New law to regulate foreign labour in Gulf countries

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) will soon pass a law regulating foreign labour in its member countries, amid concerns in India and other nations over a similar law passed by Saudi Arabia that seeks to reserve 10%  jobs for locals.

The new law being mulled by the GCC would include returning 'marginal' and unskilled foreign workers to their home countries.

The GCC is a 6-member grouping with Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates as its members.

The Council will also attempt to eliminate workers who claim skills that they do not possess. The plan is said to be under study, a leading official was quoted by the Arab News as saying."There are responsible parties at the Council looking for a mechanism to verify whether or not the expat worker does have the skill for which or was brought to the Gulf," Fawzi Al

Majdali, secretary general of the programme for restructuring the labour force and the executive agency in Kuwait, said.

The new regulations will minimise unused labour, which has no clear contracts with employers, he said.

"This kind of labour created imbalances in the Gulf labour market, and neither businesses nor the society is benefiting from it, not to mention that they move around with no controls."Kuwait has recently said that it will cut down and send away 100,000 expat workers who are considered marginal in order to replace them with local labour," he said.

Saudi Arabia's labour law 'Nitaqat' makes it mandatory for local companies to hire one Saudi national for every 10 migrant workers.

There has been widespread perception that the new policy will lead to denial of job opportunities for a large number of Indians working there. The Saudi government was implementing the Nitaqat law to cut unemployment in the country.