The World Cup came to a close in 2022, but BWI’s work in Qatar is still gathering pace 

Almost four years on from the 2022 World Cup, BWI is building on progress for workers in Qatar through continued work on worker participation and joint committees, wage protection and occupational safety and health, including a three-year heat stress awareness campaign that has reached hundreds of thousands of workers. 

Roundtable on worker participation and wages  

In July, a new law in Qatar made joint committees compulsory for companies with over 100 workers, transforming years of dialogue into real commitments. 

On September 17, the second Construction Industry Roundtable on worker participation and wages in Doha organised in partnership by the Qatari Ministry of Labour and BWI, brought together the  Ministry of Labour, the International Labour Organization, major construction contractors and BWI workers' representatives to tackle three issues: workers' participation in sectoral dialogue including through joint committees, wages and wage protection mechanisms.

The concrete outcome was that there was a commitment from the major contractors to begin working with BWI on establishing joint committees, turning the new law into action on site. 

Opening the session, BWI General Secretary Ambet Yuson pointed to the scale of what BWI has already built in Qatar.  

BWI has built over 130 Workers Welfare Forums in the run up to the World Cup, giving workers an avenue to raise their voices, submit grievances and resolve collective cases.  

"Workers' representatives are essential," said Yuson. “The new law on joint committees is key for the sustainability of labour market institutions." 

On wages, BWI Global Director of Campaigns Paola Cammilli pointed to Qatar's Wage Protection System and the Workers' Support and Insurance Fund as mechanisms that "can make a very concrete difference when wages go unpaid." Cammilli called for the focus to now shift "from remedy after a problem occurs, to preventing the problem in the first place." 

Jerry Ronquillo, President of Bayanihan Qatar, an organisation representing Filipino migrant workers, brought a reminder of the real impacts of delayed salaries for many migrant workers: "When a salary is delayed, even for a month, it can immediately affect a whole family back home."  

Heat stress campaign reaches new levels 

Two days earlier, on 15 September, BWI joined the Workers Support and Insurance Fund (WSIF), Qatar's Ministry of Labour and the National Human Rights Committee on their joint Heat Stress Prevention Campaign, "From Awareness to Impact." 

The numbers tell the story: in 2025, the campaign reached around 40,000 workers. This year, that number more than doubled to over 100,000.  

Yuson, addressing migrant workers' and community associations at the closing ceremony, credited the campaign's success and urged: "having a law on heat stress is not enough," he said. "Workers need the right tools and education in order to manage and prevent heat stress."