{"id":200559,"date":"2021-12-06T12:01:22","date_gmt":"2021-12-06T12:01:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=200559"},"modified":"2021-12-08T06:34:45","modified_gmt":"2021-12-08T06:34:45","slug":"we-have-fallen-into-a-trap-qatars-world-cup-dream-is-a-nightmare-for-hotel-staff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2021\/12\/we-have-fallen-into-a-trap-qatars-world-cup-dream-is-a-nightmare-for-hotel-staff\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We Have Fallen into a Trap\u2019: Qatar\u2019s World Cup Dream Is a Nightmare for Hotel Staff"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Foreword from author Pete Pattisson<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n
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Workers leave the construction site of two luxury hotels that will open in time for the World Cup, by Pete Pattisson<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

In the summer of 2013, I spent weeks waiting outside the arrivals hall at Kathmandu\u2019s airport.<\/em><\/p>\n

As flights from the Gulf touched down, among the hundreds of returning migrant workers were coffins, bearing the bodies of young men who had paid the ultimate price in search of work overseas. Often these bodies were being flown home from Qatar, host of the 2022 football World Cup.<\/em><\/p>\n

That experience set me on a reporting journey that has taken me from gut-wrenching scenes in remote Nepali villages, as families cremated loved ones, to labour camps on the outskirts of Doha, where I interviewed men packed 12 to a room, who told me about the low wages and long hours they endured, often in the Gulf\u2019s intense summer heat. Over the years, as international criticism of Qatar\u2019s treatment of migrant workers grew stronger, the country introduced sweeping labour reforms, applauded by several international bodies, including the UN.<\/em><\/p>\n

Earlier this year I returned to Doha to see how things have changed, one year before the World Cup begins.<\/em><\/p>\n

After I arrived, I drove north through Lusail, a district of gaudy and outrageous buildings, which will host the World Cup final. In 2014 I reported that one was being built by North Koreans employed in conditions likely to constitute <\/a>forced labour, a modern form of slavery. It is now a luxury hotel.<\/em><\/p>\n

When Fifa executives step on to the asphalt in Doha next November, their next stop is likely to one of Qatar\u2019s glittering array of opulent hotels, built to provide the most luxurious possible backdrop to the biggest sporting event on earth. But behind the scenes at some of those hotels\u00a0I found migrant hotel workers claiming that they are struggling to survive on wages of \u00a31 an hour<\/a>. For them, and other migrant workers I interviewed, Qatar\u2019s labour reforms seem not to have translated into significant changes to their lives.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sitting in a park in Doha, among a group of south Asian community activists who had all worked in Qatar for more than a decade, there was a sense that next year\u2019s tournament wasn’t for them<\/a>. \u201cWe built this country but they are not thinking about us workers,\u201d said one. \u201cHow can we afford World Cup tickets on our salaries?\u201d another added.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Seduced by Salary Promises, Workers at FIFA-Endorsed Hotels Allege They Have Been Exploited and Abused<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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A security guard (not interviewed for this story) at a five star hotel near Doha seeks shelter from the heat. Photograph: Pete Pattisson<\/p><\/div>\n

18 Nov 2021 – <\/em>When Fifa executives step on to the asphalt in Doha next November for the start of the 2022 World Cup<\/a> finals, their next stop is likely to be the check-in at one of Qatar\u2019s glittering array of opulent hotels, built to provide the most luxurious possible backdrop to the biggest sporting event on earth.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, with a year to go before the first match, fans who want to emulate the lifestyle of the sporting elite can head to Fifa\u2019s hospitality website<\/a> to plan their stay in the host nation. There they can scroll through a catalogue of exclusive, Fifa-endorsed accommodation, from boutique hotels to five-star resorts.<\/p>\n

Yet behind the scenes of some of those hotels, while guests lounge around the pool or sip cocktails at the bar, migrant hotel workers claim they are struggling to survive on wages of \u00a31 an hour.<\/p>\n

The Guardian stayed at or visited seven of the hotels listed on Fifa\u2019s hospitality website and in interviews and conversations with more than 40 workers \u2013 employed directly and through sub-contractors \u2013 <\/strong>uncovered a number of allegations of serious labour rights violations and low wages. The hotels have not been named to protect the identity of the workers who spoke to the Guardian.<\/p>\n

Many workers alleged they worked extremely long hours, with some saying they had not had a day off for months. While they spent their days surrounded by the most luxurious of settings, some workers said they were housed in overcrowded rooms in stifling labour camps. A few workers claimed their passports had been confiscated. Many said their employer would not let them change jobs.<\/p>\n

Pride and Poverty: Qatar\u2019s World Cup Fever Tempered by Legacy of Labour Abuses<\/em><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While rooms in the hotels listed on Fifa\u2019s hospitality site are charged at up to \u00a3820 a night when bought as part of a package, <\/strong>almost every worker the Guardian spoke to employed in housekeeping, security, valet service, cleaning or gardening said they earned less than \u00a31.25 an hour. Many were working for less than \u00a31 an hour.<\/p>\n

Workers made multiple allegations of breaches of Qatar\u2019s labour law, which suggest shortcomings in Qatar\u2019s labour reforms<\/a>. These promised an end to abusive working conditions and the kafala<\/a><\/em> sponsorship system that meant workers could not change jobs or leave the country without their employer\u2019s consent.<\/p>\n

The workers\u2019 allegations also imply that Fifa has failed to effectively carry out basic checks on the hotels investigated by the Guardian that it had signed up to its catalogue, in breach of its own human rights policy<\/a>, which requires it to prevent labour abuses linked to its operations.<\/p>\n

While most workers the Guardian spoke to received salaries in line with the new minimum wage, which came into force in March 2021, that wage still equates to only \u00a31 an hour plus a small allowance for food and board.<\/p>\n

The Guardian has also seen payslips from one worker employed directly by a hotel in Fifa\u2019s catalogue, which show that when the minimum wage was introduced his basic wage of 750 rials (\u00a3150) rose to 1,000 rials (\u00a3200) a month, but allowances for food or transport, for example, were cut by the same amount, meaning his salary stayed the same.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes I ask myself why I came here,\u201d he said. \u201cThe World Cup is a big thing and everyone enjoys it, but the way they treat us \u2026 we are all tired of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

As darkness fell on one of the properties in Fifa\u2019s brochure, guests retired indoors, leaving David*, a migrant worker from Africa, labouring near the swimming pool.<\/p>\n

A night in a standard room in the hotel costs more than David earns in a month. He is desperate to change jobs but despite recent government legislation allowing this, he sayssaid he is trapped. \u201cMy friends have tried to change jobs but our company refuses to let them go,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have to accept it. Our boss does whatever he wants.\u201d<\/p>\n