The repatriation survey, chronicled in ‘Kerala Wage Theft Report’ by the Centre for
Indian Migrant Studies (CIMS), an Aluva-based non-profit, found that access to
justice mechanisms was very difficult even though respondents knew about their
rights. The CIMS report comes after Norka, the department handling non-resident
Keralites’ affairs, had earlier said nearly 12 lakh -- out of 15.4 lakh NRIs who
returned to the state -- have cited job loss as the reason for their return.
“Many of the migrant workers who participated in our survey were sent back to
India in a hurry, sent home with the promise that their pending dues will be
credited to Indian accounts or abandoned in destination countries by their
employees. This has prevented a majority of them from accessing justice
mechanisms available at countries of destination,” said the report.
Rafeek Ravuther, executive director, CIMS, said the ‘wage theft’ survey was
conducted among 3,345 migrant workers who are largely returnees and those
stranded abroad after being abandoned by employers. Out of the total respondents,
11 % (397) migrant workers from Kerala reported wage theft along with supporting
documents. Among them, 90% belong to the construction sector, 2% each to
manufacturing and transportation, and 2.5% comprise other sectors like domestic
work, retail and medical sector. The report has also named the companies that have
reported group and individual thefts. For instance, seven companies — three from
Kuwait, two from the UAE, and one each from Saudi Arabia and Qatar — owe over
Rs 61.69 crore to Kerala migrant workers.
“A construction company in Saudi Arabia named Nassar S Al Hajri Corporation
(NSH) accounts for the maximum number of wage theft cases reported by the
workers in a group,” the CIMS report said. As far as individual cases are concerned,
the total wage theft amount estimated among the returnees surveyed comes to the
tune of Rs 89.71 lakh.