|
Job Discussion Forums "The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Students and Teachers from Around the World!"
|
View previous topic :: View next topic |
Author |
Message |
Geronimo
Joined: 11 Apr 2007 Posts: 498
|
Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2013 8:36 pm Post subject: |
|
|
A delegation from the International Trade Union Confederation
paid a 4 day visit to Qatar earlier this month.
The "Guardian" reported on this delegation's visit as follows...
'But after a four-day visit to the country by an ITUC delegation, the organisation's general secretary, Sharan Burrow, said they had found "no improvement in living and working conditions" of migrant workers.
"This is an easy choice for the Qatari government. The perplexing question is, why won't they take it? Professional and poor workers alike tell the same stories; they came to Qatar with optimism and goodwill, only to face despair when their employer decides they are disposable and refuses to pay wages, sacks them without benefits, and/or refuses to sign their exit permit."
Burrow said that during the visit the 11-member delegation held worker hearings and were shocked by "tales of terror", stories increasing numbers of women and children in detention centres, and rising discontent and unrest in workers in "squalid labour camps".
"What we've seen this week can be summarised as how not to design a system for the global workforce on any basis: human and labour rights; goodwill and international reputation or; productivity based on loyalty and efficiency," said Burrow. "International companies should be on notice about the reputational risk of doing business in Qatar without respect for workers' rights."
And even the FIFA President, Sepp Blatter, appears to be taking a tougher stance nowadays...
"Football's governing body, Fifa, has said: "Fair working conditions with a lasting effect must be introduced quickly in Qatar", and president Sepp Blatter admitted that widespread abuse of migrant workers was "unacceptable" following a meeting with international union leaders in Zurich.
The Qatari authorities have insisted they are being proactive and say the World Cup can be a catalyst for change.
Burrow said: "Fifa have called for the improvement of core international labour organisation standards and an end to the kafala system. They will report back in March 2014. We can only hope the Qatar government will make the right choice."
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/01/qatar-migrant-workers-trade-union
The European Parliament has discussed the issue and Amnesty International is now appealing to Qatari authorities to
addrss the plight of workers going hungry after their employer,
Lee Trading and Contracting (LTC) company, has failed to pay them...
http://en-maktoob.news.yahoo.com/unpaid-workers-qatar-running-low-food-003319139.html
Who will be along next? Joanna Lumley, perhaps?
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/21/gurkha-veteran-ends-hunger-strike-inquiry-announced
Geronimo |
|
Back to top |
|
|
damn_my_eyes
Joined: 13 Jul 2013 Posts: 225
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
Geronimo
Joined: 11 Apr 2007 Posts: 498
|
Posted: Tue Feb 18, 2014 6:02 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Another footballer has at last managed to win his case for payment and an exit visa!
"Feb 12 (Reuters) - Former Morocco defender Abdeslam Ouaddou has won his case against a Qatari club after they failed to pay him for six months and then withheld his exit visa, the player said on Wednesday."
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/soccer-former-morocco-player-wins-case-against-qatari-182401323--finance.html;_ylt=A0LEV2A9mwNT5WUA8JVXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEzcDRmcDR2BHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDMgRjb2xvA2JmMQR2dGlkA1ZJUDM3NF8x
However, obviously there is still a long hard road to be travelled for expat professional footballers in Qatar...
"The trouble experienced by Abdeslam Ouaddou is not an isolated incident in Qatar," the union added in a statement.
"FIFPro is well aware of other players who find themselves, or have been in, the same unacceptable situation as Abdeslam Ouaddou."
Last year French footballer Zahir Belounis finally returned home, saying he was left stranded for 17 months in Qatar because of a financial dispute with his club.
"This practice must stop. Freedom of movement cannot be abused, not even in Qatar," said Brendan Schwab, head of FIFPro's Asia division.
"FIFPro urges the Qatari football authorities and local authorities to respect the rights of the key people who will deliver that World Cup: the workers who build the World Cup stadia and the players who play in them." (Reporting by Brian Homewood; editing by Tony Jimenez)
We look forward to the day when construction workers claim their outstanding payments! They have a harder time of it than the footballers, of course.
From today's "Guardian"...
"More than 500 Indian migrant workers have died in Qatar since January 2012, revealing for the first time the shocking scale of death toll among those building the infrastructure for the 2022 World Cup.
Official figures confirmed by the Indian embassy in Doha reveal that 237 Indians working in Qatar died in 2012 and 241 in 2013. A further 24 Indians have died in January 2014.
These come after the Guardian revealed last month that 185 Nepalese workers had died in Qatar in 2013, taking the total from that country to at least 382 over two years..."
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/18/qatar-world-cup-india-migrant-worker-deaths
and...
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/27/nepalese-workers-world-cup-building-sites-qatar-left-paralysed
Maybe the Qataris could learn from the progressive steps taken in recent years in the U.A.E...
'On-site inspections were rare, regulations were still under development and accidents were common. Requirements for construction site safety plans were not enforced, and few workers were educated about the risks of the job.
"We have come very far since then," said Abdulaziz Zurub, who established the health and safety division at the municipality in May 2010 and is now its director.
"We started with the question of how to fill the gaps. This is a long trip, so we are slowly, systematically working." '
http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/abu-dhabi-inspectors-plug-gaps-in-construction-safety
and...
http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/snap-inspections-boost-safety-in-abu-dhabi-construction-sites
Geronimo |
|
Back to top |
|
|
Geronimo
Joined: 11 Apr 2007 Posts: 498
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
Geronimo
Joined: 11 Apr 2007 Posts: 498
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
Geronimo
Joined: 11 Apr 2007 Posts: 498
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
2buckets
Joined: 14 Dec 2010 Posts: 515 Location: Middle East
|
Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2014 9:43 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Just where do these "rights activists" think they are? Even though they have British passports, they don't necessarily get treated as Brits. It's unfortunate, but that's the reality in the Gulf.
These organizations should know better and only send Norwegians. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
johnslat
Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 13859 Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
|
Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2014 10:15 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Dear 2buckets,
"These organizations should know better and only send Norwegians."
Or, better yet, Martians.
Regards,
John |
|
Back to top |
|
|
Geronimo
Joined: 11 Apr 2007 Posts: 498
|
Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2014 9:11 pm Post subject: |
|
|
"The 2011 National census lists 123 languages spoken as a mother tongue (first language) in Nepal..."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Nepal
Unfortunately, Norwegian isn't one of them, 2buckets.
Geronimo |
|
Back to top |
|
|
Geronimo
Joined: 11 Apr 2007 Posts: 498
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
Geronimo
Joined: 11 Apr 2007 Posts: 498
|
Posted: Fri Apr 24, 2015 10:36 am Post subject: |
|
|
Two brothers originally from New Dehli have been kind and generous towards the desperately poor construction workers labouring away in Doha.
Recently they started to offer free meals for those workers who can't afford to pay 6 Qatari Riyals - about $1:65 - for a fish curry at their restaurant.
"“When I saw the board I had tears in my eyes,” said one of the owners, Shadab Khan, 47, originally from New Delhi, who has lived in Qatar for 13 years.
“Even now when I talk about it, I get a lump in my throat.”
He said the idea came from his younger brother, Nishab..."
http://www.arabnews.com/news/731511
Earlier this month a high-level delegation arrived in Kathmandu from Doha to address a series of issues relating to the recruitment of Nepalese workers for the massive construction operations in Qatar.
'“Our demands were well received by the Qatari side. We have been assured that our issues would be taken up to Qatari prime minister and cabinet,” State Labour Minister Tek Bahadur Gurung told the Post. “We expect Qatar to take some concrete steps within a few weeks.”'
http://www.ekantipur.com/the-kathmandu-post/2015/04/07/news/qatar-pledges-workers-safety/275110.html
Progress is long overdue...
"At least 70 percent of Nepali migrant workers who died in Qatar are deprived of compensation. In the past four years alone, 684 Nepali workers died in Qatar, according to the Foreign Employment Promotion Board. The Board had issued reimbursement to families of 205 deceased workers in 2013/14, 110 in 2012/13, 130 in 2011/12, 125 in 2010-11 and 114 in 2009-10, though the exact number of death is said to be higher.
Foreign employment experts said providing due compensation “matters a lot” to families of the migrant workers as most of these families are poor. They said that lives of many families have shattered due to death of their bread-winners abroad. Many families have been displaced or are failing to meet daily necessities or even compelled to forfeit meagre property for failing to pay debt they had taken to send their relatives abroad.
An Amnesty International report published in 2011 states that Nepali workers pay as high as 60 percent interest rate for money they borrow from money lenders to go abroad."
http://www.ekantipur.com/the-kathmandu-post/2015/04/06/news/qatar-urged-to-ensure-full-insurance-cover/275069.html
But is the message getting through?!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/qatar/11503669/Asian-labourers-press-ganged-into-joining-Qatar-marathon-record-attempt.html
Geronimo |
|
Back to top |
|
|
plumpy nut
Joined: 12 Mar 2011 Posts: 1652
|
Posted: Sat Jun 06, 2015 6:39 pm Post subject: |
|
|
damn_my_eyes wrote: |
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/24/qatar-2022-world-cup-185-nepalese-workers-died-2013
Can you imagine the outrage if 185 westerners died in Qatar? |
I have an obvious answer to the outrage. Move the games somewhere else now. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
scot47
Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343
|
Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2015 5:30 pm Post subject: |
|
|
The Games ? What games ? You mean the World Cup ? Do try to keep up with the rest of the class ! |
|
Back to top |
|
|
KidCurry and the Booshkas
Joined: 02 Jul 2015 Posts: 1
|
Posted: Wed Jul 15, 2015 7:00 am Post subject: nnnyihhh annnarwill... |
|
|
orrrnlee shaaaaYYin liiike |
|
Back to top |
|
|
Geronimo
Joined: 11 Apr 2007 Posts: 498
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
This page is maintained by the one and only Dave Sperling. Contact Dave's ESL Cafe
Copyright © 2018 Dave Sperling. All Rights Reserved.
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2002 phpBB Group
|