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Construction trade union, UCATT today took its campaign against the Qatar government’s appalling treatment of migrant construction workers directly to the country’s embassy.
The event, at 8.30am outside the Embassy at 1 Audley Street, W1K 1NB, on International Workers’ Memorial Day when workers vow “to remember the dead and fight for the living”; was very poigniant.
 The union unveiled a banner which read “Qatar: World Champions at Killing Workers”. The plight of workers in Qatar has become increasingly high profile after the country was awarded the 2022 World Cup finals.
Hundreds of migrant construction workers die in Qatar every year. In the last two years 500 Indian workers have died. Last year 195 Nepalese deaths were reported, 123 of these were recorded as being due to cardiac arrest. Last month UCATT undertook a fact finding mission to Qatar where they learned that deceased workers do not receive a post mortem and if the death was recorded as natural causes then no compensation is paid.
UCATT general secretary Steve Murphy said:
“Hundreds of construction workers are dying in Qatar every year and nothing is being done to stop this carnage.
The health and welfare of every worker is equally important regardless of where they are from and it is vital that huge international pressure is placed on Qatar to dramatically reduce deaths and improve the conditions experienced by migrant workers.”
During a visit to Qatar, UCATT members met workers who were being paid less than £0.60 pence an hour, while being expected to work excessive hours, six days a week in temperatures up to 55 degrees in the summer. The levels of poverty pay is especially stark given that Qatar is one of the wealthiest countries in the world.
The 2 million migrant construction workers (principally from India, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka) in Qatar work under the kafala system which means they are bonded labour. The workers have their passports confiscated and cannot leave the country without their employer’s permission. For many workers this means that they cannot return home for at least two years. The workers also have to pay up to a thousand pounds each before they are allowed to work in Qatar, which are often financed through loans at very high interest rates.
Often workers do not receive the wages owed to them. During their mission UCATT officials met workers who had not been paid for five months.
They also visited the accommodation provided for many of the workers and saw how workers live in abject squalor. They met a group of nine workers who were expected to live in one tiny room measuring 10 square metres. Welfare facilities were entirely inadequate with just five poorly maintained toilets provided for 200 workers. The facilities for workers to prepare food were also atrocious. Workers report there is often no running water and they are forced to wash in sea water.
The construction trade union is calling on FIFA to give Qatar a 12 month deadline to dramatically reduce construction fatalities and to improve the pay, conditions and rights of the migrant construction workforce. If the Qataris fail to do so they should be stripped of the right to host the World Cup.
Steve Murphy said: “FIFA must not allow the World Cup to be played in blood-stained stadiums.”
Source: Union News website
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