Note from the editor 2-2014

The position on work sites of migrant labour is often quite similar to the position of temporary agency workers. The construction industry remains a ‘migrant dense’ and precarious industry with the vast majority of workers on short-term temporary contracts. In one of the contributions of CLR-News 2-2009 based on UK data on the level of migrant worker deaths in construction, an upward trend from reported deaths of migrant workers in construction in relation to the sector overall and migrant worker deaths across the economy was identified. This was supported by a number of case studies and by examining verdicts, legal support and prosecution in cases of migrant deaths.
In this issue we want to come back to this theme for several reasons. Of course there is the scandalous situation in Qatar where workers from Nepal, India and Bangladesh are treated as slaves. The Qatar government recently had to admit that, only in the period 2012-2013, 964 migrant workers had already died on the constructions and infrastructure sites for the World Soccer tournament 2022, a rate of more than one a day. The ITUC has calculated that, if nothing is done to protect the rights of migrant workers, 4000 workers will have died by the time the tournament starts.