Qatar: World Cup migrant workers wait a year to be paid for building offices
Summary
Date Reported: 28 Jul 2014
Location: Qatar
Companies
Lee Trading & Contracting - EmployerProjects
Offices of the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy, al Bidda Tower - ClientAffected
Total individuals affected: 13
Migrant & immigrant workers: ( Number unknown - India , Construction , Gender not reported ) , Migrant & immigrant workers: ( Number unknown - Nepal , Construction , Gender not reported ) , Migrant & immigrant workers: ( Number unknown - Sri Lanka , Construction , Gender not reported )Issues
Restricted mobility , Withholding Passports , Wage Theft , Freedom of MovementResponse
Response sought: No
Action taken: The Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy confirmed to the Guardian that the offices it uses had been outfitted by unpaid workers. It stressed it had not commissioned the company itself. Katara Projects, which did commission Lee Trading, stated that it had terminated its agreement with the firm when it found out about the mistreatment of workers and non-payment of wages.
Source type: News outlet
Migrant workers who built luxury offices used by Qatar's 2022 football World Cup organisers have told the Guardian they have not been paid for more than a year and are now working illegally from cockroach-infested lodgings. Officials in Qatar's Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy have been using offices on the 38th and 39th floors of Doha's landmark al-Bidda skyscraper – known as the Tower of Football – which were fitted out by men from Nepal, Sri Lanka and India who say they have not been paid for up to 13 months' work. The project, a Guardian investigation shows, was directly commissioned by the Qatar government and the workers' plight is set to raise fresh doubts over the autocratic emirate's commitment to labour rights as construction starts this year on five new stadiums for the World Cup... Their case was raised with Qatar's prime minister by Amnesty International last November, but the workers have said 13 of them remain stranded in Qatar... Contracts show the project was commissioned by Katara Projects, a Qatar government organisation under the auspices of the office of the then heir apparent, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, who is now the emir...Katara said it terminated its agreement with Lee Trading when it discovered the mistreatment of workers and non-payment of wages, and made efforts to repatriate those affected or find them new jobs.