The Qatari government and Fifa have reached an agreement on conditions for workers involved in the construction of 2022 World Cup facilities how nice. I'm sure it will be simple window dressing to ensure that the attention of the worlds media, labor and human rights organizations isn't focused on the abuse of the workers presently in Qatar.
After all superficial appearances and money rule the day not worker safety.
At a highly anticipated announcement Wednesday, Qatari officials announced what they said were sweeping changes to the system, though they offered no time table for the implementation of the reforms. The country will abolish thekafala system if a draft law is approved, according to The Guardian, ending the sponsorship system that directly ties workers to their employers. It will replace it with a contractual employment system, the government said, which should give workers more rights to change jobs. The proposed reforms also increase fines on employers who do not pay workers proper wages in a timely manner, and Qatar will attempt to implement an electronic payment system to make compensation practices more transparent.
The biggest potential change, pending the draft proposal, is to the oft-criticized exit visa system, which allows employers to prevent their workers from leaving the country. That system came under international scrutiny when French soccer player Zahir Belounis, who played for Qatari club Al-Jaish, tried to leave the country but could not when the club refused to grant permission. The new system will scrap the employer-controlled exit visa system, and it will increase fines on employers who take passports from workers who enter the country to five times the current rate. The government will now control the entrance and exit permit system, according to the announced changes.
After all superficial appearances and money rule the day not worker safety.
At a highly anticipated announcement Wednesday, Qatari officials announced what they said were sweeping changes to the system, though they offered no time table for the implementation of the reforms. The country will abolish thekafala system if a draft law is approved, according to The Guardian, ending the sponsorship system that directly ties workers to their employers. It will replace it with a contractual employment system, the government said, which should give workers more rights to change jobs. The proposed reforms also increase fines on employers who do not pay workers proper wages in a timely manner, and Qatar will attempt to implement an electronic payment system to make compensation practices more transparent.
The biggest potential change, pending the draft proposal, is to the oft-criticized exit visa system, which allows employers to prevent their workers from leaving the country. That system came under international scrutiny when French soccer player Zahir Belounis, who played for Qatari club Al-Jaish, tried to leave the country but could not when the club refused to grant permission. The new system will scrap the employer-controlled exit visa system, and it will increase fines on employers who take passports from workers who enter the country to five times the current rate. The government will now control the entrance and exit permit system, according to the announced changes.
The international labor group that has likened Qatar to a “modern-day slave state,” however, is less impressed with the reforms, saying they are merely a rebranding of the current system and do not go far enough or address many abuses against workers that fall outside the exit visa system.
“Modern slavery will still exist in Qatar despite the announcement of cosmetic reforms to the labour law today,” Sharan Burrow, general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation, said in a statement on the group’s web site.
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