After Qatar set up a labour disputes settlement committee in 2017, the Gulf country has been rolling out a slew of initiatives for the welfare of migrant workers since 2018, compared to other Arab Gulf countries. The latest in the series was the announcement of a non-discriminatory minimum wage, along with the removal of Non-Objection Certificates (NoCs) when transferring employment. However, an analysis of data sourced through Right to Information (RTI) Act from the Indian Embassy in Qatar reveals that “not many pro-migrant worker changes are happening” on the ground. At least in the case of Indian workers, the RTI data revealed that workers have not been benefiting from these reforms.
The plights of the blue-collar workers worsened with the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the workers approached the Indian mission for intervention, they received no relief or assistance. In 2020, until October 30, the number of labour complaints registered at the Indian Embassy was 1,712. In mid-March, when the Arab country announced the lockdown due to the spiralling COVID-19 cases, it shut down the labour camps, which are known to have migrant workers crammed into tiny quarters. The Indian Embassy received the most number of complaints in July (315) when Qatar lifted the lockdown.
Qatar has a total population of around 2.9 million, with over 80% constituting migrant workers
Among the labour complaints registered in 2020, the Indian Embassy received 1,200 grievances on repatriation-related issues till October. The second-highest number of grievances filed were on the repatriation of mortal remains (323), followed by grievances filed by domestic workers (273). Unfortunately, despite the series of reforms put in place for labour welfare, there were 235 grievances regarding salaries and dues.
Udaykumar M struggled without help from his employer and the Indian Embassy between the time he was laid off in March and returned to his native in Kerala in July. “I was laid off by my travel company in March-end, along with 20 other staff, during the lockdown. But when they laid me off, my salary since January was pending. All I had was the accommodation provided by the company. Even food was a challenge; we had to depend on charity organisations. We complained to the Embassy, but there was no response,” said Udaykumar.
Udaykumar finally returned on July 7 in a chartered flight organised by a charity organisation. According to him, “there was not much help either from the Qatar government or the Indian Embassy.”
According to Suresh Kumar S, a security guard at a company in Qatar, his company never bothers about these labour reforms. He alleged that the company would look for an opportunity to convolute these reforms and exploit the workers.
On August 30, 2020, Qatar issued a new law introducing a minimum wage of QAR 1,000 per month for all employees, including domestic workers. However, it backfired on workers like Suresh Kumar.
“My monthly basic salary was QAR 1,250 plus QAR 250 for overtime, amounting to QAR 1,500 (approximately Rs 30,000). When the Qatar government recently announced that the minimum basic salary should be QAR 1,000 (approximately Rs 20,000), they reduced my basic salary to QAR 1,000. Now, my basic salary is QAR 1,000 plus QAR 250 for overtime, making it QAR 1,250. They now give us only accommodation. There is no food allowance,” Suresh Kumar explained.
According to the new law, in addition to providing the minimum wage to their employees, employers will be required to pay their employees at least QAR 300 (Rs 6,000) per month as food budget and QAR 500 (Rs 10,000) per month as a housing budget, that is, if the employers are not providing their employees with food and accommodation directly.
The law will be enforced only in six months, but Suresh’s company has already implemented the basic salary norm and has denied them food and rent allowances.
The Indian workers filed as many as 10,535 labour complaints with the Indian Embassy in Doha between 2016 and 2019, ranging from pending salaries and contract problems to imprisonment and repatriation. In 2016, two years before the reforms were announced, the number of labour complaints registered was at 2,747. In 2017, although the Qatar government allowed a project office for the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and eased the norms for exit and entry for migrant workers, the Indian Embassy received 2,432 labour complaints. It rose to 2,845 labour complaints in 2018 and then fell to 2,511 complaints in 2019.
“By analysing the data, I feel that it may take more time to see the reforms happening on the ground,” Hubertson Tom Wilson, a migrant rights lawyer based in Tamil Nadu, told TNM. “Since 2016, the number of Indian workers approaching with labour grievances is above 2,000. Before reforms or after labour reforms introduced by the Qatar government, these high numbers continue to be worrying. All stakeholders of labour migration should study this seriously,” he said.