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BACKGROUND
The Justice for Wage Theft Campaign began out of the efforts of civil society and trade unions to draw
attention of states and employers to the grave violations of rights regarding migrant workers’ wages and
dues. Issues of constant wage theft and non-payment of compensation and dues have been consistently
highlighted by civil society as a systemic problem within labour migration. However, the COVID-19
pandemic had aggravated its occurrence and made it visible. The pandemic further exposed underlying
gaps in labour migration (particularly among temporary and contractual migrant workers) and the flawed
foundations upon which such migration programs have been established.
For instance, the ILO Report commemorating the 10-year anniversary of the C189 mentions non-payment
of wages and the closure of remittance services as major issues that continue to affect domestic workers
and even more during COVID-19. (ILO, 2021). One Fair Wage’s report on workers in the service sector
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showed that 35% of 238 tipped employees experienced wage theft in the past year. The report
highlighted a different form of wage theft where ‘employers failed to make up the difference between the
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minimum wage and the tips received on top of the subminimum wage, or non-payment for overtime’.
The surge in the number of wage theft cases reported during the pandemic bolstered the call of the Justice
for Wage Theft campaign to reform redressal mechanisms and address the condition of millions of such
workers whose wages have been unjustly withheld. To adequately address the issue, the establishment of
an Urgent Justice Mechanism was initially advocated for. Subsequently the coalition released 4 more
appeals focusing on actions to be taken by UN bodies, governments, and businesses to take concerted
action in engaging with existing cases of wage theft and lack of justice.
As we move to the second year of the pandemic, we see that progress towards achieving justice for
migrant workers has been slow and deliberate, and there have been some gains throughout the campaign.
Through concerted efforts of civil society organisations in countries of origin and destination in engaging
grievance redressal mechanisms and advocacy, states and employers have taken steps to ensure that the
migrant workers receive their withheld wages. They have also, in some instances, attempted to address
rights violations committed. However systemic changes that address root causes and foundational flaws
are yet to be introduced or implemented.
At the outset, there have been better reporting efforts with respect to returnee or repatriated migrant
workers and wage theft, among other concerns. For instance, Bangladeshi media reported regarding data
maintained by Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET) on workers remigrating during
COVID-19. More than 40,000 women migrant workers went abroad with jobs in the first eight months of
2021, with the demand for women domestic work increasing in Middle Eastern (ME) countries again.
Among them, 27,472 went to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 7,874 to Jordan, 3,667 workers to Oman. In
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The US Department of Labour defines a tipped employee as a worker that is engaged in an occupation in
which he or she customarily and regularly receives more than $30 per month in tips over wages.
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34% of restaurant workers experienced more wage theft in 2021, OFW reports. Published Sept. 27, 2021
Aneurin Canham-Clyne
Disclaimer: The figures, statistics within the report are based upon the limited documentation of cases
submitted to the JFWT platform or separately to MFA. It does not intend to implicate any country,
government, industry, employer, etc.