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labor is temporary. Once their job is finished, they leave the country,” he added. 28
“There is not going to be a huge inflow [of workers] all at once,” Mohammed al-Obeidly,
head of the Labor Ministry’s Legal Affairs Department, reiterated at a meeting with Human
Rights Watch. 29 “The workers [will] come for specific projects, for a limited time. So when
they finish, they will return [to their countries].” 30 Yet estimates for the number of
additional workers needed to complete World Cup and related infrastructure projects
range from 500,000 to over one million. 31
Past World Cup games have proven an opportunity for labor unions to seek progress on
workers’ rights in host countries. In October 2007, in preparation for the 2010 World Cup,
construction trade unions in South Africa launched a campaign calling for “decent work”
and stronger labor rights protections. 32 They achieved some progress on issues including
worker recruitment, negotiated new agreements and wage increases with employers, and
increased union membership. Workers gained promises enforcing subcontractors’ duty to
pay the local minimum wage, and won the right to elect health and safety representatives.
In response to the campaign, FIFA President Joseph Blatter committed to raising workers’
rights with the South African government and with the FIFA Local Organizing Committee. 33
In May 2010 union representatives in Brazil took over the Decent Work World Cup
campaign, and in August 2011, construction workers renovating Brazil’s Maracana Stadium,
one of the World Cup 2014 venues, struck for four days after an explosion severely injured
one of the workers at the site. 34 They won an improved health plan, among other benefits. 35
28 Ibid.
29 Human Rights Watch meeting with Nasser al-Mannai, Director of Recruitment Department, Mohamed al-Obeidly, Director
of Legal Affairs Department, and Salih al-Shawi, Director of Labor Relations Department, Ministry of Labor, Doha, Qatar, June
22, 2011.
30 Ibid.
31 Paul Kelso, “Qatar will use World Cup as a catalyst to improve conditions for migrant workforce,” The Telegraph, January 12,
2011, available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/international/8253092/Qatar-will-use-World-Cup-as-acatalyst-to-improve-conditions-for-migrant-workforce.html
(accessed August 30, 2011).
32 2010 World Cup & the Construction Sector, Building and Wood Workers International, p.20, available at:
http://www.lrs.org.za/docs/BWI_2010%20World%20Cup%20Booklet.pdf (accessed August 27, 2011).
33 Ibid., p.22.
34 “South Africa Hands Over Decent Work Campaign to Brazil,” March 10, 2011, available at: http://brazil.bwint.org/?p=1
(accessed August 29, 2011).
35 “Construction workers renovating Maracana Stadium for 2014 World Cup end strike after 4 days,” Associated Press,
August 22, 2011; “Explosion at World Cup 2014 stadium leaves one worker seriously burnt and the rest on strike,” Daily Mail,
August 18, 2011, available at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2027364/World-Cup-2014-hit-buildingchaos-staff-strike-Maracana-stadium-explosion.html#ixzz1WXM6iN9g
(accessed August 29, 2011).
BUILDING A BETTER WORLD CUP 34