The Supreme Committee for Delivery and legacy, the organisation responsible for delivering infrastructure required for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI), global trade union for construction workers, to conduct joint labour and accommodation inspections on World Cup projects in Qatar from January 2017.
The MoU will cover construction site and accommodation inspections, training and a review of the SC’s current grievance mechanisms.
The joint inspections will initially focus on projects that are being built by multinational companies that are headquartered in countries where BWI currently has representation. To date the companies that fall under the agreement are from Austria, Belgium, Italy, India, and Cyprus - companies all employed on SC projects.
The SC and BWI will form a Joint Working Group (JWG) that will manage the inspections and reporting obligations. The JWG will meet to review the work that has been done to date and produce an independent report that will be released to the public after every JWG meeting.
Drawing upon expertise from its 340 affiliates within 130 countries, the BWI will also conduct health and safety training for the SC and its contractors working on World Cup projects that fall under the agreement. The BWI will also review and assess the SC’s current Workers’ Welfare Forums - a mechanism developed to allow workers to express and resolve their grievances and other issues that are mandated by the SC as part of the Workers’ Welfare Standards (WW Standards).
The SC currently has eight construction sites underway across Qatar and just under 10,000 workers on-site at any given time. The number of workers engaged on World Cup construction projects is expected to rise to 36,000 in the next 12 months as various projects approach completion or the main works stage, with Khalifa International Stadium expected for completion in January 2017 and the Al Wakrah and Qatar Foundation stadiums both rapidly heading towards their completion dates in 2018.
Secretary general of Supreme Committee for Delivery legacy of Qatar Government Hassan Al Thawadi, Ambet Yuson, general secretary of BWI Per-Olof Sjoo, president of BWI Dietmar Schafers, deputy president of BWI, former MP, INBCWF president Dr RC Khuntia from India were present.