"In just the first seven months of 2008, while working at the U.S. base,
the guest workers were cheated of over $250,000 in wages," the report,
released on Aug. 21, said. "The Kuwaiti companies working under contract
with the U.S. military base also illegally withheld three months of the
workers' wages."
The report said the workers have been housed in squalid dorms, with
eight workers crowded into each small 10-by-10-foot room, sleeping on
narrow, double-level bunk beds. NLC, which urged Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice to intervene, said supervisors threatened to beat the
workers if they asked for their proper pay.
Kuwait has been battling rising labor unrest from Asian expatriates, who
complained of being cheated of their wages. This was the first time that the
U.S. military was reported to have been involved in the improprieties. The
report said Kuwait hosts about 22,000 U.S. soldiers and advisers.
Camp Arifjan has hosted the repair, maintenance and overhaul of U.S.
ground platforms. The report said on July 27, Asian and other foreign
laborers held a strike in Camp Arifjan to protest poor conditions and
withheld salaries.
"Workers from the U.S. military base who had not participated in the
demonstration were attacked in their dorms by Kuwaiti police, who fired
teargas and kicked and beat the workers with clubs," the report said. "The
workers were imprisoned for five days, where they were again beaten, before
being forcibly deported to Bangladesh without the $5,000 or more in back
wages due them."