It's the time to rake in the moolah for some shopping malls in Dubai. So, while employees in other organisations, private or otherwise, are given a convenient work schedule for the holy month of Ramadan, staff members in a few malls are working almost without breaks.

Take the Mall of the Emirates and the Deira City Centre. These two malls are open right from 10am to 1am without any break. Moreover, according to shopkeepers in these shopping centres, the management has told them that if they close their shops at any point of time during this period, they will have to pay a fine of Dh1,000. With most of the other big malls in Dubai now remaining open from 10am to 2pm in the morning and from 8pm to 12midnight, they feel this is unfair.

An official at the customer service centre of the Al Ghurair Centre said, “From Saturday to Thursday, we are open from 10am till 1pm. On Fridays, the centre is open from 7.30pm till 12 midnight.” The BurJuman Centre in Bur Dubai also has the same timings.

“I don’t know why they are doing this. There are malls like BurJuman that have adjusted their timings for the sake of the people working there. All of them are getting a six-hour break. But here the situation is just the opposite,” said a man who works with a watch shop at the Mall of the Emirates.

However, senior management officials themselves are working only from 8am to 2pm. “They are working just for seven hours. On normal days, we don’t complain. But this is the Ramadan month and most of us are fasting. Moreover there are hardly any customers now during the day. We just look like guards standing behind the counters right from morning till late night,” said a staff member of a shop at the mall.

“Last year they had given us breaks. But this year we have no idea why they are being so stubborn. We tried talking to the management but they just refused to listen to us. We are just frustrated. How do we work for the whole day without any break during this month?” asked a shopkeeper at the Deira City Centre.

However, senior officials of the MAF Shopping Malls, responsible for the management of both the Mall of the Emirates and the Deira City Centre, said that they had never thought of imposing a fine on retailers for keeping their shops open during this time.

Murray Bell, Senior Vice-President of the MAF Shopping Malls, said, “The MAF Shopping Malls across the UAE have extended their trading hours to 1am. This decision was taken to reflect the change in the shopping behaviour during Ramadan where families like to gather socially after Iftar. The malls are open in the day time in order to accommodate the large number of tourists who visit the malls. Moreover, we are sympathetic towards our retailers and if anyone wants to keep the shop closed during the day can do so and no fines would be charged from them.”

Graham Dreverman, CEO of the MAF Shopping Malls, said, “We have noticed that shoppers come to the mall with their friends and families after their Iftar and Isha prayers. They tend to stay late and the management has decided to shift the mall timings to meet the needs of the customers.”