“It would be scandalous if the UAE deported workers who have taken a courageous stand for their basic rights,” HRW Middle East director Sarah Leah Whitson said in a statement on Saturday.
The New York-based group cited media reports claiming authorities in the UAE had slapped deportation orders on 43 migrants who joined a strike by workers at the Arabtec construction giant.
Arabtec said on Wednesday that thousands of mainly Asian workers had ended a strike that began at the weekend.
“This strike is a stark reminder of the UAE’s failure to reform its exploitative labor system,” Whitson charged.
Strikes are banned in the UAE, where unions do not exist and the government does not stipulate a minimum wage.
Unskilled workers earn a monthly salary of no more than 900 dirhams (about $245).
The workers were demanding their 350 dirhams ($95) food allowance paid with their wages rather than the three daily meals provided by the company, English-language daily The National reported.
Arabtec said the strike was a result of “a minority group who will be held accountable for their actions”.