To sleep in this four-star hotel in Doha during the World Cup, count more than 2,000 euros per night… For a document to be seen on October 13, 2022, a journalist from “Complement of the investigation” took a room at Mövenpick. It is one of the seven establishments of the Accor group in the Qatari capital. The tricolor champion of the hotel industry has signed a partnership with the emirate (its second shareholder), which ensures the management of 60,000 rooms in apartments and villas dedicated to welcoming supporters. But under what conditions do the little hands that provide this welcome work?
84 hours per week without payslip
On the uniform of the security guard who greets him at the Mövenpick, the journalist spots the logo of an Accor subcontractor: Al Bateel Security. He learns that the company lodges its employees in the industrial zone of Doha, which is strictly forbidden to cameras. This is where more than 500,000 construction workers, security guards, drivers… all foreign workers are parked.
A watchman of Mövenpick met on site claims to work 12 hours a day, 84 hours a week – like his colleagues. This is almost twice the authorized working time. His overtime would never be paid, he would only be entitled to two days off per month. Neither he nor his colleagues receive pay slips. No one dares to complain about these illegal working conditions, for fear of being expelled from Qatar.
Disgusting toilets, promiscuity…
With regard to the premises provided to the employees, the employer is also not honoring its commitments. None of the rules enacted by the country, which communicates a lot about improving the well-being of workers, is respected. The images filmed clandestinely by the journalist, with a smartphone, show disgusting toilets, a largely insufficient living space.
Is the Accor group aware of the practices of its subcontractors? In its own ethics charter, it undertakes to ensure respect for workers’ rights by its service providers. The group’s CEO, Sébastien Bazin, did not respond to requests for an interview from “Complément d’Enquête”… he who demanded proof of this “Qatar bashing” which he deplores. Accor’s communication department, for its part, affirms that the group ensures “that the accommodation conditions [de ses collaborateurs] conform to the highest industry standards.
Excerpt from “Qatar 2022: a French scandal?”, a document to see in “Complément d’Enquête” on October 13, 2022.
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