Some staff at the Carrefour/Majid Al Futtaim stores were allegedly underpaid and overworked. Credit: MOUTASEM PHOTOGRAPHY/Shutterstock.

French supermarket retailer Carrefour has initiated a review of employment practices at its Saudi Arabia franchise partner, Majid Al Futtaim (MAF), in response to concerns raised by Amnesty International, Reuters has reported  

A report by the human rights organisation, published on 21 October 2024, levelled allegations of underpayment and excessive working hours among employees, particularly migrants, at Carrefour/Majid Al Futtaim stores in Saudi Arabia. 

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The report titled “‘I would fear going to work’: Labour exploitation at Carrefour sites in Saudi Arabia”, also described the accommodation provided by labour supply companies as “dirty and overcrowded,” with six to eight workers sleeping in a room.  

Reuters quoted Carrefour as saying: “Following Amnesty’s alert, we immediately asked our partner MAF to conduct internal investigations among its employees and subcontractors in Saudi Arabia.  

“To prevent potential human rights non-compliance situations within our franchise partner’s direct and indirect operations, we decided to extend our investigations to a wider scope of activities, covering all human rights requirements. To this end, an independent expert has been appointed.”  

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The findings were based on interviews with 17 men from Nepal, India and Pakistan employed at Carrefour sites in Riyadh, Dammam and Jeddah from 2021 to 2024. 

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Workers have reported to Amnesty International that they were subjected to 60-hour work weeks without overtime pay and lacked rest days, contravening Saudi labour laws that set a maximum of 48 working hours per week.  

Neither Carrefour nor Majid Al Futtaim had taken sufficient measures to address these issues or compensate the workers, according to Amnesty.

Amnesty International climate, economic and social justice, and corporate accountability programme director Marta Schaaf stated: “Carrefour has a clear responsibility under international human rights standards to ensure abuses do not occur throughout its operations, including its franchises. Now Carrefour and Majid Al Futtaim should act to remedy the abuses – including urgently compensating those affected – and ensure that workers in their operations are never harmed again.” 

In 2016, a report from Reuters stated that migrant workers in Saudi Arabia are facing months without pay. 

Workers from India also sued a construction company in Saudi over unpaid earnings in 2020 after they were laid off due to the Covid-19 pandemic.