Qatar Snapshot

At a friend's company, the labourers went on strike for two days for non payment of salaries.. Some had not been paid for six months.. TRhe company finally paid them for four months and still owes them two..

I agree fully that the Embassies need to take a stronger line to protect the rights of their citizens..

Its not the GCC countries, but the supplier countries and their embassies..

With the boom in construction and development, theer is a demand for manpower. The embassies should use this as a means for securing better deals for their citizens..

Now, if you read this (and a hundred similar stories), what impression do you get about how expatriate laborers are treated in Qatar?

Greetings from Delhi :)

Ban Spoon Feeding not Me

Many of us have missed you! ;-)

(...not all! :-P )

siesta, siesta!

QT - I am enjoying the culture in here. not night clubs and boose.:( yesterday finished 3/4 bottle of Taquila and went flat :( I hope you are no more in to breaking glasses anymore :0

Ban Spoon Feeding not Me

charan, your thread is "greetings from India". Too much Tequila, eh.

they were shafted before they got here in their own countries... these 'agents' lied to them and the conditions...
Qatar can't prosecute them but they could do more to prosecute the companies that use these agents.

Oryx, ten people in one room? A bit of rice and veggy, and two "extremely" flat breads per day? That's not what the agents offer them, that's what they get here from the local companies!!

I think what happened to these laborers is really DISGUSTING they should be paid regularly, god knows they need their salaries more than we do, whole families are dependent on them....
The law should be more harsh against such companies

Doctora, is there no chance that people like you can become part of the government. Would do good for Qatar.

it was a very sad story...Working for 9 hours a day 6 times a week,26 days a month & yet u will not get anything on pay day?How will these people make their living?they got families to support back in their home country.Agencies,companies should be black listed not to recruit people to suffer!

I am not mean, but have seen the world..The saying, "money is the root of all evil does apply"..

I have met numerous enlightened Arabs who studied in the West, esposed great ideals, yet when they came back and started companies, mistreated their employees..

Not a generaliztion, but something I have seen with my own eyes.

I understand, brit. I don't think you're mean. It is always a pleasure to have a tele-conversation with you.

LOL Now you give me credit more than i deserve

there is a Hadith by Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him )
اعطي الاجير اجره قبل ان يجف عرقه "
"Give the employee his due before his sweat is dry.'" or another translation "Give the worker his pay before his sweat dries up.”

I wish all india, srrelanka, nepal, bengladesh and phil join together and take a stand on this. Sounds impossible though.. thts the only solution..

700 of them were taken back to India from saudia last week. most were unpaid, sexually and physically asssaulted. Wher the F*** is the human rights people, they are busy commenting where there is US interests.
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It Takes 72 Muscles to Frown...And Only 14 To Smile.
: ) Keep Smiling : )

"Another title just to stir up trouble."
Maybe you should direct this comment at The Gulf Times who published this story.

"Deaths in the Bible. God - 2,270,365
not including the victims of Noah's flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, or the
many plagues, famines, fiery serpents, etc because no specific numbers
were given. Satan - 10."

/-a-t-/adey, I will not. GulfTime's title was "Labourers protest over pay dues" Which is right!

Magicdragon's title insinuates that THIS is Qatar.

/-a-t-/Magicdragon, I think you've been puffing on the magic dragon because you are talking about something totally different. *sighs*
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Mr. Q's Blog - A Qatari's view on Qatar.

Qatar negativity all the time as your normal logic isn't showing!

This was in Doha industial area! This happened in Qatar!
There is unfortunately no denying that fact!

Maybe it would have made amnesia happier if it said" this happens IN qatar"...instead of saying "this IS Qatar"...but in the end..it is only semantics...as the result stays the same....

A sense of humour is just common sense dancing, sadly, common sense has left the building and is dancing somewhere else.
Alexa

wishful thinking, diamond. What really happens, is this:
The Indian Embassy will take a final decision tomorrow on the complaints of more than 100 Indian workers who registered a mass protest against their employer over non-payment of dues.

"The concerned company has sought two days’ time to settle the whole issue. If any of the employees wants to go home, the company is prepared for that", an embassy official said.

More than a hundred labourers approached the Indian mission on Thursday complaining against the non-payment of their wages. Many of them sought the embassy's help for immediately flying back home.

Though the majority of the protesters were skilled workers like technicians, welders, riggers and fielders, they were given unskilled jobs. The workers complained they were made to work long hours instead of the promised 10-hour work schedule. They also said they were made to live in inhuman conditions with 10 to 12 men crammed into a room.
(Peninsula 30/08/2008}
As you can see, the company more or less gets away with it. The laborers fly home and the next batch will be treated the same. They should just shut down this company forever!

Not just wishful thinking Magic, the government is making progress and steps in the right direction. I am optimistic that more corrupt companies will be penalised.

Stories like this should get as much publicity and be brought to as many people's attention as possible to highlight these issues.

Thanks for bringing it to everyone's attention.

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not a single comment.
http://timesofindia....

/-a-t-/QT, the title implies that 'this is the way that Qatar is everywhere'.

ANyway fine you guys win.
Qatar is a shyt hole.

Bums and poor indians everywhere.

Nobody gives a damn.

We're all heartless.

Here's what the government is doing. You didn't bother posting about that.

I don't have the direct links but
85 firms penalized for rule violation (Gulf Times)

Ministry of Labour suspends 190 private firms (The Peninsula)

Qatar: 94 companies suspended for violating labour law (The Peninsula)

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Mr. Q's Blog - A Qatari's view on Qatar.

...well except the industrial area!

...but I had a great time!

Mate, you do a lot for the reputation of your people and your country, I know you are compassionate about it as well as treat expatriates there very well.

People are not saying that Qataris like you are the minority, they are just saying, these things happen.

I pointed out above that many of the managers and supervisors that treat these people badly are expatriates themselves.

I hope this "Qatarization" actually brings a better and more civilized change in Qatar. Qatar is an amazing country with an amazing Emir, the only problem is those stupid, lazy slackers that work 2 hours a day and have no one to say shyt to them... There should be a Ministry of "getting lazy qataris to work or else get deported back to the desert" or something over here. If there were more people like the Emir, Diamond and Amnesia in this country, it would be heaven in here.

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(Lebanon A piece of Heaven on Earth)

you sit in the pub and the mall bragging to each other about how cheap your nannies, drivers and maids are. Ya spend more money on a pint and your cell phone than to the person that watches over your children and cooks your food.
All over the world everyone uses migrant labor because it is cheaper than local labor. Half the stuff we have would not exist if we had to pay a reasonable wage.

Thy treasures of gold are dim with the blood of the hearts thou hast sold;
Thy home may be lovely, but round it I hear
The crack of the whip, and the footsteps of fear."

-Lydia Maria Child, From the anti-slavery song "The Yankee Girl" quoted in her book "Slavery's Pleasant Homes", 1843

/-a-t-/Mr. Paul, since that article is about Bahrain, another country.
Then hopefully Qatar, will make sure that it doesn't happen over here.

Hasn't happened yet and the only way to prohibit this is by registering names on a blacklist rather than just the company. (Which Qatar does).

Starting up a company is not as easy as it is in Bahrain.

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Mr. Q's Blog - A Qatari's view on Qatar.