Migrant Workers in Qatar ‘unpaid’

Migrant workers who built luxury offices used by Qatar's 2022 football World Cup organisers have not been paid for more than a year and are now working illegally from cockroach-infested lodgings. 

Officials in Qatar's Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy have been using offices on the 38th and 39th floors of Doha's landmark al-Bidda skyscraper – known as the Tower of Football – which were fitted out by men from Nepal, Sri Lanka and India who say they have not been paid for up to 13 months' work.

The project was directly commissioned by the Qatar government and the workers' plight is set to raise fresh doubts over the autocratic emirate's commitment to labour rights as construction starts this year on five new stadiums for the World Cup. 

Their case was raised with Qatar's prime minister by Amnesty International last November, but the workers have said 13 of them remain stranded in Qatar. 

Contracts show the project was commissioned by Katara Projects, a Qatar government organisation under the auspices of the office of the then heir apparent, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, who is now the emir. Katara said it terminated its agreement with Lee Trading when it discovered the mistreatment of workers and non-payment of wages, and made efforts to repatriate those affected or find them new jobs.

Sharan Burrow, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation, said the promise by the Qatar authorities simply to improve the Wage Protection System (WPS) and increase the number of labour inspectors is weak and disappointing.

There are already labour inspectors and they have no impact. What is needed are laws that protect workers’ rights to join a union, bargain collectively and refuse unsafe work, and only then can inspectors do their job.