The Unsung Heroes of Gulf Oil: Indian Migrants
Indian migrants have played an indispensable role in shaping the Middle Eastern oil industry since its inception. Professor Andrea Wright, a distinguished academic, sheds light on their profound contributions, ranging from highly skilled tradesmen to essential manual laborers. While these workers often achieve significantly higher earnings compared to their prospects in India, their journey is frequently marked by profound loneliness and arduous working conditions. Historically, organized labor movements and unions existed but were later curtailed. Their labor remains a vital, yet often overlooked, component of the region’s economic powerhouse.
Speaking with Srijana Mitra Das in ET Evoke, Andrea Wright, Professor of Anthropology and Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at William and Mary University, delves into how Indian migrants have profoundly influenced the Gulf’s oil sector, and why their narratives often remain absent from public discourse, both in times of peace and conflict.
The Historical Trajectory of Indian Migration to the Gulf
Q: When did the migration drive from India to the Middle East truly accelerate, and what are the primary roles of these migrant workers?
A: Professor Wright explains her extensive research on Indian migration to the Middle East, tracing its origins back to the very beginning of the oil industry. “Oil was discovered in Iran in 1908, and soon after, Indians were integral to Iran’s burgeoning oil sector,” she notes. By the 1930s, with oil production commencing in Bahrain, a substantial influx of Indian workers followed. Her recent book, ‘Unruly Labour,’ examines Indians in the oil industry from its genesis until the 1970s, while her first book, ‘Between Dreams and Ghosts,’ explored contemporary migration, primarily focusing on men in ‘unskilled’ or ‘semi-skilled’ positions within oil and gas.
Interestingly, while today a large number of unskilled workers arrive from India, the Philippines, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, historical patterns reveal a different trend. “Historically, most Indian migrants were skilled tradesmen, with local Gulf Arabs largely constituting the manual labor force,” Wright clarifies, highlighting a significant shift in the composition of manual labor over time.
Significant Remittances: A Lifeline for Families
Q: What is the scale of the earnings disparity between working in the Gulf versus employment in India, and how does this impact remittances?
A: The financial incentive is substantial. “Most individuals I’ve spoken with report earning six to ten times more in the Gulf than they would in India, particularly true for manual workers,” Wright states. While the multiplier might vary slightly for highly skilled positions, the vast majority of unskilled or semi-skilled workers experience this dramatic increase in income, enabling significant remittances back home.
Challenging Conditions and Profound Loneliness
Q: Broadly speaking, what are the working conditions for these migrant laborers in the Middle East?
A: Conditions are varied. “Many male workers I know reside in dormitories, often with six to eight men sharing a room with bunk beds, typically located far from city centers,” Wright describes. Having interviewed over a thousand workers, she observes a pervasive sense of longing: “The vast majority deeply miss their families and experience extreme loneliness, constantly burdened by their obligations to kin. Yet, they also express immense pride in their contributions to their families and communities through remittances.”
While instances of severe mistreatment, such as abandonment, are rare—Wright cites a 2010 case in the UAE where workers were left unpaid and without provisions after their employer fled—the Gulf states have actively worked to enhance conditions. Nevertheless, even in optimal circumstances, workers often endure profound loneliness while performing exceptionally demanding labor.
The Evolution of Labor Rights: From Strikes to Restrictions
Q: What is the history of strikes and unions in the Middle East?
A: “Intriguingly, while strikes and unions are absent in the Arabian Peninsula today, the 1920s to 1940s witnessed numerous strikes involving workers of diverse nationalities uniting,” Wright reveals. This trend shifted in the late 1940s, with a decline in large international coalitions and a rise in nationality-specific strikes.
She recounts a significant event in the early 1950s: “All Indian workers in Aden, involved in refinery construction, staged a hunger strike—from managers to manual laborers. They protested perceived racism, poor accommodation, and low-quality, beef-laden food.” This action garnered media attention in India and prompted intervention from the Indian government, leading to reforms. The 1950s also saw local Gulf Arabs striking for greater governance changes and a more democratic say in oil wealth distribution. However, by the late 1950s, a series of highly restrictive labor laws emerged, progressively making unionization and striking difficult, and eventually illegal. “By the 1960s, worker strikes had ceased,” Wright concludes.
Consent, Security, and the Precarious Nature of Migrant Labor
Q: You’ve written about ‘genealogies of consent and security in Indian labor migration’—could you elaborate?
A: Wright explains these as two distinct yet interconnected concepts. “While Indians can earn significantly more in the Gulf, they often incur substantial debt to navigate the emigration process,” she states. Recruiting agents, despite legal fee limits, frequently lead workers to borrow additional funds, especially those with Emigration Check Required (ECR) passports, just to complete interviews.
Her research into the history of emigration regulations reveals their origins in concerns over indentured labor in the 1800s, which was seen as a new form of slavery due to workers’ lack of awareness about their conditions. “The emigration system, including the Protector of Emigrants and ECR requirements, emerged from concerns that indentured workers couldn’t truly consent to their work,” she clarifies. Although indentured labor declined, the system was later adapted by oil companies to transport large numbers of Indians to oil fields, with restrictions only easing relatively recently.
The security aspect, Wright elaborates, focuses on how the oil industry became central to national security. This connection intensified when the British navy transitioned to oil power, making oil critical for global military and economic might by the mid-20th century. “The Persian Gulf thus became a site of geostrategic importance,” she notes. With oil’s immense global economic influence, the demand for controllable, strike-averse workers grew. Consequently, oil companies increasingly favored migrant workers from India, Pakistan, and now the Philippines over local hires. “This preference stems from the ability to dismiss migrants who strike without addressing political complaints,” Wright explains. Furthermore, the oil industry’s fluctuating labor needs—requiring 10,000 workers for refinery construction but only around 100 for operation—are met by hiring migrant workers on very short-term contracts, contributing to their precarious status.
Beyond the Male Narrative: Women in Gulf Migration
Q: We often perceive Indian migrant labor to the Middle East as predominantly male—is that accurate?
A: “Actually, large numbers of women are employed across multiple sectors there,” Wright corrects. While domestic work is one area, many women migrate as professionals, serving as factory managers, HR officers, and in other skilled roles. However, she acknowledges that “when considering the nearly one million Emigration Check Required passports issued, the majority are indeed for men.”
Uncertainty Amidst Geopolitical Tensions
Q: Given the current conflict and escalating uncertainty, how would you characterize the situation of migrant workers in the Middle East today?
A: “People feel profoundly unsure about the future and anxious regarding their prospects,” Wright observes. “Many are losing their jobs or attempting to return home as the future amidst this war appears so uncertain.”
The Invisibility of Essential Labor
Q: There’s extensive discussion about oil prices and shipping routes, yet why do millions of migrant workers in the Middle East remain largely invisible from public discourse?
A: “I believe significant effort has gone into structuring labor, especially migrant labor, as precarious and, in some respects, invisible,” Wright posits. In the Gulf, migrant workers often reside in camps isolated from the general population, limiting the visibility of their experiences in daily life. “This makes it challenging to grasp both the sheer number of workers in the Gulf and their inherent vulnerability,” she adds. Factors like short-term contracts contribute to a global sense of temporariness, affecting everyone from taxi drivers to delivery workers. “Temporary work renders labor invisible and difficult to statistically count, observe, photograph, and consequently, to empathize with,” Wright concludes.
Global Capitalism and Shared Vulnerabilities
Q: What distinguishes—or does not—an Indian migrant laborer in the Middle East from, say, a Mexican agricultural laborer brought in seasonally to work in the United States?
A: Wright notes a striking commonality. “When my first book, ‘Between Dreams and Ghosts,’ was published, many scholars working on Latin American migration to the US remarked, ‘This is exactly what I see,'” she recalls. “This reflects how capitalism operates, particularly under neoliberal ideologies promoting profit maximization, which can legitimize poor treatment of workers by assuming individuals can weigh all risks.”
She further points to corporate policies that increasingly expose workers and migrants to risk. “Even on safety issues, rules often blame workers for not following procedures rather than addressing unsafe worksites,” Wright states. Practices like short-term hiring or contracting out work transfer risk from corporations to individuals. “All these forces heighten worker vulnerability, impacting both Indian migrants to the Gulf and Mexican migrant laborers to the United States,” she asserts.
The Indispensable Contribution of Indian Labor
Q: What has been the greatest contribution of Indian migrant laborers—who are otherwise largely overlooked, except for their remittances—to the oil industry of the Middle East?
A: “Indians are absolutely central to the entirety of the Middle East’s oil industry, right from its foundation,” Wright emphasizes. “We cannot conceive of the oil industry as it exists today without India.” She explains that when the Gulf oil industry commenced, Indians who had worked at Burma Oil began relocating there, bringing crucial international expertise that helped build and sustain the sector. “This continues to be true today,” she affirms.
Views expressed are personal.
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