13/08/2020 Gulf migrant workers face crisis of unpaid wages amid pandemic None of the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries has ratified the ILO’s Protection of Wages Convention, which provides that “wages shall be paid regularly.” Furthermore, most Gulf legal frameworks deny workers the right to union representation and prevent collective complaints, leaving workers alone to navigate justice mechanisms. 'Access to justice is very intimidating' “This has to be stopped,” said Rejimon Kuttappan, an Indian journalist who was the first to report on the Gulf’s wage theft during the crisis. “I [saw] it happening in the 2008 financial downturn and 2014 oil price crash. So, there is no surprise for me when employers are using the COVID-19 crisis to get rid of migrant workers,” he told Al-Monitor. GCC countries have launched in recent years various initiatives aiming at tackling poor corporate accountability, such as wage protection systems that ensure workers' wages are paid electronically and not via untraceable cash payments. However, 56% of workers employed by companies of 10 workers or less in Qatar are not covered by the system. In 2014, the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department launched a mobile court in a double-decker bus traveling to areas predominantly inhabited by foreign workers and labor camps to settle disputes on the spot. Four years later, the institution established the Labor Court "in an attempt to find amicable solutions to cases involving workers in the private sector." https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2020/08/gulf-migrant-workers-wages-covid19-qatar-uae-india-nepal.html 5/12