Photo from Sherpa’s website

An international construction firm based in France has had its indictment relating to a charge of forced labour in its projects in Qatar confirmed by a French court, and is expected to head to trial. Vinci Construction Grands Projets, through its Qatari subsidiary, was building many of the projects in the lead-up to World Cup 2022 held in the Middle-East state. Migrant workers, almost all from South Asia, dominate the construction workforce in Qatar.

Sherpa, an NGO, announced on its website 5 July 2024 that “the investigating chamber confirmed the indictment of Vinci”, nine years after a complaint it initially lodged (in 2015) for “reduction to servitude, forced labor, working and housing conditions incompatible with human dignity, and obtaining services in exchange for remuneration manifestly unrelated to the importance of the work performed.”

Sherpa’s complaint was joined by the Comité contre l’esclavage moderne (Committee against Modern Slavery) and several former workers.

In 2014, Sherpa had traveled to Qatar and gathered testimonies about the working conditions prevailing at the time on certain sites operated by Vinci’s Qatari subsidiary, including continuing to work in heat of over 45 degrees with insufficient water or shade, withholding passports, the need for employees to go into debt in order to pay large sums to recruitment agencies, fainting spells, insufficient access to showers and toilets in accommodation, barely edible food, and so on.

The complaint was initially dismissed by the Nanterre Prosecutor’s office in January 2018, but a new complaint was filed by Sherpa and former workers later that year, based on new evidence gathered in 2018. More information about the 2018 filing can be found here. It speaks of passport confiscation, long working hours (between 66 and 77 hours per week), confined rooms with restricted communal accommodation, and abysmally low salaries. The complaint alleged violations of Qatari law, French criminal law and international standards laid out by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

These employment conditions, including workers having to go into debt to “buy” their jobs, are strikingly similar to conditions were see in Singapore’s construction and marine engineering industries.

The investigation ground on for years, but in 2023 and 2024, several former workers were officially heard by the French judiciary, and leading to the latest development.

Growing international attention

There is rising attention internationally to the question of forced labour. Particularly in developed countries, governments are acting and laws are being tightened. In 2020 and 2021, we wrote about how Malaysian glove manufacturers had their shipments to the US blocked because of forced labour conditions in their migrant workforce. Eventually, Top Glove had to compensate workers for the massive recruitment fees they were made to bear before they were hired. See US Customs issues seizure order on Top Glove products over labour standards and World’s largest glove maker to repay migrant workers for their recruitment fees.

More recently, the European Union’s Council approved new rules on clean supply chains that include labour standards. We wrote about it in this story.

New legislation will provide an avenue for affected workers to sue companies that benefit from unclean supply chains. Workers do not have to be direct employees of the companies. Even workers working for a subcontractor of a main contractor of an international client can sue.

For a company to be bogged down in a case is a serious distraction to its core business. There is also the matter of legal costs.

Another angle would be the impact on the company’s reputation and, if it is a listed company, its share price. For example, in a 11 July 2024 story in the Straits Times, Seatrium chief expects tailwind as orders flow in and firm starts to sail into profitability (possible paywall), it was reported:

One of the biggest concerns in the market now is a series of scandals related to oil contracts procured in Brazil via alleged inducements and bribes arising from a probe dubbed “Operation Carwash” that began in 2014.

The issue hit the headlines in June when the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Commercial Affairs Department said they were conducting a joint investigation into offences potentially committed by SembCorp Marine and its officials.

This comes just as investigations related to Operation Carwash seemed to be over, with additional financial penalties of US$110 million (S$148 million) imposed on Seatrium recently.

“The new investigation has brought back the fear and uncertainty that there could be further implications and have shaken investors and fund managers’ confidence,” noted analyst Nicholas Yon of Lim & Tan Securities.

We  make clear that this investigation is not related to forced labour, but nonetheless, it is an example of how a long-drawn-out investigation and possible penalties down the road can have serious consequences for a company.

It’s time for the construction and engineering industry in Singapore to shake off its complacency over its dirty labour supply chains, before they get into headlines for all the wrong reasons. Even if owners and managers (particularly of the smaller firms) don’t think they will be directly exposed to foreign countries’ laws, their clients may be. These clients will be asking Singapore contractors what they’re doing about their employees and their subcontractors’ employees.