On 30 June 2021, Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA) launched the second volume of its analysis report (see Vol. 1 here) – Crying out for Justice: Wage theft against migrant workers during COVID-19. The report is the culmination of a large-scale documentation effort by the group, analysing 1,113 reported cases of wage theft documented by MFA members and partners between January and May 2021.

The documentation effort marks the first anniversary of the MFA’s Justice For Wage Theft campaign, which is a joint effort by a large coalition of trade unions and civil society organisations. The campaign calls for an urgent justice mechanism for migrant workers repatriated due to the COVID-19 pandemic without being paid their due wages, salaries, and end-of-service benefits.

All six GCC countries were among the countries of destination reporting cases of wage theft: UAE (357), Saudi Arabia (252), Kuwait (182), Malaysia (95), Philippines (60), Bahrain (46), Qatar (41), China (29) and Oman (18). Out of the 1,113 analysed cases, 753 cases of wage theft were experienced by documented workers and 359 cases by undocumented workers. The report also breaks down the case data by gender.

The largest number of cases of wage theft were recorded from the construction sector (657 cases), This was followed by the manufacturing sector (145 cases), domestic work (115) and retail (45). Compared to 2020, there has also been a significant increase of cases of wage theft reported in domestic work, retail and among office staff.