By Kim Hyo-jin
A Qatari construction company has dismissed 90 North Korean workers as they violated the company’s labor regulations, according to Voice of America (VOA), Thursday.
Qatar-based Construction Development Company (CDC) announced it fired the North Koreans on May 4, VOA said quoting the minutes of a meeting between the company management and North Korean embassy officials.
CDC said the decision was made due to North Korean supervisors’ continuous maltreatment of their workers, VOA reported.
“The company explained to the North Korean officials that the supervisors responsible for the well being of their workers have been continuously forcing them to work more than 12 hours a day.”
“The food provided to their workforce was below standards. Site health and safety procedures were also ignored regularly.”
CDC also said, “Such actions brought the company great inconvenience in relation to the local authorities.”
Human rights organizations have accused the Qatari government of not doing enough to investigate the effect of working long hours in temperatures that often exceed 50 degrees.
Qatar has employed thousands of overseas workers to build its infrastructure to host the 2022 World Cup. As a result, the country has suffered from a high death toll among overseas workers, reportedly at a rate of one every two days in 2014.
In the face of international criticism, the authorities promised to improve overall working conditions.
CDC added that it decided to keep employing 100 out of its total 192 North Korean workers to show its gratitude for their efforts.
North Korea has sent workers and supervisors abroad to earn much-needed foreign currency. Their number has soared since Kim Jong-un took power in 2011, now totaling 65,000 across 40 countries. Qatar has about 3,000 North Korean workers on various construction sites across the country.