DOHA: The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs is holding talks with Geneva-based International Labour Organisation (ILO) to impart training of global standard to its inspection staff.
ILO’s technical help is being sought to train labour ministry inspectors to particularly make sure that site workers in Qatar enjoy highest quality of occupational health and safety.
This was disclosed by the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, H E Dr Abdullah bin Saleh Mubarak Al Khulaifi, at an event here yesterday. The Minister inaugurated a labour rights conference organised by Dar Al Sharq, the publishers of The Peninsula and Al Sharq newspapers.
“We want to build the capability of our inspectors to global standards,” Al Khulaifi said in his opening address.
The department has set up labour relations cells in all its offices all over the country to enable workers to file complaints.
The offices come in handy for those workers who are based outside of Doha, said the Minister. The main labour relations office is at the labour department’s headquarters in Doha. The Minister exhorted workers to come forward and file complaints if they have problems in workplace. “I urge you to approach our nearest office to lodge complaint if you have one.”
There is a hotline too on which workers having problems with their employers can file complaints. Al Khulaifi talked about the proposed wage protection system (WPS) as well whereby low-income workers would be paid their salaries through banking channels.
He said companies could transfer workers’ salaries within Qatar or can alternatively remit them to their bank accounts in their home countries once the WP system is in force. Both these options will be given to companies.
Employers not transferring wages within seven days from the due date will be taken to task. Their transactions with the labour ministry will be stopped and that would mean denial of work visas to them.
The Minister said a University of Chicago study shows how Qatar and other GCC countries have helped people in labour-exporting nations have better standards of living and access to quality health services and better education for their children.
It is not surprising, then, that 85 percent of Qatar’s labour force comprises “temporary” workers who remit biggest portions of their income to their home countries, said the Minister.
Worker remittances from here have helped narrow the yawning economic inequalities in labour exporting countries, he added.
Calling foreign workers “guest” workers, the Minister said Qatar is about to take several measures to improve their condition and ensure that their different needs are met. Among them is to provide the workers modern accommodations and having in place balanced and up-to-date laws to guarantee their rights.The Peninsula
