First Official Strike in Qatar

Chan'ad Bahraini is back in Bahrain blogging again - and highlights the first ever official strike in Qatar. Strikes are flat-out illegal in most Persian Gulf states, and workers have few legal protections. But Qatar recently amended its law to allow strikes, and now 600 construction workers (apparently all foreign workers) are striking to protest non-payment of wages.

Though it has received limited press coverage, it's a breakthrough for labor rights in the Gulf. Given that an overwhelming percentage of workers (and residents!) in the Gulf are foreign nationals with few if any legal rights, the growing organizing abilities of the disenfranchised majority could have profound implications.

MORE: For a vivid take on the rampant disenfranchisement of workers in the Gulf, see this Slate article by an NPR reporter: "Thanks for Your Hard Work. Now Get Out!"

I remember arriving in Kuwait for the first time, eager to meet average Kuwaitis. Only one problem—I couldn't find any Kuwaitis, average or otherwise. My taxi driver was Indian, my hotel clerk Filipino, and my bellhop Bangladeshi. Undeterred, I ventured to an outdoor market. It was teeming with people but, again, no Kuwaitis. How, I wondered, could there be no Kuwaitis in Kuwait?

...In several gulf states, including Kuwait, the locals are a minority—a tiny minority—in their own country. Only 17 percent of the population of Dubai, for instance, is local. The rest are foreign workers. You won't find gulf Arabs waiting on tables or, for that matter, managing restaurants. You will find precious few working for travel agents or hotels or anywhere other than the cushiest of government positions.

...The worker can stay in the country only for as long as the sponsor supports him. In some cases, sponsors confiscate the worker's passport, raising valid concerns about indentured servitude. Workers can switch sponsors but not easily and sometimes at great cost. In some gulf countries, foreign workers need exit visas to leave the country. Ostensibly, this is to ensure that they don't leave behind a pile of debt. But in practice it often means that employers can hold workers hostage.

...What happens to a country when most of its workforce is foreign? Many things, it turns out, and none of them good. Arab culture and language are being swamped by the flood of foreigners. In Dubai, for instance, a Moroccan woman I learned about couldn't find a job because she did not speak English. She was, of course, fluent in Arabic, the official language of the United Arab Emirates. More ominously, a bored, underemployed citizenry is ideal fodder for radical Islamic groups.

 

Comments

[Haitham]

Your title said "Strike in Bahrain", while the fact it is in Qatar!!

Please correct it...

[arab-americana]

It is great that workers are finally getting their rights. I support it 100%. However, how often do you hear of workers striking in Bahrain? I, for one, never do! At least not South Asian expatriate workers! So it is one step to make it legal for workers to defend their human rights, and it is yet another to create a culture and climate in which they can actually do so without fearing abuse, cover-up and/or deportation. I wonder if Qatar will lead the way on creating this kind of culture? It remains to be seen. We should not stop watching just because a "right to strike" law was passed. Laws mean little if they are not enforced by the rule of law, without corruption, favoritism, racism and other social ills. One the one hand, go Qatar! On the other hand, the case of Bahrain shows us that a law can be passed but the culture to use it is not in place.

[OrDoesIt]

Haitham, thanks for the tip on the slip. Arab-Americana, you're right about the "we passed a law so therefore all is golden" line that the regimes in the region like to push. The big question is how much longer these societies can go with a massive percentage of the population effectively disenfranchised. Can a country run like a country club actually last forever? Unlikely.

[meli]

I think that form (not just web form) design is one thing that is not thought about in the business world.

[iffor]

Even though I go to the same place twice a year now having saved the money I uded to spend on fags, I like to sample the food in various tavernas and restaurants