27/07/2020
Mission Houses in Gulf Nations Should Record Indian Workers' Wage Grievances before Repatriation, Says Tharoor
Tharoor said that considering the limitations of mission houses, countries of origin should put
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pressure on countries of destination to ensure justice for the migrant workers, and to ght against
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Wage theft,
the practice of employers failing to pay workers the full wages to which they are
legally entitled, is a widespread and deep-rooted problem that directly harms millions of Asian
migrant workers each year.
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Employers refusing to pay promised wages, paying less than legally mandated minimums, failing
to pay for all hours worked, or not paying overtime premiums deprives working people of billions
of dollars annually. It leaves hundreds of thousands of affected workers and their families in
poverty.
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Unfortunately, countries of destination and origin have begun repatriation procedures of these
workers, without any proper redress mechanism, since courts and other labour dispute
mechanisms have also been closed during the period of the lockdown.
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Therefore, these violations are piling up and either not be addressed or overburdening the existing
dispute resolution mechanisms.
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The stranded worker will get a call from the mission house giving him some 48 hours maximum to
purchase a return ticket. The companies often clear the migrant workers’ papers only after the
worker gets a travel con rmation call from the embassy is received. Eventually, the worker won’t
have ample time to register his grievances if there are any.
India started evacuating Indians from Covid-hit countries since May 6. And from then, till July 16,
Air India group has evacuated 2,15,495 Indians. Meanwhile, Indian private carriers evacuated
12,258 Indians and private charters evacuated 1,35,000. In addition to this, foreign charters
evacuated 2,11,361 Indians. In all, some 687,000 Indians were own into India from Covid-hit
countries.
There are around 35 million migrant workers in the Arab Gulf countries who work under Kafala
system, a peculiar employer-employee contract which restricts many rights and freedom of
migrant workers. Out of this number, nearly 10 million are Indians.
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CLAIMS COMMISSION
Meanwhile, detailing wage theft and justice mechanism, Roula Hamati, coordinator of the Cross
Regional Center for Refugees and Migrants, said the pandemic has made wage theft a normal thing
in all sectors and only a few goes to courts.
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“We can’t continue like this. Numbers should not be a criterion in taking up this issue. We should
set up an International Claims Commission to deal with the wage theft issue,” Roula said.
Roula said the International Claims Commission must be set up as a specialised international
quasi-legal body of expedited justice to adjudicate on claims of migrant workers on an expedited
basis in cases related to wage theft and other outstanding claims and to provide equitable
remedies.
“Cases could be received directly from migrants themselves or through entities providing support
or legal representation to migrants. All pre-existing case documentations should be referred to the
Claims Commissions for resolution,” Roula said, adding that the International Claims Commission
could be administered jointly by International Labour Organisation and International
Organisation for Migration, together with other relevant stakeholders.
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