A recent survey by the Labour Ministry of 56,000 private companies has found that nearly 5 percent (or 2,950) of them have little regard for the labour law. Grouped into the last or C category, these are the companies involved in major violations of the provisions of the labour law, the Ministry of Labor has said in its classification. The nature of violations by these companies is not mentioned but it can be safely assumed that they include illegal visa trade as well. It is interesting to note that 1,351 of the C-category firms have between one and five workers each, while 191 of them have between 100 and 500 workers, and 108 of them even have a staff strength exceeding 500. Some 83 percent (46,655) of the companies surveyed have been put in the B category and as many as 11,133 of them have no workers, shows the survey, local Arabic daily Al Arab reported yesterday citing figures. The survey isn’t complete yet since almost 27,000 companies remain to be classified based on their compliance with the labour law and performance, including how they treat their workers and respect their rights. The ministry earlier announced that it was classifying private sector companies into three categories (A, B and C) with twin objectives—to post the groupings on its website so that foreign workers being offered jobs here could check the credentials of their potential employers, and encourage the companies to improve their performance and grading. According to the survey, only 6,410 of the more than 56,000 firms covered have made it to the elite ‘A’ list and some 1,440 of them have just one to six workers each in their employ. Another 1,336 companies have in their employment only six to 10 workers, while barely 56 of these firms have workers exceeding 500. “There are no companies in this category that were found to be without workers and all of them have been found to be complying fully with the provisions of the labor law,” the survey said. The companies surveyed so far total 68 percent, while the remaining 32 percent are to be covered later. The ministry said it has informed all ‘A’ category firms of their status, while only 15 percent of ‘B’ category companies have been intimated. Source : Qatar Chronicle

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