It has been reported that trade unions are taking Saudi Arabia to the United Nations labour body, the International Labour Organisation, over exploitation and deaths of migrant workers. The complaint has been lodged under Article 26 of the Constitution of the ILO, and it calls for accountability and urgent international action.
It was further reported that, “the complaint documents a brutal pattern of forced labour, wage theft, physical and sexual abuse and systemic racism, particularly – but not exclusively – targeting African migrant workers. These workers form the invisible backbone of Saudi Arabia’s economy, especially in the construction and domestic work sectors, while being trapped in conditions amounting to modern slavery”.
Trade unions have been able to gather testimonies from migrant workers in Saudi Arabia, particularly in Africa and these have been quite shocking. These testimonies describe workers being forced to work 18 to 20 hours a day, subjected to beatings and harassment, locked in homes and denied wages, healthcare and rest.
It was also noted that, “at the heart of these abuses lies the kafala sponsorship system, which ties a worker’s legal status to their employer. This system strips workers of their freedom and dignity, silences complaints and grants employers near-total control over their lives”.
North East reaction
I asked some prominent human rights campaigners from the North East, for their views on the news about trade unions taking Saudi Arabia to the ILO.
John Hird
John Hird from Newcastle United Fans Against Sportswashing commented: “There is not a single trade union in Saudi Arabia. The theocratic dictatorship decrees that they are illegal. This should be of concern to trade unionists in the North East. Last year NUFCFAS publicised the shocking revelations that Newcastle United sponsored Noon, which uses modern day slavery practices in Saudi Arabia. Equidem, a Gulf Labour Rights group said their investigation should “raise alarm bells” and Noon’s name being emblazoned on Newcastle strips was an “ever-present reminder of their sponsor whose business practices stand in stark violation of NUFC’s statement on modern slavery”.
“The other Premier League club owned by a nation state is Manchester City. Club Chairman Khaldoon Al-Mubarak is a senior government official and the nominal owner, Sheikh Mansour Al-Nahyan, is Deputy Prime Minister of the UAE and the brother of the President Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan.
DP World, which operates across the globe and is effectively owned by Dubai’s ruling royal family, was the company which sacked 800 P&O workers. DP World is under the direct control of the government.
It should be of no surprise to football fans that a company controlled by a dictatorship, which is prepared to break all international and UK labour laws by tearing up the contracts of workers, also ignores the FFP rules of the Premier League.
The news that the ILO is filing a complaint against the Saudi government for widespread forced labour, wage theft, physical and sexual abuse and systemic racism, particularly against African workers is welcome and we call on unions in the North East to give moral and material solidarity to those workers”.
Colin Taylor
Meanwhile Colin Taylor from Newcastle Amnesty International Saudi Arabia sub-group has commented that it would be good for local unions to write to the UN International Labour Organisation endorsing the ITUC complaint and “drawing attention to the recommendations of the organisation Equidem to push Saudi Arabia to establish a series of offices in Saudi Arabia to support migrant workers under the kafala system over any issues they encounter and ultimately to allow the establishment of Trades Unions”.
Colin also noted that, “there have been some reforms to kafala introduced in Saudi Arabia but the 2023 UN State Department Report on Human Rights in Saudi Arabia (don’t expect a 2024 version!) pointed out that these were largely ineffective and at best fragmentary. As I think Equidem has also pointed out, a key problem is that the migrant workers have little to no understanding of the abuses they are likely to face nor the rights they supposedly have, plus they almost always cannot speak enough Arabic to be able to negotiate the Saudi system. An argument has also been advanced that the countries of origin bear some responsibility for the maltreatment of their own citizens.
The other side of the issue is that a large part of the Saudi population believes that migrants from the Indian Sub-Continent or Southern hemisphere are inferior to them and can effectively be treated as subhuman, but I have rarely seen the word ‘racism’ used in this connection”.
Ed Whitby
Meanwhile, leading North East trade unionist Ed Whitby, from Unison NEC (northern seat) and Unison local government Service Group Executive (northern seat), commented:
“The abuse of workers’ rights in Saudia Arabia, especially of the country’s 13 million migrant workers, are sufficiently documented by international trade unions and organisations like Amnesty.
The present leave system (meaning workers have little independence from bosses) lacks freedoms in the country for the workers to organise, speak and coordinate. The blocks to unions and other groups to monitor what’s going on the ground.
Listening to the voices of workers, hearing evidence from international trade unions and answering to the many complaints lodged is a priority.
I urge other trade unionists in our region to continue to call out oppression of workers, demand answers and immediate change.
An injury to one is an injury to all”.
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