While Gulf state bans ‘all gathering bureaucracy’, migrants continue to work at structure sites
Migrant staff stadiums and infrastructure for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar are still sent to work on crowded sites, despite a government order banning “all bureaucracy from gatherings” due to the coronavirus pandemic.
With less than 1,000 days to go until the tournament began, staff said “business as usual” as the structure continued at a relentless pace.
Buses full of staff may be seen heading to work, while staff told the Guardian they continue to run long shifts with limited fitness checks.
As disputes continue in the U. K. over whether staff from the structure need to report to jobs, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said Tuesday that mandatory maintenance work can continue as long as staff remain two metres apart.
Such a condition would be almost unlikely to meet in Qatar, where staff live in overcrowded hard labor camps, share dormitories, with 8 to 10 other people, and are transported to construction sites in corporate buses filled with up to 60 people.
Although Qatar is still locked down and operations continue in some sectors, low-wage migrant staff are particularly vulnerable, given proximity to others in hard work camps and operations.
Workers say they still have no options to show, constrained by their employers and the pressing need to earn money for their families at home.
“I’m very worried about catching the virus, but I want money,” said a Kenyan structural painter, who is not hired on a World Cup project, who works 14-hour shifts. He says he wears gloves and a mask on the paintings. however, it is not enough. ” Only God is enough,” he added.
A Nepalese employee who is building a parking lot said his blood pressure was checked before each shift. “I wear a face mask, which I bought myself. Those who don’t have a mask cover their mouths with a piece of cloth,” he said.
Last week, the Qatari government announced a “ban on all bureaucracy from meetings. . . including, but not limited to, the Corniche, public parks, beaches and social gatherings,” but despite the near-total closure of gyms, movie theaters, grocery shopping in shopping malls and banks, the resolution does not appear to apply to structural and other personnel personnel.
Reviews on government social media sites urging others to avoid public spaces and gatherings sparked an angry reaction, with one user writing, “How will staff social distancing be structured?. . . Nobody cares about our safety. . . Do you think we do?Don’t we need to live? Do you think we don’t need to see our families?
Another wrote that he was on the site nine hours a day, adding: “We are not robots. We are not immune to the virus. “
Migrant staff in Qatar and the Gulf cannot replace jobs without their employer’s permission, a formula that some rights teams have described as a fashionable form of slavery. Legislation to end the practice revealed in October has not yet entered into force.
Most migrant staff pay high recruitment fees, some as low as £4,000, to get work in Qatar. Many find that their wages are lower than they were promised. Low wages and late bills are commonplace, but staff are reluctant to complain out of concern. of wasting their jobs.
“It’s hard for staff in any context to refuse to move to work, but in systems like Qatar, where employers have an excessive degree of control over staff, that would be risky,” said James Lynch, director of Fair/Square Research. Projects and personnel specialized in immigrants in Qatar. ” The new migration to Qatar was halted due to the pandemic, so the effect of wasting their work now is even worse than it would be anyway. “
The number of coronavirus cases shown in Qatar has now surpassed 500, with the vast majority of migrant workers. This figure is the third in the Gulf, after Iran and Saudi Arabia.
In a statement, the Qatari government’s communications workplace said the well-being of everyone in Qatar is a primary concern. Coronavirus testing is flexible for everyone, and anyone who tests positive receives high-quality care, they said.
“The government is coordinating strongly with employers to ensure their fitness and protection are maintained. This includes collaborating with corporations to teach staff about preventive actions, adding hygiene, sterilization and cleaning of sites and buses, as well as controlled access and exit in workplaces,” he said.
The Supreme Committee, the governing body of the World Cup, has been contacted for comment.
Additional reporting via Roshan Sedhai