Carrefour Reviews Treatment of Staff at Saudi Franchise Partner Majid Al Futtaim Following Amnesty International Report. Carrefour, the French supermarket giant, said it is reviewing the practices of treating its employees at its franchise partner in Saudi Arabia, Majid Al Futtaim, following a report issued by Amnesty International into the working conditions of staff at the Carrefour/Majid Al Futtaim stores.
Issued on the same day, Amnesty International’s report found that some employees-working typically for levels of pay below minimum wage and on excessive workloads with too little adequate rest-are migrant workers. The report is based on interviews with 17 male workers from Nepal, Pakistan, and India who worked at Carrefour locations in Riyadh, Dammam, and Jeddah between 2021 and 2024. Most were recruited by Majid Al Futtaim through labor supply companies contracted by Majid Al Futtaim.
Carrefour said in a statement that it had asked MAF to carry out an internal inquiry into its working conditions in Saudi Arabia, a step taken with an extension of investigations on all operations. To affirm this commitment further, the company appointed an independent expert to oversee the process.
According to workers that Amnesty International interviewed, they were forced to work up to 60 hours a week without receiving overtime. Many of them report being denied rest days regularly, something that violates even Saudi labor laws which hold that no more than 48 hours should be worked in a week.
The Saudi government’s media communications office did not respond to requests for comment regarding allegations by Amnesty International and Carrefour’s subsequent response.
Reports have been full of concerns that migrant workers are being left without pay for long periods even as they put up in subhuman conditions in desert camps. Just last year, hundreds of Indian workers filed a lawsuit against a Saudi construction company seeking unpaid wages after its decision to lay them off in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This is, for instance demonstrated in the Carrefour example, where it embarked on improving labour practice review, due to growing awareness and scrutiny of rights to workers, particularly the vulnerable migrant population in the region of the Gulf.
