Low-paid workers ‘exploited by Qatari companies’

Qatari companies have failed to pay “hundreds of millions of dollars” in wages and benefits to lowpaid workers amid the coronavirus pandemic, new research by human rights group Equidem has revealed. In a report, Equidem says thousands of workers have been dismissed without notice, put on lower wages or unpaid leave, denied outstanding and end-of-service payments, or forced to pay for flights home.

The findings constitute “wage theft” on an unprecedented scale, according to Equidem, leaving workers destitute, short of food and unable to send money home during the pandemic despite Qatar being one of the wealthiest countries in the world.

‘I came here to work for my family, not to be a beggar living on my own.’

A cleaner from Bangladesh, who said he had not received a wage for four months, said: ‘I came here to work for my family, not to be a beggar living on my own.’

The UK-based Business and Human Rights Resource Centre found that unpaid or delayed wages were reported by workers in 87 percent of alleged labor-abuse cases, which have affected almost 12,000 workers since 2016.

Around 2 million migrant workers — the majority hailing from south Asia — work in Qatar, many on 2022 FIFA World Cup construction sites. Mustafa Qadri, director of Equidem, said the lack of a lawful right to organize or join a trade union “has prevented workers from having a seat at the table with the government and employers to negotiate an equitable share of funds.”