Qatar to introduce minimum wage for workers

Doha: World Cup 2022 host Qatar is to introduce a minimum wage for workers, Qatar News Agency (QNA) said Wednesday.

QNA also announced that Qatar has signed bilateral accords with 36 countries from which it draws most of its two-million-strong foreign workforce, to provide legal protection for workers headed to the Gulf.

The minimum wage initiative and the agreements were announced by H E Issa Saad Al Jafali Al Nuaimi, Minister of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs, during a meeting with foreign diplomats.

A minimum wage would aim to “meet the necessary needs of the worker to live at an appropriate humanitarian level”, said the minister, quoted by QNA.

In February 2015, Qatar introduced the Wage Protection System, a major reform, designed to ensure workers receive their salaries electronically, either fortnightly or monthly.

“Following discussions in Doha there is a clear government commitment to normalise industrial protections for migrant workers,” said International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) General Secretary Sharan Burrow.
“These initiatives have the support of the ITUC, and we hope that implementation will be also supported by the ILO with its technical expertise,” she added.

“We congratulate the Emir and Qatar’s Labour Minister for their commitment to modernise their industrial relations system,” said Sharan Burrow.

Source: AFP / The Peninsula