Foreign workers in Qatar get some basic rights

IN MOST COUNTRIES a worker’s best bargaining tool is the ability to say: “Take this job and shove it.” Knowing staff can go elsewhere gives employers an incentive to treat them well. But foreign workers in Qatar have long lacked this basic freedom. Under the emirate’s kafala system, their visas were linked to specific employers: if they wanted to change jobs (or leave the country), they needed their boss’s permission. So the boss could abuse them with near-impunity.

But things are changing for the gas-rich emirate’s 2m migrant workers, who are 95% of its labour force. Legions of Indians and Pakistanis mop floors, chop onions and lay bricks.The kafala system kept their wages low. That made it cheaper for Qatar to build new stadiums for the football World Cup, which it hosts next year. However, the tournament has also brought global attention. Activists denounced the kafala system and called for reforms. At last in 2020, Qatar made a big one.