400 complaints in a year - and most about salaries: Trade Union

Muscat: Not receiving salaries is one of the most common complaints received by the General Federation of Oman Trade Union (GFOTU).
In one year, the federation received over 400 complaints from expat and Omani workers in the private sector.
Speaking to Times of Oman, Omar Al Shehri, member of the board of directors and Vice Chairman of the Legal Committee at GFOTU, said, “Annually, we receive more than 400 complaints from Omani and expat workers, which include legal consultations, individual and group complaints.”
“We aim to find suitable solutions for all the workers that resort to the federation in all methods possible in order to achieve stability of the workers,” Al Shehri added.
Non-Omani employees are entitled to join licenced trade unions in the Sultanate.
“Expats also have the right to resort to the Federation directly. A worker can also register the complaint through the website of the General Federation of Workers of the Sultanate of Oman.”
There are specialised committees at the General Federation of Oman Trade Union to “keep pace with trade union actions in the Sultanate”.
Such committees include the working women committee, the expatriate workforce committee, the rights and duties committee, and the work culture and training committee.
The expat workforce committee specialises in making site visits to private sector institutions to assess the situation of the expatriate labour force and to monitor any violations against them.
The committee also collected expatriate workforce labour complaints and discussed them with the rights and duties committee.
“As a result of visits by specialists from the GFOTU to various work sites, the main complaints they received surrounded not receiving salaries for numerous months, not complying with the health and safety standards, and long work hours without compensation for overtime,” said Al Shehri.
On why it is important for expats to be aware of their rights, Al Shehri said, "The awareness of expatriate workers with regard to their rights and duties is one of the serious aspects of the contractual relationship between the worker and the employer. Such awareness also plays an important role in achieving job security and a stable work environment.”