What look like shelves in the background are actually the steps of the terraces above[BEN CROWE]
"Impoverished construction workers, paid just 56p an hour, are bedding down below the seats in filthy rooms at the Al Wakrah stadium.
In some cases more than 10 workers share the small sweltering spaces, where temperatures can top 122F (50C) in the height of summer.
The stadium, 12 miles south of the capital Doha, is undergoing a £1billion redevelopment before the World Cup in 2022.
However, the International Trade Union Confederation, which has compiled a report on the conditions, has warned that 4,000 workers could die before a single ball is kicked.
ITUC general secretary Sharan Burrow said: “With more than 10 men to a room, dangerous and unsanitary cooking facilities and no personal space, this is an unacceptable way to treat workers.
“These poor migrant workers living in squalor are forced to work long hours in unbelievable heat, six days a week. They are dying in unprecedented numbers.
“Fundamental rights and freedoms do not exist for workers in Qatar, it is a country without a conscience.”
ITUC investigators found that migrant workers largely came from India, Nepal and Thailand.
The filthy makeshift kitchen for the workers [BEN CROWE]
In one room at the Al Wakrah, walls peeled away on to cracked, filth- covered floor tiles as crudely arranged pieces of cardboard prevented the searing sun from shining through the solitary barred window.
A ripped armchair positioned by the front door provided the only respite from the sweltering heat inside. To cook, the men must use salt water and a grimy oven and grill or hotplates dangerously connected to gas canisters.
The ITUC report called The Case Against Qatar also reveals how workers earn just £135 a month working 10-hour shifts, six days a week.
A draconian Qatari law called the kafala system means employers have to sponsor foreign employees so can demand deposits of £167 from them before allowing them home to see their families.
However, authorities in the oil-rich kingdom claim the men are not World Cup workers and so are not covered by the welfare standards designed to appease international unease with labour abuses in the country.
ITUC deny the claim and say Qatar’s Supreme Committee has responsibility for all projects at World Cup stadia.
Last night British TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Fifa should no longer be listening to the assurances of the authorities that all is well with the World Cup workforce in Qatar. Its executives need to look at the evidence in the ITUC report and they will see that ill-treatment and squalor is widespread.
“If the organisers of the 2022 World Cup show no sign of acting to improve the lot of its thousands of migrant workers, then Fifa must consider a rerun of the vote and moving the tournament elsewhere in the world.”
On Friday Fifa’s Executive Committee met with Amnesty International to discuss Qatar. The campaign group asked football’s governing body to clarify its stance over the abuse of migrants workers before the 2022 World Cup.
Yesterday, Labour’s shadow international development secretary Jim Murphy used his speech to the Scottish Labour Conference to demand the Scottish Football Association speaks out on the “human rights abuses” behind the 2022 World Cup.
The East Renfrewshire MP travels to Qatar in 10 days to meet construction workers. He said: “The treatment of these workers is the ugly secret of the beautiful game.”
Response from Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy
"The employee accommodation referenced by International Trade Union Confederation is not where the construction workers who are building the new Al Wakrah Stadium live. The ITUC’s report described accommodations underneath the bleachers of Al Wakrah Sports Club’s current stadium. Our 108 construction workers live in a refurbished accommodation on Street No. 23 in Doha’s Industrial Area. The ITUC never visited our accommodation, nor requested to do so. Had the ITUC approached Al Wakrah Sports Club with their findings they would have learnt that the club are in the process of completing a new accommodation facility within the complex for their employees who currently reside in the accommodations referenced in the ITUC’s report. Our Workers’ Welfare Standards clearly regulate working and living conditions and are being implemented on our first stadium and accommodation sites."
Picture provided by the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy [SCDL]
Íntegra: Express
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