Security guards employed by a company with contracts at sites linked to the World Cup in Qatar are allegedly still being paid as little as 35 pence an hour, four months after the Guardian first revealed their plight.
In a Guardian investigation, published on the eve of the World Cup, the guards alleged they were being subjected to abusive practices, including overtime pay below the legal minimum. Interviews this month with security guards employed by Al Nasr Star Security Services at multiple sites suggests the issue of illegal pay remains.
While the company pays a basic wage in line with the law, overtime pay appears to be far below the legal limit, with workers claiming they receive only 150 rials (£34) for up to 104 hours of overtime in a month, the equivalent of less than 35 pence an hour. The Guardian has seen pay notifications that support these allegations.
The findings call into question the repeated claims made by Fifa and the Qatari authorities that the World Cup would transform the treatment of hundreds of thousands of low-wage workers in the country. One guard claimed staff at the company had become emboldened in the wake of the World Cup, telling him: “Now Fifa is done you have to put up with the situation. There’s nowhere you can go and nothing you can do.”
In some cases, workers alleged they are being paid even less than before, after Al Nasr Star Security Services required them to take time off in an apparent attempt to comply with regulations limiting working hours. The guards opposed the change, saying they need to work long hours to make up for their low wages.
“The situation has become worse. Now they are punishing us,” said one guard, who explained that after the Guardian’s report some workers were ordered to take more unpaid days off each month – what they call “forced offs” – resulting in cuts to their wages.
The revelations also raise questions about the role and influence of the UN’s International Labour Organization (ILO), which has been working in partnership with the Qatari authorities since 2018 to introduce a number of labour reforms. The ILO office, which has given consistently positive assessments of Qatar’s progress on labour rights, attempted to intervene on behalf of the security guards, but appears to have failed to secure any improvement to their treatment.
The ILO said it was aware of the systemic challenges in the way the security sector operates. It said it had brought cases to the attention of the government, and that where companies were found to be acting illegally, it was the government’s responsibility to act.
Al Nasr Star Security Services is a major supplier of private security guards in Qatar, with contracts at numerous sites linked to the World Cup, including hotels and museums.
Despite enduring mind-numbing 12-hour shifts, workers are afraid to speak up. They all paid recruitment agents in their own countries to secure their jobs and, however meagre their wages, they need to repay their debts and send money home to their families.
Reforms introduced by the Qatari authorities in 2020 should allow workers to look for better paying jobs, but the guards claim the company refuses to issue No Objection Certificates (NOC) if they request permission to leave. NOCs are not required by law, but have become a common excuse employers give to deny transfer requests.
“They will not give us an NOC. They say we must resign, go home and then come again [to get a different job]. If we could leave, 75% would,” said one guard.
And so they feel trapped between the desperate need to earn money and the harsh conditions they must endure.
“I’m not happy but I can’t go back because I would be jobless. I have a family,” said one, expressing the feelings of many low-wage workers in the country. “We’re being exploited but have no options.”
Al Nasr Star Security Services confirmed the location of the labour camp where some of the guards are accommodated, but did not respond to the remaining allegations. The Qatari authorities have been approached for comment.
