Editing Louvre (section)

=== Construction of Louvre Abu Dhabi ===
In 2011, over 130 international artists urged a boycott of the new Guggenheim museum as well as Louvre Abu Dhabi, citing reports, since 2009, of abuses of foreign construction workers on Saadiyat Island, including the arbitrary withholding of wages, unsafe working conditions, and failure of companies to pay or reimburse the steep recruitment fees being charged to laborers.<ref name="boycott">{{cite news| title=Abu Dhabi Guggenheim Faces Protest| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/17/arts/design/guggenheim-threatened-with-boycott-over-abu-dhabi-project.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220103/https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/17/arts/design/guggenheim-threatened-with-boycott-over-abu-dhabi-project.html |archive-date=3 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live| author=Nicolai Ouroussoff| date=16 March 2011| work=The New York Times| access-date=21 October 2011}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://english.aljazeera.net/video/middleeast/2011/04/20114342518230176.html|title=Artists urge Guggenheim boycott|date=3 April 2011|publisher=Al Jazeera}}</ref> According to ''[[Architectural Record]]'', Abu Dhabi has comprehensive labor laws to protect the workers, but they are not conscientiously implemented or enforced.<ref name=Fixsen>Fixsen, Anna. [http://archrecord.construction.com/news/2014/09/140922-Frank-Gehry-Works-to-Improve-Worker-Conditions-on-Abu-Dhabi-Site.asp :What Is Frank Gehry Doing About Labor Conditions in Abu Dhabi?"], ''[[Architectural Record]]'', 25 September 2014</ref> In 2010, the Guggenheim Foundation placed on its website a joint statement with Abu Dhabi's Tourism Development and Investment Company (TDIC) recognizing the following workers' rights issues, among others: health and safety of the workers; their access to their passports and other documents that the employers have been retaining to guaranty that they stay on the job; using a general contractor that agrees to obey the labor laws; maintaining an independent site monitor; and ending the system that has been generally used in the Persian Gulf region of requiring workers to reimburse recruitment fees.<ref>{{cite web |url-status=dead |url=http://www.guggenheim.org/abu-dhabi/about/joint-statement-on-workers-rights |title=Joint Statement on Workers' Rights |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140703224025/http://www.guggenheim.org/abu-dhabi/about/joint-statement-on-workers-rights |archive-date=3 July 2014 |website=Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation |date=22 September 2010 |access-date=8 October 2014}}</ref>

In 2013, ''[[The Observer]]'' reported that conditions for the workers at the Louvre and New York University construction sites on Saadiyat amounted to "modern-day slavery".<ref name=Carrick>Carrick, Glenn and David Batty. [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/22/abu-dhabi-happiness-island-misery "In Abu Dhabi, they call it Happiness Island. But for the migrant workers, it is a place of misery"], ''The Observer'', 22 December 2013, accessed 30 June 2014; Batty, David. [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/22/abu-dhabi-migrant-workers-conditions-shame-west "Conditions for Abu Dhabi's migrant workers 'shame the west{{'"}}], ''The Observer'', 22 December 2013, accessed 1 December 2014; Batty, David. [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/22/uae-migrant-workers-exploitation-emirate-criticised "Campaigners criticise UAE for failing to tackle exploitation of migrant workers"], ''The Observer'', 22 December 2013, accessed 30 June 2014</ref><ref>Rosenbaum, Lee. [http://www.artsjournal.com/culturegrrl/2013/12/guardian-expose-substandard-conditions-reportedly-persist-for-some-abu-dhabi-construction-workers-plus-guggenheims-tdics-reactions.html "''Guardian'' Exposé: Substandard Conditions Reportedly Persist for Some Abu Dhabi Construction Workers (plus Guggenheim's, TDIC's reactions) updated"], CultureGrrl, ArtsJournal.com, 24 December 2013</ref> In 2014, the Guggenheim's Director, [[Richard Armstrong (museum director)|Richard Armstrong]], said that he believed that living conditions for the workers at the Louvre project were now good and that "many fewer" of them were having their passports confiscated. He stated that the main issue then remaining was the recruitment fees charged to workers by agents who recruit them.<ref>Rosenbaum, Lee. [http://www.artsjournal.com/culturegrrl/2014/04/satellite-museums-panel-my-interchange-with-guggenheims-richard-armstrong-on-abu-dhabi-human-rights-concerns.html {{"'}}Satellite Museums' Panel: My Interchange with Guggenheim's Richard Armstrong on Abu Dhabi Human-Rights Concerns"], CultureGrrl, ArtsJournal.com, 24 April 2014</ref><ref name=Kaminer>Kaminer, Ariel and Sean O'Driscoll. [https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/19/nyregion/workers-at-nyus-abu-dhabi-site-face-harsh-conditions.html?_r=0 "Workers at N.Y.U.'s Abu Dhabi Site Faced Harsh Conditions"], ''The New York Times'', 18 May 2014</ref> Later in 2014, the Guggenheim's architect, Gehry, commented that working with the Abu Dhabi officials to implement the law to improve the labor conditions at the museum's site is "a moral responsibility."<ref name=Fixsen/> He encouraged the TDIC to build additional worker housing and proposed that the contractor cover the cost of the recruitment fees. In 2012, TDIC engaged [[PricewaterhouseCoopers]] as an independent monitor required to issue reports every quarter. Labor lawyer Scott Horton told ''Architectural Record'' that he hoped the Guggenheim project will influence the treatment of workers on other Saadiyat sites and will "serve as a model for doing things right."<ref name=Fixsen/><ref>Rosenbaum, Lee. [http://www.artsjournal.com/culturegrrl/2016/02/guggenheim-abu-dhabi-still-stalled-as-monitoring-report-is-issued-on-saadiyat-island-labor-conditions.html "Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Still Stalled, as Monitoring Report Is Issued on Saadiyat Island Labor Conditions"], CultureGrrl, ArtsJournal.com, 4 February 2016</ref>