Arab News translates this article from the Arabic daily Al-Jazirah, noting that the Saudi Human Rights Commission is taking up the cause of those forced to labor in un-air conditioned environments where summer heat can reach 60°C (140°F). Even students, in classrooms lacking air conditioning, face serious health challenges at these temperatures.

What’s most noteworthy, though, is that at least some Saudis are showing their concern for the manual laborers brought in to do the hard, physical work that Saudis prefer not to do themselves. They deserve more than just a (paltry) salary.

Summer Heat and Labor Rights
Rogaia Al-Hoayrini, Al-Jazirah

We are probably the only country in the world experiencing a worn-out and dated managerial system. We are also probably the only country in the world that finds it difficult to improve or develop the way our country operates. In fact, we still resist the idea of making Friday and Saturday the official weekend like other Middle Eastern countries.

And despite the fact that it is boiling hot during the summer in Saudi Arabia, we are still debating whether to change school and working hours during Ramadan. The Civil Service Ministry insists on beginning the day at 10 a.m. without making any exceptions for the deadly summer heat.

The Human Rights Commission (HRC), Saudi Arabia’s government-run human rights organization, has urged the Labor Ministry to issue directives to stop employers from forcing laborers to work in the dangerous mid-day heat. HRC officials say that record high temperatures in some parts of the Kingdom this summer make such directives even more important.

Many laborers are known to faint and suffer sunstrokes when working in high temperatures. In certain factories, temperatures can reach up to 60 C. Do employers have any human dignity and consideration for a person’s health, especially when one takes into consideration the amount of output and profit that an individual laborer generates? Is there any difference between a human being and a machine? Even machines become faulty when left in the sun and exposed to heat.
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