Conditions that may amount to forced labour have been reported by workers at Noon, the largest online retailer in the Gulf and one of the biggest sponsors of Newcastle United Football Club (NUFC) according to research carried out by Equidem, the Gulf based Workers’ Rights NGO. Equidem investigators spoke with 47 current and former Noon workers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
New report by Equidem
Workers employed directly and indirectly by Noon in Saudi Arabia and the UAE described experiencing indicators of forced labour and modern slavery—including abuse of vulnerability, deception, restriction of movement, intimidation and threats, retention of identity documents, withholding of wages, debt bondage, abusive working conditions, and unpaid overtime.
In the report Equidem quoted Ramesh, a delivery associate from India hired by a subcontractor for Noon in Saudi Arabia, described experiencing a cluster for forced labour indicators, including intimidation and threats, retention of identity documents, and unfair salary deductions:
“The manager deducted part of my salary for completing less than 20 deliveries. When I protested, he abused and threatened me. After that I talked about leaving the job and said that I need a transfer letter. He told me that you cannot leave the job without my consent, otherwise I will send you to jail. He kept all my documents.”
Noon and NUFC
Next season NUFC players will take the field in strips with the Noon logo emblazoned on the left shoulder—an ever-present reminder of their sponsor whose business practices stand in stark violation of NUFC’s statement on modern slavery that claims they are committed “to ensure that there is no modern slavery or human trafficking in our supply chains or in any part of our business.”
Mustafa Qadri, the founder and chief executive of Equidem, spoke at a NUFC Fans Against Sportswashing forum in Newcastle in April, alongside Labour Councillor Jane Byrne and Ian Hodgson, the President of the Baker’s Union. The forum urged the region’s political representatives and official NUFC fan groups to clearly and publicly stand on the side of the victims of the Saudi regime. This report is another chance to do the right thing.
An opportunity for Newcastle City Council
The Equidem report on Modern Day Slavery in Saudi Arabia is also another opportunity for Newcastle City Council, to make good on pre-Saudi takeover commitments to ‘keep talking about human rights.’
Unfortunately, the council’s record on this has not been good. Emails obtained by NUFCFAS through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request revealed that the council has instead tried to forge a close relationship with the Saudi owners of Newcastle United, to the extent the council leader Nick Kemp even asked them to finance free school meals in the city. This was reported on national news and was featured in a Radio 4 documentary. Now we find out that a major club sponsor is facing serious accusations of being involved in Modern Day Slavery in Saudi Arabia.
Newcastle City Councillors need to account for their lack of action on really holding the owners of Newcastle United to account. Why would a Labour council want to collaborate with the Saudi state-owned club which is sponsored by a company accused of terrible abuses against its workforce?
The council has a policy opposed to Modern Day Slavery which states: “Where we employ people through neutral vendors, each agency used by the vendor is required to be compliant with the Modern Slavery Act 2015.”
At the very least, Newcastle City Council should follow its own policy and make a statement dissociating itself from the practices of Noon, whose emblem is extremely prominent in the North East on the shirts of thousands of Newcastle fans.
Regrettably, it seems Newcastle City Council have not so far followed their own policies when it comes to Newcastle United. When the council made a statement on the FOI emails which revealed the ‘too cosy’ relationship between council and the club the spokesperson was quoted in the press and referred to, ‘alleged human rights abuses’. This is a worrying development as human rights abuses committed by the Saudi regime are not ‘alleged’ but are scrupulously documented by respected human rights groups and NGOs such as Amnesty International and even the United Nations.
Newcastle Amnesty International has pointed out that companies in the UK which do not do due human rights diligence on their business associates in Saudi Arabia could be liable to worker compensation claims under the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
NUFCFAS calls on Newcastle City Council to follow its own policy and raise the accusations that club sponsor Noon is involved in horrendous exploitation of workers with Newcastle United Chairman Yasir al-Rumayyan who is also a sitting minister in the Saudi government.
Saudi regime ownership of NUFC should not buy the silence of our elected representatives on serious questions of abuse of workers’ rights and Modern Slavery.
Solidarity
During Ashley’s mismanagement of the club, fans, trade unions and Newcastle City Council united in opposition to the exploitation of workers at Sports Direct on zero hours contracts.
Surely, we have a duty today to show the same solidarity to workers in Saudi Arabia suffering Modern Day Slavery conditions? NUFC fan groups should also make it clear they stand with exploited Noon workers in Saudi Arabia as we did with workers on zero hour contracts at Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct.
Newcastle is a sanctuary city and has a policy opposed to Modern Day slavery, the very least we can do is show some basic solidarity to workers who are suffering horrendous working conditions and super exploitation at the hands of a major sponsor of Newcastle United.
Speaking out now would indicate that the sportswashing has not worked.
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