Slavery Entrenched by Law: Immigrant Workers in the Gulf Story – Al-Bawaba

Siddiq Shehab arrived in the Gulf from his native Mangalore in South India in 1982, carrying an almost empty suitcase. Siddiq left everything behind and travelled to the Gulf to work for one of the largest contracting companies so he could save money for his marriage.

Two years later, Siddiq got married, but he returned to the Gulf where he stayed for 39 more years. He only saw his family for two months once every two years, as he had to stay in the Gulf and work, spending all his income to support his family and parents.

Siddiq, who worked as an electrical supervisor, never thought he would return home empty-handed after not receiving his salary for 18 consecutive months. With no choice, Siddiq left the Gulf for good in March 2021 with the contracting company owing him $48,900 in salary arrears and end-of-service benefits, burying his dream of securing a dignified life after retirement.

Siddiq and 18 of his colleagues who make up the last remaining employees of a company that once had over 1,000 employees have been receiving their salaries irregularly since 2017. The company had allowed them to live in its designated workers accommodation where they had to make ends meet $53 a month and rely on charity for food with minimal healthcare services access. On top of that, Siddiq, who had turned 70 years old, faced another dilemma when his residence permit expired in May 2019, thus putting him at risk of imprisonment and deportation since he has become an irregular migrant worker.

Siddiqs and his colleagues stories shed light on the problem of hundreds of thousands of migrant workers in the Gulf countries who are deprived of their wages and their end-of-service benefits a common violation committed by kafeels (Arabic for sponsor) and employers. Workers rights organizations describe this as wage theft. There are laws that regulate the relation between the employer and employees; however, they are full of loopholes that some employers exploit if they want to.

Even though there are mechanisms to lodge complaints and litigation procedures to resolve disputes, there are various difficulties and obstacles that most of the time prevent migrant workers from resorting to them to preserve their rights.

By the time the residence permits of Siddiqs 18 colleagues, who worked in the company for different periods of time that ranged between three and 38 years, ended, the company owed them money that ranged between $7,089 and $108,152 each. The total amount of money owed to them is $526,000 an amount that is enough to construct a 500 square meters medium-sized villa in the Gulf.

However, the large company, which implemented public and private sector projects worth hundreds of millions of dinars, never paid these dues.

According to the Saudi Ministry of Human Resources and Social Developments contractual Relationship Improvement Initiative document, which was prepared in August 2020, there are 1.2 million migrant workers whose wages have been delayed.

These workers constitute 8.3% of the total workforce in Saudi Arabia where 79% of this workforce is made up of migrant workers. This reflects the problem of wage theft in the Gulf. The workforce in Saudi Arabia constitutes about 50.2% of the total workforce in the Gulf countries, and Saudi Arabia alone hosts47.3%of the total number of migrant workers present in the Gulf.

Its estimated that there are 24 million migrant workers in the Gulf countries, constituting 83.3% of the total workforce of the Gulf countries. Migrant workers constitute the majority of the workforce in Qatar (94.0%), the United Arab Emirates (92.5%), Kuwait (84.2%), Bahrain (79.4%) and Oman (78.4%).

The document, written within the framework of Vision 2030 initiatives, reveals the real magnitude of the problem, and aims to improve contractual relations between employers and employees based on international standards. In December 2020, Saudi Arabia signed the Protection of Wages Convention, 1949 (No. 95); hence becoming the only Gulf country to sign this convention that aims to protect wages of workers as much as possible so far.

The implementation of this convention requires fulfilling three main elements: efficient supervision, appropriate penalties, and means for compensating the victims.

key principles of Convention (No. 95) *Workers shall be free to dispose of their wages as they choose. *Wages must be paid in national currency. *In cases of partial payment in kind, the value should be fair and reasonable. *No unlawful deductions are permitted (right to receive wages in full). *In cases of employer insolvency, wages shall enjoy a priority in the distribution of liquidated assets. *Regular payment of wages, including full and swift final settlement of all wages within a reasonable time, upon termination of employment. Source:International Labor Organization

In Bahrain,Minister of Labor and Social Development Jameel Humaidansaid that 2,863 workers in 18 companies received irregular wages in 2018, adding that companies delayed wages payment for periods that ranged between two months and six months.

In addition to legal migrant workers, who are theoretically protected by employment contracts but practically face the risk of wage theft due to employers exploitation and deception, there are hundreds of thousands of irregular migrant workers who are in fact the most vulnerable to wage theft. This category of migrant workers who work outside legal frameworks is called wandering workers or free visa workers.

Except forSaudi Arabia, there are no accurate numbers of irregular migrant workers in the Gulf and the data only shows the numbers of those whose residence permits have expired or whose residence permits were cancelled by their sponsors. The law views these workers as violators although they have not intentionally violated the laws and they have simply found themselves in this situation because renewing their residency permits is not possible except through a sponsor.

These workers situation becomes more dangerous if their sponsors lodge a complaint accusing them of Horoob (absconding). Those are the most fearful of getting caught regardless of why they escaped even if its due to abuse and violation of their rights.

The penalty for absconding in Gulf countries is arrest and deportation. In Kuwait, for instance, these workers are also blacklisted and banned from re-entering the country for a certain number of years. In Saudi Arabia, these workers face being fined $13,000 and imprisonment for six months followed by deportation and a permanent ban from re-entering the country. Hence, these workers who face this accusation of absconding keep a low profile while working in secret, hence becoming more vulnerable to exploitation and wage theft.

A migrant workers rights activist, who requested to remain anonymous said: A form of irregular employment has emerged in the Gulf due to exploiting the sponsorship system to sell visas. Employers or ordinary individuals issue migrant visas as domestic workers, then, with the permission of the employer, allows them to take other jobs in exchange for payments that range between $3,200-$3,700 (every 2 year) and the worker usually pays the sponsor once every two years.

Some workers willingly travel (to this destination country) fully aware of the situation as they need (to make a living) and are (often) promised by agents (who facilitate their travel) plenty of job opportunities in the Gulf. Sometimes, the sponsor does not renew the visa, and the worker does not have the capability to return home; hence he unwillingly ends up in a legal dilemma.

In addition to migrant workers who face the risk of wage theft, domestic workers, particularly females, also face similar risks. Domestic workers, whoconstitute25% of the total migrant workforce in the Gulf, work in residences which are not inspected, and their work is also not governed by labor laws.

The only exception, however, in this regard is Bahrain which included domestic workers under 13 Articles of labor law in 2013. Although Gulf countries except Oman have set laws to protect migrant workers, a report by the author of this investigation with the title Domestic Work: A Comparative Overview between Bahrain and the Rest of the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries showed that these laws are still superficial when defining the rights of domestic workers and are governed by a social culture that fears granting this category of workers their full rights and equating them with the rights enumerated in these countries labor laws and in accordance with the Convention on Domestic Workers which none of the Gulf countries have signed. Gulf countries also exclude domestic workers from their wage protection systems.

Migrant workers are the human fuel of GCC economies

Migrants have played a significant role in building Gulf countries' economies since the 1970s. During the past three decades, they have contributed to their growth. Migrants constitute the largest percentage of population growth that reached 151.5% in all six Gulf countries.

Figures indicate that the number of migrants have tripled when compared with the national population increase in the past three decades where the number of citizens has increased by 87.5%, that of migrants increased by 267.4%.

During this period, Gulf economies recorded agrowth, in their GDP from $210 billion to $1,817 billion (765%).

The number of migrants in Gulf countries reached 30 million, constituting 11% of thetotal number of migrant workers worldwidewhich is estimated at 272 million. This is despite the fact that the population of all six Gulf countries does not exceed 0.8% of the worlds population. Migrant workers in Gulf countries constitute 14.2% of the total number of people migrating for work internationally and which reached 169 million according to figures byILO.

The number of migrants in Gulf countries reached 30 million, constituting 11% of thetotal number of migrant workers worldwidewhich is estimated at 272 million. This is despite the fact that the population of all six Gulf countries does not exceed 0.8% of the worlds population. Migrant workers in Gulf countries constitute 14.2% of the total number of people migrating for work internationally and which reached 169 million according to figures byILO.

Period: Three decades from 1990 until 2019. Source: United Nations and World Bank

Wage theft is a permanent problem that migrant workers face in the Gulf. The coronavirus pandemic, which negatively affected Gulf economies and the global economy, helped expose the violations of migrant workers rights.

Wage theft had the worst impact on migrant workers whose main purpose of traveling to the Gulf was to make a living to provide for themselves and for their families at home. This issue also shed the light on the loopholes in labor laws and the obstacles that migrant workers face when they resort to the available complaint mechanisms and litigation procedures.

At the end of 2019, it had been an entire year since Siddiq last received any salary from his employer, and six months since his last day at work. Siddiq began to get worried due to the companys procrastination in paying his dues. At the time, Siddiq had not visited his family for five years.

Due to his ill health, he finally decided to file a complaint at the Ministry of Labor and Social Development against the company. Siddiq said: In early 2020, (news emerged) about a virus spreading in the world, and we heard that we may be prohibited from travelling. I want to be with my family. Time passed quickly while I was working. Every time I intended to return home, I kept postponing my return for another year because of my financial obligations.

After his residency permit expired, Siddiq could no longer go to the governmental healthcare center. He also could no longer afford buying medication for his chronic health conditions as those cost him $106 per month, i.e. twice the amount which the company paid him ($53) to live on. His colleagues also faced similar problems.

The company informed Siddiq and his colleagues that travelling was prohibited and reassured them that these were exceptional circumstances and they shouldnt worry if their residency permits expired.

Siddiq and his colleagues were only capable of accessing healthcare in case they were infected with Covid-19 as the government announced that it will treat migrant workers without examining their legal residency status.

At this point, ordinary work at ministries (employees attendance at offices) was suspended; hence, Siddiq and his colleagues were not able to follow up on their complaint at the Ministry of Labor. The company stopped communicating with them. They continued to live in their accommodation provided by their employer, but they faced the risk of eviction after the company stopped paying the rent. They lived in dire conditions and they had to rely on charity for their subsistence. The landlord eventually had the power cut off, leaving them to rely on power from a generator. worsening their living conditions even further as they suffered from power outages during the scorching summer heat because they could not afford fuel to refill it.

As Covid-19 spread, work was suspended in several sectors in the Gulf. The pandemic and its economic repercussions on Gulf economies exposed the fragile situation of migrant workers in Gulf countries and their vulnerable position.

Although migrant workers are the backbone of the labor market in the Gulf countries, considering that they constitute 83.8% of their workforce, these countries crisis response did not consider those to be part of their priorities. Instead, they rushed to help private sector companies by activating force majeure measures in their laws to allow affected companies to decrease employees wages or force them to take paid or unpaid leave. On the level of workers rights, this looked more like a measure that paved the way for wage theft during the pandemic.At the same time, the governments helped These companies pay the wages of citizens. They also helped with rent and exempted them from fees to renew residence and work permits of migrant workers, subjecting only migrant workers in the private sector to harm due to force majeure.

Governmental measures to confront the pandemics consequences in the private sector

UAE-Enabling employers to reduce the wages of migrant workers via activating Ministerial Resolution No. 279 of 2020 regarding the stability of employment in the private sector.

Bahrain-Activating Article 43 of the Labor Law which stipulates that if the worker is prevented from executing his work for reasons of force majeure beyond the employers control, the worker shall be entitled to half his wage.

The Business & Human Rights Resource Center, which follows up on violations of migrant workers rights in the Gulf, recorded that the allegations of abuse in Gulf countries between April 2020 and August 2020witnesseda 275% increase when compared with allegations of abuse for the same period during 2019. Out of the 80 allegations of abuse that the center recorded during this period, non-payment of wages was the most frequent of cases as this violation was cited in 81% of cases.

In Saudi Arabia, labor courtssettled31,766 lawsuits during the year when Covid-19 spread (from March 2020 until March 2021). Lawsuits that pertain to wages constituted 59% of them. Other lawsuits pertained to requesting compensations, allowances and bonuses, which all fall within the practice of wage theft.

Areportpublished on the website of Bahrains Ministry of Labor and Social Development noted that up until October 2020, the ministry received 16,532 requests to settle disputes between employees and employers. It added that 50.3% of these disputes were resolved amicably.

The ministry also received 14 complaints lodged collectively, and they were also resolved amicably. This number (16,532) reflects an increase of 52% when compared with the number of complaints filed in the previous year. Although the author of this investigative report communicated with relevant parties in all Gulf countries, she could not clarify the nature of these complaints and whether they pertain to non-payment of wages.

She also could not obtain the number of lawsuits that are related to migrant workers and could not obtain the total number of complaints or lawsuits which are related to non-payment of wages in all the Gulf countries discussed in this investigation.

Migrant workers also faced problems during the pandemic due to the suspension of work at some government departments, including courts and offices where complaints are lodged. Meanwhile, departments that continued to operate were under pressure due to reduced working hours and employees capacity. In theUAE, the suspension of labor courts work resulted in delaying looking into non-payment of wages lawsuits.

The ILO Regional Office for Arab States said, in the summary of its meeting that was held in February 2021: Labor dispute commissions in the Gulf have reduced their operation capacity to 30% due to Covid-19. It also noted that wage protection systems in the Gulf that were set up to punish employers who violate workers rights in terms of wages, (received an enormous amount of complaints).

Workers insurance funds in Qatar and the UAE were also unable (to address) challenges. For example, the Workers Support and Insurance Fund in Qatar was only able to disburse $3.85 million as of August 2020 to 5,500 workers, a large number of other workers did not receive their wages.

There is no statistics about the size of migrant workers whose livelihoods were affected during the pandemic. However, the numbers of migrant workers who have left Gulf countries for good during the pandemic indicates there are unusual circumstances that pushed them to leave. These workers left either because of the termination of their job contracts or work or out of fear of the protective measures that excluded them, particularly amid governmental statements that urged its institutions to expedite nationalization of their labor forces, and reduce the reliance on migrant workers.

Credit Rating Agency Standard & Poors estimated that the population of the six Gulf countries, which this report discusses, hasdecreasedby 4% during the year when the pandemic spread and attributed this decrease to the high levels of job losses in the Gulf.

Gulf governments facilitated irregular migrant workers departure by exempting them from fines for violating their residency status. This raised fears about the dues owed to these workers, pushing international workers rights organizations, civil society, and labor syndicates to mobilize. They launched a globalcampaignthat calls for establishing urgent judicial mechanisms to retrieve these workers wages from employers. The campaign also aimed to draw the worlds attention to these inhumane practices committed against migrant workers.

It must be noted that theMigrant Forum in Asia(MFA), which led this campaign along with other organizations, documented 1,465 cases of wage theft against migrant workers in all Gulf countries between June 2020 and May 2021. These cases, however, were documented based on the victims initiatives and on the organizations which followed up on these cases; thus they represent a model and do not reflect the magnitude of the problem in each country.

Legal migrant workers constituted the largest percentage of these cases in all Gulf countries except Kuwait. This indicates that these victims were subjected to wage theft while working in prominent companies. It also indicates how difficult it is for irregular migrant workers to demand the payment of their dues since most of them work without contracts or on a daily basis. The database which ARIJ has obtained with assistance from MFA showed that 89% of (the 1465 cases) were male and 11% were female. The majority were from India (51%), Nepal (31%), Bangladesh (10%) and Philippine (7%) with (1%) from Indonesia.

This investigative report reveal that there are at least eight indicators out of 11indicators of forced laboras specified by ILOs Special Action Program to Combat Forced Labor that were derived from ILOs theoretical and practical experience. Forced labor is considered a form ofhuman trafficking.

The fact that there are laws that prohibit the practices that these indicators are based on, reflect how dangerous they are. However, these practices have become common due to the lax implementation of the laws that are also full of loopholes. This is in addition to the fragile conditions that those affected live in, and their circumstances that prevent them from seeking help or justice.

Lawyers and activists in Gulf countries have identified 17 types of wage theft that vary in Commonality according to the differences in the strictness of the laws that regulate wages and the contractual relationship between the employer and the employee. In addition to the monthly wage, wage theft also includes the theft of overtime allowances, leave entitlements, and end of service gratuity.

1- Some recruitment agencies in countries of origin and countries of destination impose fees on the individual in order to recruit them. The worker thus ends up in debt (even before taking up their new job) although the laws of all Gulf countries except Kuwait prohibit charging fees to workers.

Ibrahim S. is one of 120 workers who were subjected to wage theft during the pandemic. They were deported without being given their end of service gratuity and after their wages were withheld from 2017. MFA reported that these workers paid between $673 and $1,076 to a recruitment agency in India to employ them in a large construction company in Saudi Arabia. The company, which is owned by investors from Saudi Arabia and India, employs around 10,000 such workers.

Recruitment Fees

2- Replacing an agreement with another for a lesser wage upon arrival

Migrants are deceived by dual agreements, one in the country of origin and another in the country of destination. The agreements have different conditions. (When the migrants realize this is happening to them), it would be too late (to do anything) as they have already become in debt and theres no way back.

Source: Dr. Nasrah Shah, a professor in the faculty of economy at Lahore University, who worked for 30 years in Kuwait University as a lecturer in demography.

3- Termination of services and deportation without paying dues.

4- Blackmail by confiscating passports to force workers to sign work compensation settlements even if not all dues have been paid.

Confiscation of passports is common in Gulf countries although the law in these countries prohibit this practice.

5- Working without a valid visa

An employers consent is mandatory to renew the visa. In Bahrain, courts deem employees who demand their dues after their visa expires as ineligible, even though the employees cannot renew their visa without the approval of the employer.

6- Compulsory working period

All Gulf countries do not allow workers to change their jobs without the approval of the employer or only allows them to do so after a certain period of time has passed. Some employers exploit this period of time to force workers to work for a lesser wage until this period ends.

7- Not paying overtime remuneration

Some laws allow the employer to have certain employees in positions such as security guards to work additional hours. Employers exploit this to note it in the contract without granting them extra money for the additional hours worked.

8- Manipulation of end of service gratuity

The amount of end of service gratuity is calculated on the basis of the employees last wage. Some employers pay their salary dues once every two years of service; hence, the employee may get a lesser amount of money.

9- Changing a workers visa to indicate that they are working for another registered company, although owned by the same original employer often without the workers knowledge.

Changing the companys register deprives the worker of his right to demand any dues such as end of service gratuity a year after changing the companys register even if the holding company of the new firm is the same.

10- Procrastination

Employers often use empty promises to deter workers from filing a lawsuit. They keep making these promises until the limitation period to claim wages and other entitlements due passes. The worker also does not get a remuneration for wrongful termination and does not get the wages and other entitlements due to them for the remaining duration of the contract or a compensation as stipulated by law if the limitation period has passed.(In Bahrain, for example, a worker cannot make any claims if its been one year since the contract was terminated).

11- Employers withhold the employees ATM cards to withdraw money after the agreed wages were deposited, then they hand the wage to workers in cash, often part of it apart from the constant delay in paying peoples salaries on time.

Some companies circumvent the law that stipulates paying workers via a bank deposit. They exploit the workers lack of knowledge of their rights and their need to work and make a living. These companies keep the workers ATM cards so they can deposit and withdraw money on their behalf which is often considered a criminal act. In Kuwait, for instance, this is considered a crime of forgery that the perpetrator is punished for according to the penal code. The aim of such a practice is to mislead the authorities in case the worker demands his wages and entitlements and to hide the exact amount of his wage. In Kuwait, for instance, this is a violation of the Labor Law of Kuwait No. 6 of 2010.Meshari AlHumaidan, a Kuwaiti lawyer

12- Recruitment agents deduct a sum of the agreed salary, hence violating the agreement between the recruitment agency and the employers

This practice is very common in the case of domestic workers and security guards in all Gulf countries where public and private companies hire these employees via agreements with recruitment agencies.

13- Exploiting the salary rates as set for certain sectors

In Kuwait, there are specific salary brackets for work in certain sectors. Employers issue work permits for certain jobs that are linked to government benefits and advantages which the workers are supposed to get. However, after the work permit is issued, the employers change the workers job title and function to another for a wage thats different from what was stipulated in the original contract.

14- Female domestic employees work around the clock

Most laws that pertain to domestic work jobs in the Gulf do not determine what the working hours of those should be. Some of them stipulate that the domestic worker is entitled to a certain number of hours to rest per day. Domestic workers end up working for 15 hours per day without any financial compensation and in violation of all international standards.

15- Some wage theft practices begin in the country of origin based on an agreement between the recruitment agencies and the families who want to hire a domestic worker. The agency and the family agree not to pay the domestic worker a wage for a month or more after the workers arrival to the destination country in order to decrease the capital cost of the domestic worker's employment for the employer.

16- Making domestic workers work for long hours and making them work at relatives houses for free

I have never received a full wage on time ever since I arrived at work ten months ago. According to the contract, my wage is $235 but I only received amounts between $77 and $105 per month while I worked. Then I was asked to work for free in the house of my employers daughter who had fired her domestic worker. I fled because of this treatment, and my passport is still with them. I think they filed a lawsuit against me and accused me of absconding. I do not know for sure, but they must have done that.Sarah (26 years old), a Kenyan domestic worker who works for a family in Riyadh.

17- Not paying workers who returned to their country of origin and could not return to the destination country because their visa expired during the pandemic. Employers refuse to pay them their financial dues owed to them.

Before and after the pandemic, a large number of workers returned to India and got stuck there. Their visas expired, hence, they could not return to the destination country unless the company renew their visas. Some of them worked for these companies for a long period of time such as 30 years. They were thus not paid their wages, their end of service gratuity, and employers did not renew their visas because they are aware that the financial dues constitute large sums of money." SourceSotheer Thironelath Director of humanitarian affairs at the World NRA Council and the director of the Indian Embassys emergency trust fund in Bahrain.

Kafala (sponsorship), main reason for abuse of migrant workers rights

There are many reasons that have made wage theft in its various forms common and even acceptable by the employer, employee and the society as a whole. This imbalance of power between migrant workers and employers in the Gulf is mainly attributed to the sponsorship system, which was introduced in 1928 during the British colonial period.

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Slavery Entrenched by Law: Immigrant Workers in the Gulf Story - Al-Bawaba