Dr. Shashi Tharoor is an author, member of the Parliament of India, and former senior UN diplomat. He was one of the speakers at a webinar jointly organized by the Global Research Forum on Diaspora and Transnationalism (GRFDT) New Delhi, India, Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA) Manila, Philippines and Cross Regional Center for Refugees and Migrants (CCRM) Beirut, Lebanon , which took place on the 21st July 2020. Dr. Tharoor spoke about the issue of wage theft as it affects external and internal migrant workers.
Migrants workers alarmed over increasing wage theft
Dr. Shashi Tharoor started his talk by expressing his strong concerns over the increase in wage theft, especially in the gulf countries. “I don’t only read about these cases in newspaper, I am also dealing with these cases as a member of the parliament”, Dr Tharoor said. Lots of Indian workers abroad were affected by wage theft especially in the gulf countries. Most of these foreign migrant workers raised various issues such as employers delaying their payments, reducing wages or not paying them at all.
Civil society should step up in the absence of adequate governance
Dr. Tharoor called on civil society organizations to lead the fight for justice as cases of wage theft increased. Dr. Tharoor said in most cases, especially in the case of India, the government might not show much concern on a civil case or litigation between a foreign employer and workers. “Unless civil society organizations like the Migrant Forum in Asia is willing to step in to say they would help, fight case or whatever, justice remains elusive”, Dr. Tharoor said. The timely intervention of civil societies is required to right the wrong.
Possible Solutions
Dr. Shashi Tharoor discussed possible solutions which include the need for International Labour Organisation (ILO) to set up labour tribunal where the migrant workers can turn to for seeking justice, he also emphasised on the importance of legal aids assistance to allow foreign migrant workers to pursue justice. More so, there should be a donor that could cater to the affected migrant workers. Dr. Tharoor called for synergy between civil societies and labour unions to fight the exponentially increasing issue of wage theft.
Report by: Oluwaseyi Olawuyi, he is an independent migration and environmental consultant, CEO at World Ecological Concepts Ltd. Nigeria. Twitter @Omoobalan