INTERNATIONAL TRADE UNION
CONFEDERATION - Brussels, 26 November 2014
(ITUC OnLine): The ITUC has condemned Qatar’s arrest and planned
deportation of around 100 striking migrant workers today as a gross violation
of the most fundamental workers’ rights. According to local news website
Doha News, “The men, who hail from Nepal, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, are
construction workers employed by two subcontracting companies – Qatar Freelance
Trading and Contracting as well as Qatar Middle East Co. They worked on
construction sites that included the recently renovated Sheraton Doha hotel.”
Sharan Burrow, ITUC General
Secretary, said, “Qatar’s brutal disregard for migrant workers is on display
once again. The ‘labour reforms’ promised by the authorities add up to
nothing, and FIFA, the athletics body IAAF, multinationals and others which are
getting a free ride on the back of modern slavery in Qatar should be ashamed to
be in league with a dictatorship like this.”
Around 800 workers in total
have been on strike over the past few days, in protest at breaches of
employment contracts and poverty wages. Having signed contracts before
leaving their home countries for Qatar, on arrival in Doha their passports were
confiscated and contracts torn up. They were then forced to work for wages
one-third lower than promised. Witnesses have reported that a supervisor
attacked workers with a plastic pipe when police arrived to start the arrests,
and those arrested are believed to be heading for the notorious Doha Detention
Centre where migrant workers are often held incommunicado for long periods
before eventual deportation.
“This is what life without
the right to strike looks like. It is deeply troubling that employer
groups are now trying to undermine that very right at the International Labour
Organisation. The world needs to uphold rights, and not put every worker
at the mercy of their employer with no right to strike against exploitation and
abuse, like in Qatar,” said Burrow.
The ITUC represents 176
million workers in 161 countries and territories and has 324 national
affiliates.
Follow us on the web: http://www.ituc-csi.org and http://www.youtube.com/ITUCCSI
For more information,
please contact the ITUC Press Department on +32 2 224 02 04 or +32 476 621 018
