Trade unions call on FIFA to deprive Qatar of 2022 World Cup

International trade unions have called on world football governing body FIFA to deprive Qatar of its hosting of the 2022 FIFA World Cup because it has failed to end what they term 21st century slavery and adopt international labour standards for the Gulf state's more than one million foreign workers.

In a letter to FIFA President Sepp Blatter dated 16th April, International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) General Secretary Sharan Burrow asserted that discussions with Qatari authorities since FIFA awarded Qatar the World Cup in a controversial December 2010 vote have produced no results.

With the ITUC having obtained a copy of a Charter for Migrant Workers that was drafted by Qatar's World Cup organising committee, Burrow said the trade union was disappointed by the drafting process in which the committee failed to consult unions. She was also disappointed by its content.

In a press release, the ITUC, which refuses to publish the draft charter, charged that it "shows contradictions with Qatari law and fails to give workers any real rights or protection from slavery conditions."

Burrow said ITUC's campaign to take the FIFA World Cup away from Qatar was an effort to "escalate pressure" on the Gulf state. She said the ITUC would consider ways of stepping up pressure on FIFA and Qatar if the soccer body failed to opt for a revote of the awarding of the World Cup to Qatar latest at its general assembly in Mauritius at the end of May.

Burrow stated "the government of Qatar has had two years to do two things: introduce freedom of association and the kafala (sponsorship) system that effectively mounts to 21st century slavery. The government has done nothing. How long are we supposed to wait and listen to the same things? Three years? Five years? "

Common to various Arabian Gulf states, the kafala system effectively deprives workers of their free choice and gives employees full control over their employees.

Burrow asserted that "hundreds of workers are dying and thousands more are injured in Qatar" as a result of its failure to adhere to international labour standards, adding "FIFA must act now- the longer the delay, the more workers will suffer and die."

The union official said the demand to deprive Qatar of the World Cup was boosted by the corruption scandals overshadowing FIFA and world soccer that have yet to produce evidence of wrongdoing on the part of the Gulf state as well as debate on whether the tournament in Qatar should be moved to the winter months because of the region's extreme summer heat.

The demand to deprive Qatar of the World Cup constitutes a change of union tactics. While the ITUC has threatened to call on its 175 million members in 153 countries to boycott Qatar at a time that it is expected to recruit up to a million additional workers to construct billions of dollars in World Cup-related infrastructure, it had initially said it would first put Qatari promises to the litmus test.

These promises included a legally non-binding oral pledge in November by Qatari Labour Minister Nasser bin Abdulla Alhumidi to effectively allow the formation of independent trade unions.

At that time Burrow stated "after a full and frank discussion, Qatar's labour minister assured me that if workers want to establish a union he will make sure that those who decide to join a union will not be punished. We will test him on that."

ITUC officials said subsequently that they were preparing to establish a union in Qatar later this year.

In a bid to fend off union demands, Qatar has moved to improve workers' living and working conditions. It is seeking to ensure enforcement of safety and security standards, monitor on-time salary payments, reduce the number of workers living in one room from eight to four, and is building a city for workers that would include hitherto non-existent recreational facilities. It is also reviewing much criticised recruitment procedures that reinforce the sponsorship system and leave workers heavily indebted.

Qatar University sociologist Kaltham Al Al-Ghanim recently called on the country's sports clubs to set up branches in the capital's Industrial Zone where many of foreign workers are housed "to channel their energy to productive avenues and hunt for sporting talent."

Al-Ghanim cautioned that if foreign workers were allowed to "live on the social fringes, the danger is they would take to illegal activities and emerge as a threat to social security."

Smaller Gulf states whose nationals constitute a minority of the population have until now gone out of their way to ensure that foreigners have no sense of belonging out of fear that this would encourage them to stand up for their rights.

Critics of the ITUC's demand to deprive Qatar of the World Cup charged that the union was being sensationalist and that there was still room for negotiation.

The critics charge that the ITUC's demand robbed it of the leverage it had obtained with the awarding of the World Cup to Qatar. Human rights groups have long criticized Qatar and other Gulf states for their labor practices. But unlike the ITUC they never had more than moral leverage. Qatar's dependence on foreign labor for its World Cup infrastructure enhances the ITUC's power given that it in contrast to the human rights activists can mobilise millions of people. 

With acknowledgement to James M. Dorsey, Senior Fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies and the author of The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer blog. 

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