Qatar is currently accused of contravening international labor laws as it aims at facilitating the completion of various world cup projects, including upgrading and construction of new stadiums. According to the Qatari government, the event is so important nationally and internationally because it will be viewed in all continents given the fact countries are equally represented. Even though the tournament is vital, people should not be taken through inhuman conditions to achieve the desired results.
It is reported daily that several laborers are forced to work under poor conditions with diminutive compensation. The government has to change course and ensure manual workers are taken care of while managers of various concerned organizations should be empowered and rewarded because the event will present several opportunities to the country.
Whenever a state holds a cultural event, such as world cup, Olympics, or continental tournaments, chances are high that the GDP will be boosted owing to the foreign exchange flows in the country. Recently, government officials made changes to existing controversial labor laws, which attracted international condemnation, as workers were required to stick to their jobs and ensure they accomplished the tasks, irrespective of the time limits (Nnedumm, 2013).
The ministers of interior affairs and labor met at the country’s headquarters in Doha to announce the new changes, a move that was seen to respond to the piling pressure from the international community. Before the new amendments, the government sponsored all expatriates by giving them free healthcare services.
In this regard, no employee was expected to seek transfer upon receiving a contract from the employer. Currently, any worker is free to seek better employment that offers a high salary and better terms of service. Again, expatriates are free to leave the country at any time without necessarily waiting for their contracts to expire.
Before the new law, employees were supposed to seek approval from their employers before leaving the country, but the ministry of interior affairs announced that the government is putting in place an automated system to monitor the activities of workers in the country. Even though the state is trying to initiate reforms in the labor market, no date is set to allow the application of the new laws. The country has one of the rigid law making and implementation processes since the Shura Council must first be consulted before bills are approved.
The minister in charge of internal affairs was hopeful that the legislative council will ratify the laws as soon as possible, but a timeline is not in place. If approved, the new laws will affect workers offering services in homes and those working as professionals in companies and multinational organizations.
Initially, employers chose the method of paying employees, but the concerned ministries assured the expatriates that all monies will be released electronically to ensure transparency and accountability meaning workers will be receiving payments in time (Liefooghe, 2012). Additionally, a stern warning has been issued to employers with a tendency of withholding worker’s passports.
The country has hit the global news for meting out injustices to domestic workers who offer services at homes, as some are found dead in their bedrooms while others are subjected to extreme torture resulting in mercilessly killing.
Since the country placed its bid to host the world cup in 2022, all eyes are set on the government, especially regarding the construction of the stadiums and the hospitality facilities, such as hotels and other resting places. The state has a very small population that cannot provide the much-needed labor meaning it is forced to seek laborers from other countries, especially from the African continent. It is estimated that over one million people landed in the country since the bid to host the tournament was accepted a few years ago.
If the existing data is accurate, less than ten percent of workers offering their services in the construction companies are citizens of Qatar. A recent report published by the Amnesty International claimed that the existing labor system in the Gulf region, popularly referred to as Kefala, presents unequal power relations between workers and employers. In fact, no employee is permitted to change his or her profession or seek employment elsewhere without seeking approval from the current boss.
The report revealed further that migrant employees are faced with several challenges ranging from abuse to discrimination. Some of the practices going on in the country can be termed as forced labor. Some businesspersons have entered into contracts with the officials in charge of construction of the stadiums to obtain cheap labor from poor countries, which amounts to human trafficking (Samnani, & Singh, 2012). The ongoing debate on reforming the sector is simply a public relations gimmick by the Qatari government.
For instance, the foreign affairs assistant minister claimed that the sponsorship system was set up long time ago when the population of the country was not in the position to support employment at will policy whereby the worker was free to terminate his services at any time since this would have resulted in economic downfall.
The official claimed that the situation is different currently since the state is free to obtain labor from other countries. However, he failed to provide a clear strategy to end the injustices meaning the state is not committed to improving the situation.
Competition is little in the labor market because of the existing labor structure and the government is supportive of the situation, as it views it as one of the factors that will facilitate the completion of the world cup projects in time. The state laws do not provide a minimum wage for laborers and blue-color workers. Because of this, the government organizers for the upcoming world cup tournament are exploiting the opportunity to use little resources in constructing the facilities.
Since the event is historic to the country and the region as a whole, the state should have come up with sufficient strategies to ensure individuals participating in setting up the projects are compensated adequately and their efforts are appreciated by rewarding them with non-financial prizes.
It is noted that the labor laws of many countries are not perfect, even those of the developed democracies, such as the United States and the United Kingdom meaning employees will still face challenges in case they decide to supply their services in such countries (Samnani, & Singh, 2012).
The environment has never been fair to any country because of the escalating prices of commodities in the international market, but this should not be the source of mistreating employees to an extent of denying them their freedoms, as the Qatari government is doing. In Qatar, an employee is viewed as a cog that is expected to operate as a machine. The continued mistreatment of the workers in the country, due to defective labor laws, will have various effects, both short-term and long-term.
As employees are continuously mistreated, their morale goes down meaning they will tend to develop a negative attitude towards work and the output will definitely be of very low quality. In fact, workers will never care about the concerns of the customers, vendors, and other stakeholders.
If the government does not improve the situation, the ongoing constructions would suffer from credibility in the end because their qualities will be low to an extent of failing to meet the international standards. With time, the country will face an acute shortage of workers since few individuals will be willing to offer their services in a country that does not provide an enhanced working environment for employees (Lippel, 2010).
If, for instance, the migrant employees decide to leave at once, the country will not have the capacity to host the tournament since the construction projects will have to stop due to insufficient workforce. Currently, the government might not feel the heat because the number of employees willing to quit the country is minimal, but if the situation persists, each state will have to recall its citizens.
Moving in to hire new employees will not produce the desired results since the tournament is around the corner and there will be no much time left to conceptualize the projects. Lastly, the behavior of the state officials on labor laws in the country is alarming in the sense that it has the potential of damaging the reputation of the state. It will reach a time when best performing companies will avoid trading with the country because of being associated with mistreatment of employee.
References
Liefooghe, A. (2012). Bullying beyond the bully. Training Journal, 1(3), 33-36.
Lippel, K. (2010). The law of workplace bullying: an international overview. Comp Labor Law Policy Journal, 32(1), 12-34.
Nnedumm, A. U. (2013). Acceptability of workplace bullying: A comparative study on six continents. Journal of Business Research, 66(3), 374–380.
Samnani, A. K., & Singh, P. (2012), 20 Years of workplace bullying research: A review of the antecedents and consequences of bullying in the workplace. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 17(6), 581–589.
Samnani, A., & Singh, P. (2014). Performance-enhancing compensation practices and employee productivity: The role of workplace bullying. Human Resource Management Review, 24(1), 5–16.