Idle State

Seen in the Classified Section of The Gulf Times - Qatar's top-selling English daily newspaper last Monday 6th August 2007:

The advertisement seems a trifle Dickensian at best. A little elementary arithmetic and an educated guess on number of workers that may reside in each room makes me think that, more often than not, someone living here would need to be up very early in the morning to find a free bathroom, let alone the kitchen. The advertisement mentions that the "Labour Camp" is air conditioned - a necessity - considering the daytime temperature in Qatar in Summer is often 40 degrees celsius plus. So surely this is moot point?!?

This is not an isolated advertisement:

• Gulf Times Classifieds 24th July 2007


• Gulf Times Classifieds 23rd July 2007 Accommodate more than 200 in 20 rooms!!

For some interesting results, Google "Best Price Labour Camp".

Are we to start seeing a bear-market for hard to rent vacant "Labour Camps"?

Recent (well, May 2007) statements by the Qatar Prime Minister, regarding sponsorship changes, likening the current Sponsorship arrangement to slave labour, suggest that the winds of change are blowing through Qatar.

On the sponsorship law and the exit permit system in Qatar, the prime minister said he believed this was internationally unacceptable. “It is close to slavery,” he opined. “Laws are the same for Qataris and foreigners alike.”

Gulf Times Article 28th May 2007.

These changes will result in greater protection for expatriate workers, and a collective sigh-of-relief from those caught in the middle of this somewhat bureaucratic system and maybe an end to "Labour Camps" overfilled with expatriate labourers.

However, Interior Minister of State HE Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani said that a study conducted by a committee in his ministry had recommended keeping the law in force.

ibid.

Perhaps it would be closer to say the winds of change are a light breeze at the moment rather than a cobwebs-out-of-the-attic gale. Nonetheless, change is on the way.

However, moves by the Philippines Government to ensure that Filipino expatriate domestic workers are paid reasonable minimum wages in the GCC were met with knee-jerk reactions in some member countries: stopping immigration of Filipino nationals and aghast comments about the inequality of minimum wages since expats of other nationalities would be being paid far lower than their Filipino counterparts. Seems to me that the solution is obvious and that minimum wages need to be reviewed across the board to make them fairer and less on the border of poverty.

So recent events such as these make me doubt that, for the time being, "Labour Camp For Rent" will be the last advertisement of this type that we shall see, nor will this "Labour Camp" be uninhabited for very long which is a pity. That would be a welcome sign of change.

BTTB.