Working in the Gulf

Qatar has launched a crack down campaign on labour rights abuse by employers across the country. The Ministry of Labour is going to check each month around 100 companies on violating employees’ rights.

For many years law of the business owner ruled over general legislation in respect to employee rights and freedom at work place.

Especially, in the Gulf States immigrant workers from Africa, India and South East Asia often used to have a “no rights” status while doing their job.

Many of the workers had been exposed to the good will of the employer regarding, payment, holidays, safety at the work place as well as hiring and firing.

Thousands of Eritreans work in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates as house mates, construction workers, taxi drivers and factory workers. Most of the foreign workers went to these countries on the basis of the widespread perceptions in their home land of lucrative and exciting jobs abroad.

Unfortunately, finding a situation that meets minimum standards of decent work is often a matter of luck and not a guarantee. Those who are not so lucky may become trapped in highly exploitative situations with few exit options.

Many workers have to go through conditions, which remind on slavery and a second class society. Only until last month domestic workers were excluded from labor laws in Saudi Arabia, denying them rights such as a weekly day of rest, limits to hours of work and overtime pay.

However, the Gulf States have taken the right direction by introducing more and more labor protection laws into their legal system. This will help the government to stop the increasing number of staff turnover amongst qualified foreign workers.

Big and important companies in the region need to have a very active human resource department, because work conditions make people come and go in no time. Hence new labor legislation in the Gulf States might help to improve the situation by improving conditions for the employees.