Qatar World Cup: migrants wait a year to be

paid for building offices

Workers who fitted out lavish offices used by tournament organisers say they are trapped
after collapse of contractor
Object1
Link to video: Qatar World Cup worker: 'I want to go home but I don't have any money'
Robert Booth, and Pete Pattisson in oha!"onday #$
%uly #&'( '(
"igrant workers who built lu)ury offices used by Qatar's #&## football World Cup
organisers have told the *uardian they have not been paid for more than a year and
are now working illegally from cockroach!infested lodgings+
,fficials in Qatar's -upreme Committee for elivery and Legacy have been using
offices on the .$th and ./th floors of oha's landmark 0l 1idda skyscraper 2 known as
the 3ower of 4ootball 2 which were fitted out by men from 5epal, -ri Lanka and India
who say they have not been paid for up to '. months' work+
3he pro6ect, a *uardian investigation shows, 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+
3he offices, which cost 7#+8m to fit out, feature e)pensive etched glass, handmade
Italian furniture and even a heated e)ecutive toilet, pro6ect sources said+ 9et some of
the workers have not been paid, despite complaining to the Qatari authorities months
ago and being owed wages as modest as 7: a day+
1y the end of this year several hundred thousand e)tra migrant workers from some of
the world's poorest countries are scheduled to have travelled to Qatar to build World
Cup facilities and infrastructure+ 3he acceleration in the building programme comes
amid international concern over a rising death toll among migrant workers and the use
of forced labour+
;We don't know how much they are spending on the World Cup but we 6ust need our
salary,; one worker said after losing a year's pay on the pro6ect+ ;We were working but
not getting the salary+ 3he government, the company: 6ust provide the money+;
"igrant workers from
India in oha, Qatar+ 3he mistreatment of migrant workers, including the late or non!
payment of wages, has attracted severe criticism+ <hotograph: <ete <attisson for the
*uardian
3he migrants are s=uee>ed seven to a room, sleeping on thin, dirty mattresses on the
floor and on bunk beds, in breach of Qatar's own labour standards+ 3hey live in
constant fear of imprisonment because they have been left without paperwork after the
contractor on the pro6ect, Lee 3rading and Contracting, collapsed+ 3hey say they are
now being e)ploited on wages as low as 8&p an hour+
3heir case was raised with Qatar's prime minister by 0mnesty International last
5ovember, but the workers have said '. of them remain stranded in Qatar+ espite
having done nothing wrong, five have even been arrested and imprisoned by Qatari
police because the collapse of their employer left them without I papers+ Legal claims
lodged against the former employer at the labour court in 5ovember have proved
fruitless+ 3hey are so poor they can no longer afford the ta)i to court to pursue their
cases, they say+
;I earned no money,; said a .8!year!old 5epalese worker and father!of!three who said
he had lost a year's salary on the pro6ect+ ;If I had money to buy a ticket I would go
home+;
Qatar's World Cup organising committee confirmed it had been granted use of
temporary offices on the floors fitted out by the unpaid workers+ It said it was ;heavily
dismayed to learn of the behaviour of Lee 3rading with regard to the timely payment of
its workers;+ 3he committee stressed it did not commission the firm+ ;We strongly
disapprove and will continue to press for a speedy and fair conclusion to all cases,; it
said+
%im "urphy "<, shadow international development secretary, said the revelation
added to the pressure on the World Cup organising committee after it promised to
monitor workers' welfare+ ;3hey work out of this building, but so far they can't even
deliver 6ustice for the men who toiled at their own ?Q,; he said+
-haran 1urrow, secretary general of the International 3rade @nion Confederation, said
the workers' treatment was ;criminal;+ ;It is an appalling abuse of fundamental rights
yet there is no concern from the Qatar government unless they are found out,; she
said+ ;In any other country you could prosecute this behaviour+;
0 worker formerly
employed on a pro6ect to fit out offices in the 0l 1idda 3ower who now lives and works
illegally after the company that employed him collapsed and failed to pay him for a
year+ <hotograph: <ete <attisson for the *uardian
Contracts show the pro6ect was commissioned by Aatara <ro6ects, a Qatar
government organisation under the auspices of the office of the then heir apparent,
-heikh 3amim bin ?amad al!3hani, who is now the emir+ ?e also heads the supreme
committee, the World Cup organising body+ 3he committee is spending at least 7(bn
building new stadiums for the tournament, which has become mired in allegations of
bribery, while there is disbelief at the prospect of playing the tournament in Qatar's
8&C summer heat+
Aatara said it terminated its agreement with Lee 3rading when it discovered the
mistreatment of workers and ;non!payment of wages;, and made efforts to repatriate
those affected or find them new 6obs+ It said several workers had been compensated
following court settlements+ ;If there are employees who were not repatriated, did not
findemployment or did not receive compensation, we would be happy to engage in any
effort with the ministry of labour and ministry of interior to rectify the situation,; a
spokesman said+
3he problems for the 3ower of 4ootball workers are not isolated, despite Qatar's
pledges to monitor salary payments and abolish the kafala sponsorship system, which
stops migrant workers changing 6ob or leaving Qatar without their employer's consent+
In #&'# and #&'., B& labourers from India, 5epal and -ri Lanka died from falls or
strikes by ob6ects, '(( died in traffic accidents and 8: killed themselves, the
government's own figures show+
o>ens more young migrant workers die mysteriously in their sleep from suspected
heart attacks every summer+
3he *uardian also discovered do>ens of workers who had not been paid on several
construction pro6ects+ 3hey included :8 workers in a desert camp who had not been
paid for several months and were living with dirty drinking water, filthy unplumbed
toilets, no showers and sleeping eight to a room+
0nother group said they were only being paid sporadically, there was sometimes no
water in their housing and no electricity to power air conditioning+
3his month, the Qatar 4oundation, a state body, published a reporte)amining
trafficking, debt bondage and forced labour among migrant workers+ It identified
practices that contravene International Labour ,rganisation conventions on forced
labour and @5 anti!trafficking protocols, ;widespread; non!payment of wages and
bribery and e)tortion among recruitment agents and employers+
4rom %anuary to the end of "ay this year $B 5epalese workers died in Qatar, a death
rate two!and!a!half times higher than that of 1ritish e)pats, new figures from the 5epal
government reveal+
;We know there is much more to do,; said 0bdullah al!Ahulaifi, Qatar's minister of
labour and social affairs in a statement detailing progress on labour law reforms+ ;1ut
we are making definite progress and are determined to build momentum+;
Posted by Thavam