No Red Carpet Welcome for Migrant Workers

Published on 27th December 2013

International Migrants Day was established by the United Nations in 2000 in response to the increasing number of migrants in the world. It is held annually on 18 December and the day aims to recognise the efforts, contributions and rights of migrants. In a fast globalised world where goods and commodities are made, bought and sold all over the globe the demand for migrant labour has never been higher. It is migrant workers that are making the dream of Qatar’s world cup of 2022 come true with the construction of the new stadiums, it is they who are servicing rich Arab homes as maids and working on the front line all over the world doing the jobs that most indigenous people feel are beneath them to even consider such as cleaning.

Migrants, as vital as they are to the interconnected world economy, have limited rights and protection and are generally abused by host nations and their citizens. Research this year by Amnesty International, an international Human Rights NGO, found that the workers building Qatar’s world cup stadiums are treated like animals.

They were often subject to non-payment of wages, dangerous working conditions and squalid accommodation. Amnesty even quoted that a manager referred to the migrant workers as “animals.” At the same times as the Amnesty International report the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia expelled over100, 000 mainly African migrant workers who were employed in the worst possible conditions and in the most dangerous and undesirable employment sectors in the country. The Saudi government claimed that most of the expelled had no work permits or that they had expired but there was no evidence provided to back this up publicly. Within the European Union the mood towards migrant workers from the new member states has been hardening with the encouragement of the Conservative led coalition government. As Bulgarian and Romanian citizens will qualify to exercise their free movement of persons, a right afforded to them by virtue of been a European Union member state citizen without restrictions on the first day of the new year, the stereotypes of mass criminality and benefit tourism is rife throughout the richer Member states right wing press and governments.

In booming economic times or where there is a shortage of skills locally, migrants are welcomed by governments from all over the world to fill the labour market gaps. These gaps aside from a few professional roles are usually low skilled menial posts which locals shun as they can either afford to do so or find better and more meaningful employment with long term personal development benefits.

A Saudi student in London told me, “Why do I need to burn in the hot sun when we can get a few Africans to do it for peanuts? Besides we can get rid of them at any time if they misbehave because they have no rights anyway.”

In more economically challenged times like that of today migrants not only have limited rights, if any, and legal protection but they are viewed with suspicion and suffer racism and discrimination within the labour markets across the world.  Where they are lucky enough to be employed, they are generally accused of lowering wages, taking indigenous people’s jobs, been a burden on public services and contributing to the rising cost of living. In England, Eastern European migrant workers such as those from Poland, despite returning home in large numbers after the recession, are blamed by the current Conservative led coalition government backed by all the other major parties in some way or form for the current high UK unemployment and cost of living crisis. How they’ve achieved this on their own is a mystery but in difficult economic times with elections looming all over the wealthier European states migrant workers are easy scapegoats.

“I have lived in Italy, France and Spain as well as England. I have never experienced naked racism because I am Polish and employed. People feel I have taken their jobs and stolen their children’s future. I have not. I need to live like everyone else,” stated a Polish worker living in Bristol England.

All migrant workers face difficulties and are prone to exploitation and abuse. However, those exercising their European Union Rights at least have a body of laws that are uniform across the member states which protects their dignity, ensures safe working practices as well as their right to equal treatment when seeking work and once employed. Having said this, even with such overarching legal principles safeguarding their rights some European member states do not have a minimum wage or enforce it tightly and as a result it is far easier to exploit migrant workers who often earn less for doing exactly the same work as  natives. The powerhouse and economic engine of the entire Union, Germany, only agreed a minimum wage to be rolled out to all workers in November 2013 and it is not due to be implemented before 2017. More worryingly, the deal is a political sweetener on the part of the Christian Democrats led by Angela Merkel to woo her junior coalition partners the Social Democrats who had the minimum wage as a key plank of their election manifesto.

Researching and witnessing the experiences of African and South East Asians migrant workers employed outside of the European Union especially in the Middle East where they are at the mercy of their sponsors, it is easy to think that European Union migrants are in heaven in comparison.

The migrant workers in the Middle East do some of the most difficult jobs in the most stressful and discriminatory environments. However, there some among this group like the Pakistanis, Indians and other South Asians such as the Filipinos who are employed in skilled industries and the professions who are well paid and respected as a result of their abilities. Further, migration, employment and race cannot be neatly separated as some supporters of global economic liberalisation would have us believe. Migrants from Africa, some parts of the Middle East and other developing nations across the world are treated far worse in most of the Middle Eastern countries than their white American and European counterparts who are revered and respected irrespective of qualifications and employment status. This arguably is down to the perception that they come from nations which are established, prosperous and that they come to directly invest or work in the higher end of the skilled labour market all over the wealthy Arab nations. 

Cultural globalisation, which through the dominance of the western media has elevated the status of European and North American music, films, literature and technology has further created a sense of “wanting to be like the successful Europeans and Americans in every way and learning from them” as one Arab business man put it in London. This feeling is not extended to the African and other migrants from poorer nations and continents that are treated as second class citizens as was evidenced by the mass indiscriminate expelling of Ethiopian and Yemeni workers from Saudi Arabia without meaningful consultation or explanation last month and the continuing ill treatment of the migrant workers building the Qatar 2022 world cup stadiums.

Migrant workers all over the world from the failed states like Somalia and developing  ones that are poorly governed like Bangladesh are more vulnerable to abuse and discrimination. They come from nations which cannot offer them employment, where they had limited rights in the first place and which they are tied to because of family. The embassies of these poorer nations all over the world are nothing more than symbolic and rarely command the political, economical and military might that would entice a host nation to treat them and their nationals as equals and with respect in an age where diplomacy is linked to wealth. Running to the embassy or waiting for their governments at home to demand better working rights for them is probably the last thing on migrant workers minds when they are ill treated.

A 2013 World Bank Research showed that over $500 billion was sent home by migrant workers through remittances and this is only an estimate based on an analysis of the official money transfer systems available in the market. If one includes packages, freights and cash hand delivered by returning migrant workers, the figure would arguably be much higher. In times of austerity the rich donor nations complain of the rising cost of aid and all but a few rarely honour their aid pledges in international summits. However, the amounts given and pledged in aid by these nations are dwarfed by the remittance sums sent home by migrant workers who support families, local industries and economies. These workers suffer abuse and work in dangerous conditions so that they can assist their families and communities achieve some of the grand Millennium Development Goals that billions are ineffectively spent on by donor nations and international organisation annually.

Tackling migrant workers exploitation across the world requires less rhetoric and global action. There are those that are lucky enough to never need to leave their nations of birth to seek employment and where they do are welcomed because of their skills, experience and abilities. However, this is not the reality for most migrants and it cannot be left to the likes of Amnesty International to highlight the obvious abuse that key international organisations are turning a blind eye to. Migrant workers are crucial to the development of their own nations and to the economic progress of others such as Saudi Arabia which has an enormous skills gap. Protecting the rights and dignity of migrant workers not only makes economic sense in a fast globalising interdependent world, but it is also morally right.

By Liban Obsiye

The author [email protected] welcomes feedback and comments.  @LibanObsiye (Twitter)

(Courtesy: Hiiraan)


This article has been read 1,969 times
COMMENTS