Gulf: High Culture/Hard Labor” is launched in London
• October 2015: “The Gulf: High Culture/Hard Labor” is launched in NYC
• August 2015: An intervention is staged at the Venice Biennale
• July 2015: Gulf Labor releases 2015 report and new book in Venice
• July 2015: Gulf Labor begins residency at the 56th Venice Biennale 
• July 2015: Gulf Labor writes an open letter to the Louvre
• July 2015: Six Documenta curators write to the UAE Govt, Louvre, Guggenheim and British Museum
• June 2015: Guggenheim insists that “no construction has begun”, Gulf Labor disagrees.
• June 2015: 60+ international curators ask UAE institutions to push for removal of travel bans
• May 2015: CIMAM, L’Internationale express solidarity with Gulf Labor
• May 2015: Artist, Gulf Labor member Walid Raad barred from entering UAE
• May 2015: Gulf Labor’s Ashok Sukumaran denied entry into UAE
• May 2015: Gulf Labor, arts groups occupy the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice
• May 2015: Members of GULF and Gulf Labor occupy the Guggenheim to demand swift action on migrant labor abuse, Guggenheim responds
• April 2015: Guggenheim responds. Nothing has changed.
• March 2015: Gulf Labor’s three-point proposal to the Guggenheim  
• March 2015: Gulf Labor invited as participant in Venice Biennale 2015
• March 2015: UAE bans Gulf Labor member and NYU professor Andrew Ross
• February 2015: HRW issues third report on Saadiyat Island
• January 2015: UAE launches aggressive attacks on critics, human rights activists
• December 2014: Report says UAE’s new terrorism law aims to stifle critics
• December 2014: Calls grow for end to kafala visa system
• November 2014: Guggenheim gala dinner met with renewed protests.
• October 2014: 52 Weeks of Gulf Labor ends, “COUNTDOWN” announced.
• August 2014: Creative Time publishes “Who’s happy on the ‘Island of Happiness?'”
• October 2013: “52 Weeks of Gulf Labor” begins
• September 2014: ITUC calls for UN/ILO to investigate slave labor conditions in UAE during construction of projects including Guggenheim  and Louvre
• September 2014: GULF and The Next Helsinki launch a counter/alternative competition, following a press release
• June 2014: Guggenheim launches Guggenheim Helsinki Design Competition
• June 2014: NYU Abu Dhabi attempts to find a new and truly independent monitor in the wake of the scandal
• June 2014: Gulf Labor releases their most recent letter to the Guggenheim. Members of Gulf Labor and GULF meet with key Guggenheim management including Richard Armstrong and Nancy Spector.
• May 2014: GULF stages their 4th Action (3rd inside the Museum) by shaming Guggenheim trustees via art
• May 2014: UAE Government Stops NYT article from being printed locally
• May 2014: NYU President John Sexton responds to labor abuses in NYU Abu Dhabi
• May 2014: New York TImes publishes article critical of NYU Abu Dhabi Labor on front page and confirms GL findings/report.  NYU officials say they will investigate claims of worker abuse
• May 2014: Gulf Labor releases a press release in response to TDIC’s reaction to the GL report, asking for a proper response to all their recommendations.
• May 2014: TDIC responds to Gulf Labor report with their own press release. NYU Abu Dhabi responds to Gulf Labor report
• April 2014: Gulf Labor releases their report and press release on labor conditions in Saadiyat Island after core members visited
• April 2014: Gulf Labor meets with members of the ILO to discuss the situation on Saadiyat Island.
• March 2014: Guggenheim responds to GULF’s second action, claims they are attempting to ensure fair labor practices
• March 2014: Gulf Labor continues dialogue with TDIC/Bassem Tarkawi after members return from Saadiyat
• March 2014: GULF continues their second action at the Guggenheim
• March 2014: GULF launches fake Global Guggenheim website in order to make a point about the Guggenheim’s attitude towards sustainable practices
• March 2014: GULF performs second/follow up action by projecting images onto the facade of the Guggenheim 
• March, 2014: Gulf Labor and GULF Members visit Saadiyat Island after accepting TDIC’s invitation, members visit and report on Saadiyat Accommodation Village and off-site camps, Richard Armstrong (Director of Guggenheim) requests meeting with GL members
• February, 2014: HRW Member Nick McGeehan gives human rights in Abu Dhabi Presentation at NYU.
• February 2014:  Quatar World Cup death toll report
• February 2014: GULF Protest Continue, Joining Forces with NYU
• February, 2014: NYU Abu Dhabi Responds to Migrant Labor Situation
• February, 2014: G.U.L.F. Calls Guggenheim a 1% Global Museum with a 1% Board
• February, 2014: Guggenheim Responds G.U.L.F.’s new demands and discoveries
• February, 2014: G.U.L.F. Responds to Guggenheim, Calls on Museum to Open Its Doors to Free Public Assembly
• February, 2014: Guggenheim responds to protest
• February, 2014: GULF, MTL, and members of Gulf Labor stage protest inside the Guggenheim New York
• February, 2014: Head of Marketing for TDIC Invites Gulf Labor Coalition Members to visit Saadiyat as part of response to PwC Report criticism
• February, 2014: Gulf Labor responds to PwC’s Report on TDIC Employment Practices with a Press Release
• January, 2014: TDIC responds to labor disputes, allegations, and Gulf Labor efforts in a Press Release
• December, 2013: PwC’s Tourism, Development, and Investment Company – Employment Practices Policy Annual Report (TDIC) – (EEP) was released
• October 2013: Gulf Labor launches 52 Weeks of Gulf Labor
• August 22, 2013: Violence in Saadiyat Construction Village, 40 hospitalised, workers say result of deportations of Bangladeshi workers in May, replaced by Pakistani workers.
• May 25, 2013: The National reports that at least 460 workers are deported back to home countries after the strike is brought to an end. Other reports on deportations here and here.
• May 21, 2013: ArabTec workers in Abu Dhabi and Dubai go on strike. Workers at the Saadiyat Island Construction Village are part of the strike.
• January 8, 2013: ArabTec chosen for the $654 million Louvre Abu Dhabi contract. ArabTec made labor rights headlines in 2011 for deporting 70 Bangladeshi workers who led 5,000 workers on a two-week strike against non-payment of wages at Burj Dubai and other ArabTec sites.
• January 7 2013: GulfLabor calls on (GulfLabor_PublicStatement_1.7.13) all cultural institutions on Saadiyat, including Louvre and NYU, to publicly take steps for migrant labor rights. The Public Statement included the following 4 key provisions:
  1. Recruitment fees and relocation costs paid by workers.
  2. Poor and unsafe housing and living conditions, even in the Saadiyat Construction Village.
  3. Lack of freedom to form trade unions for collective bargaining or to change jobs.
  4. Lack of open platforms for workers to express grievances or abuses without fear of recrimination or dismissal.
• November 2012: GulfLabor responds to Price Waterhouse Coopers report
• November 2012: Frank Gehry discusses plans for Guggenheim Abu Dhabi at Abu Dhabi Art Fair
• September 2012: PWC releases monitoring report on labor conditions on Saadiyat Island.
• March 2012: HRW releases second report The Island of Happiness Revisited.
• June 2011: TDIC announces appointment of Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC) as independent monitoring firm. PWC was not on HRW’s recommended list. GulfLabor released a public statement critical of the choice of PwC.
• May 2011: GulfLabor contacted Institute for Human Rights & Business and shared with Guggenheim IHRB’s newly released Dhaka Principles for Migration with Dignity.
• May 2011: Jadaliyya and Samar public Ahmed Kanna’s “The Arab World’s Forgotten Rebellions: Foreign Workers and Biopolitics in the Gulf”
• April-May 2011: GulfLabor held meetings with Guggenheim in New York. We recommended an independent rights monitor be chosen from a list of recommendations by HRW. GulfLabor sent an update to all signatories.
• March 2011: A group of members of GulfLabor visited a labor camp on Saadiyat Island and had discussions with TDIC officials.
• March 2011: GulfLabor coalition noted little progress on issues, even after TDIC announced that it is committed to the appointment of a dedicated independent consultancy company sometime soon. We decided to make our letter public and announced a boycott of Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.
• September 2010:  TDIC’s Employment Practices Policy (EPP) are made public, followed by the TDIC/Guggenheim Statement of Shared Values. The released statements made public commitments by TDIC and the Guggenheim Foundation to uphold workers’ rights protections. However, the released documents did not address independent monitoring of employers’ compliance with human rights standards, and about effective enforcement mechanism. Unless a monitor is empowered to make random visits to work sites and maintain a relationship independent of employer influence, violations will persist and continue to be under-reported. In subsequent communication with the Guggenheim Foundation, we urged them to address this and other considerations such as provisions related to the payment of recruitment fees, freedom of movement for workers, health and safety provisions, accommodations, monitoring of wage payments, and rest and leisure time for workers, among others.
• June 2010: Letter signed by 43 artists sent to the Guggenheim Foundation requesting that the Foundation obtain contractual guarantees that will protect the rights of workers employed in the construction and maintenance of its new branch museum in Abu Dhabi. We followed our letter with meetings with Richard Armstrong, Director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, and Nancy Spector, Deputy Director and Chief Curator. They assured us that the Foundation is committed to fair labor standards and requested some time to pursue the development of employment policies with their partners in Abu Dhabi, TDIC (The Abu Dhabi Tourism and Development Investment Company). We agreed not to make our letter public in the meantime.
• 2010: GulfLabor held meetings with HRW about their 2009 report.  NYU faculty and students also shared their efforts to secure protections for  workers building NYU Abu Dhabi campus.
• 2010: NYU announced labor provisions which HRW praised as “breaking new ground.” However NYU students insisted that “Unless a monitor is empowered to make random visits to work sites and maintain a relationship independent of employer influence, violations will persist and continue to be under-reported”
• 2010: NYU students launch campaign “Who’s Building NYU Abu Dhabi?” demanding NYU protect workers rights on the “first world-class, liberal arts university in the Middle East.”
• February 2010: Middle East Institute releases report: Labor Camps in the Gulf States
• 2009: Human Rights Watch (HRW) publishes report The Island of Happiness: Exploitation of Migrant Workers on Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi.
• 2006: Human Rights Watch (HRW) publishes report Building Towers, Cheating Workers which looks at exploitation of migrant labor in Dubai.
• 2004: Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA) commissioned the Tourism Development and Investment Company (TDIC) to develop Saadiyat Island into a leisure, residential, business, and tourist center. Saadiyat Island is expected to host major cultural institutions including Guggeheim Abu Dhabi (designed by Frank Gehry), Louvre Abu Dhabi (Jean Nouvel), Zayed National Museum (Norman Foster), Maritime Museum (Tadao Ando), and Performing Arts Center (Zaha Hadid).