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16 THE CASE AGAINST QATAR4. Inadequate ResponsesNumerous ITUC meetings with government officials on workers’ rights and conditions have resulted in no action.In response to the rising death toll and growing public pressure,Qatar has released two charters for workers , the QatarFoundation Mandatory Standards (April 2013) and the SupremeCommittee Workers’ Welfare Standards (February 2014).While these documents do set standards,Qatar’s weak and outdated labour laws areunchanged – workers remain totally underthe control of the employer.Qatar Foundation StandardsThe Qatar Foundation Mandatory Standards (QFMS) attemptsto ensure that, in a number of areas, the labour rights of migrantworkers performing work on a QF-funded construction projectare protected.Freedom of AssociationThe language provides for nothing more than “study and discussion”of the terms and conditions of work – a term borrowedfrom Article 126 of the Labour Law. This offers nothing morethan being able to ask the employer whether it may implementthe issues under study and discussion.There is no indication in the QFMS that the employer will actuallynegotiate with the workers and reach an agreement over theterms and conditions of their employment.Further, there are no protections for those workers who are “electedrepresentatives”, to protect them against any potential retaliation.Kafala System Remains in PlaceThe elimination of recruitment fees, written information ontheir employment terms, withholding of passports, informationabout their rights and responsibilities and the use of authorisedrecruitment agencies only are set out in the provisions, but thereis no evidence to show how these can be successfully enforced.Some of these practices, such as the withholding of passports,are already illegal under Qatari law but are completely disregardedin practice.The QFMS do not allow workers to freely transfer employment orto leave Qatar. The only way that migrant workers will be truly protectedis if the kafala system were revoked or substantially reformed.Welfare Adherence PlansThe QFMS provides that every contractor must submit with itsbid a detailed Welfare Adherence Plan.The first line in the enforcement of the Welfare Adherence Planis the contractor itself, by means of a self-audit.While the contractor has a duty to ensure that all laws and contractualprovisions are respected, self-auditing and reporting isalmost certain to fail to detect violations or other grievances andit will not lead to satisfactory remedies.The QF does also perform periodic audits (though it is not clearhow often), either itself or through a third-party auditor appointedat its discretion. At no point is there any audit of thelabour conditions by a truly independent party with any powerto enforce the law or the additional terms of the contract.In the absence of any independent inspection, the auditing undertakenunder the QFMS will not be credible. Years of experiencewith social auditing in many countries have borne this out.Additionally, while the QFMS make clear that adherence tothese laws and standards referred to therein is a key condition forthe selection and retention of the contractor and subcontractors,the QFMS does not clearly state what constitutes a materialbreach of the contract.This substantially diminishes confidence in the standards, andthe trust that the QF will move to enforce the terms of the contractin case of a breach.Working HoursIt is well known that construction workers in Qatar spend severalhours every day both waiting at pick-up points and takingcompany-provided transit to and from the worksite. Thus, evenif workers worked no more than eight hours a day as provided inthe QFMS (which rarely occurs in practice), their actual hoursper day spent on work are much more if factoring in the waitingand transportation time. The QFMS should have taken the opportunityto address transportation time, instead they are silenton the matter.