When at the end of 2010 the FIFA awarded to Qatar the organization of World Cup 2022, in the country the ‘kafala‘, the sponsor’s law, a system based on Arab jurisprudence that in practice allowed employers to have almost absolute control over their workers: they retained their passports and a part of their salary and prevented them from changing jobs, in addition to force them to sign a ‘declaration of no objection’.
The system was applied –or is applied, because in some cases companies seek legal loopholes- to migrant workers, in need of income, and defenseless against labor abuses.
The ‘expats’, white-collar workers, with high salaries and hired by Western companies, were not affected by the ‘kafala’.
Workers in need and without support
The ‘kafala’ (derived from the word ‘kafeel’, sponsor or protector) became a common practice in the 1950s, with the oil and gas ‘boom’. “Qatar brought workers from poor countries who did not know the language or had family or social support or from other compatriots,” he sums up. Houtan Homayounpourformer head of the ILO (International Labor Organization, International Labor Organization) in Qatar.
“Under those conditions, the sponsor was supposed to take care of the worker, providing a home and some security. But over time, due to a series of legal changes, the system became an abuse of power by the businessman& rdquor ;.
The World Cup has had a double effect: in the first years after the FIFA concession, the ‘kafala’ allowed the Qatari authorities to hire very cheap labor – especially from countries like India, Pakistan or Nepal – to build stadiums and infrastructures.
The employers had absolute control over the workers: they could prevent them from changing jobs or leaving the country, even canceling their work permit, which in practice meant expelling them from the country.
However, as the tournament’s opening month of November 2022 approached, international pressure over worker conditions forced Qatar to reform its labor laws.
In August 2020, the Qatari government removed the mandatory ‘declaration of no objection’ and allowed the entry and exit of workers, without the need for the employer’s permission. The ‘kafala’ was practically repealed.
Improved conditions, at least in theory
“In 2012, working days were twelve or fourteen hours, from Monday to Monday and without health coverage. Now, by law, businessmen are obliged to improve these conditions, although it is true that many businessmen try to fight those laws,” says Ignacio Gutiérrez de Terán, tenured professor of Arab and Islamic Studies at the Autonomous University of Madrid and co-author of ‘Qatar . The pearl of the Gulf’ (Peninsula).
“The truth is that the state does not have the capacity to monitor that the new regulations are strictly complied with; Even many Western companies take advantage of this lack of definition to apply contracts that we could call semi-slavery & rdquor ;, he adds.
The World Cup, therefore, served first to exploit the workers and then to protect them. At least in theory.
legal minimum wage
In March 2021, the Qatari government established a minimum wage for all workers of 1,000 rials per month, about 265 euros, a measure that benefited 280,000 workers, according to the ILO. Qatar is the first country in the Persian Gulf to apply the measure, which incidentally also affects domestic workers.
It has also allowed immigrant workers to submit their complaints to the Labor Ministry, something unthinkable a few years ago. In 2020, the Ministry of Labor processed 11,700 cases of disputes between employee and employer, a figure that in 2021 was already 24,600, according to ILO data.
salary protection
The government has also promoted the ‘wage protection system’, a wage protection measure that forces companies to pay workers’ salaries through Qatari banks, monitored by the government. According to data from the ILO, 94 percent of the companies that operate in Qatar are taking advantage of the system.
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In Qatar there are no unions, but the country seems willing to allow workers to associate. It is still an incipient measure: only 70 companies have something similar to a works council.
The government also slightly improved in 2021 the conditions of outdoor workers, exposed in summer to hellish temperatures. By decree, it is forbidden to work on the street between 10 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., from June 1 to September 15.