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Construction workers’ conditions “far from being fair” |
Quoting excerpts from the study, a local Arabic daily says that the NHRC conducted a limited field study on a group of 1,114 labourers and found that as much as 30% of them are paid QR800 a month as wages while the remaining 70% receive a slightly higher additional QR300.
In both cases the amount is insufficient to sustain themselves and their families back home which are generally large with many aged and dependent persons. One-third of the labourers surveyed said that they never received their wages on time.
Accommodation for about 43% of them is on the basis of six beds in a room and 31% of them have to share one toilet. Their living quarters and toilets and other amenities do not comply with standard regulations on health and hygiene.
On medical care the situation varies from one firm to another.
The above features are in direct contradiction to many aspects of the labour law, says the study which also includes the views expressed by the Qatari owners of the firms employing these labourers.
They say the Qatari labour law is fair and comprehensive but the difficulty is when there is an insistence on implementing it literally to the core. The objection on bunker beds and the number of persons in a room cannot be set right because of several factors.
On the question of the present sponsorship system, 29% of the labourers said that they had no contact with their sponsors. Some 45% of them said that many among them who are semi-literate were asked to do extra-contractual duties and were not paid for that work.
The Qatari sponsors believe that the present sponsorship system should continue until a different system is evolved. There should be a mechanism to apprehend the absconding labourer or the trained staff on whom much time and money has been spent in training for the work required.
They also referred to the many instances of well qualified expatriates who betray the trust of their employers and cheat or swindle money and disappear from the scene. On the same note they also acceded the fact that some among them – the Qatari employers – are harsh and inhuman in their dealings with the labourers and the staff especially in payment of the financial dues and granting exit permits to travel to their home country.
In the concluding part, the study calls for raising wages in keeping with the prevailing index of prices; and commensurate to the type of work done by the employee. It also highlights the need to improve the living quarters, the amenities and the medical care facilities provided to the expatriate workforce.
The need to plug the loopholes in the present labour law has also been pointed out. In this context it has called for the abolishing of the excessive powers enjoyed by the sponsor in matters such as deporting an employee without valid reasons and legal procedures and withholding payments lawfully due to the employee.