Foreign workers are both a necessity and a problem for Saudi Arabia. They are necessary because there is too much work to be done and too few Saudis interested in (or permitted to do) certain kinds of work. They are a problem because many Saudis abuse their workers in various ways, ranging from physical and sexual assault, to unfit housing and delays in paying salaries, to blatant abuse of international human rights standards.
Various attempts have been made by the Saudi government and quasi-governmental agencies to address the issues. Among them is an attempt by the National Commission for Recruitment which seeks to impose standards on worker qualifications, minimum salaries, and guarantees on workers’ performance. This effort was to have taken effect at the start of the coming year, but has been postponed when it was discovered that documents were being forged and the system gamed even before it started.
It’s disconcerting to see how low salaries for domestic workers are set as well as how different nationalities will get different salaries. A Nepalese maid, for instance, would receive only one-third of the salary that a Filipina would get. This is just another aspect of the salary system—which has every appearance of being simply racist—that has angered many white collar workers (and Human Rights organizations) as well, in which Western employees receive multiples of the salaries offered to Asian employees for the identical work. It’s an problem for which the Saudis have come up with neither a good explanation nor a good solution.
Enforcement of new recruitment rules delayed
RIYADH: The National Commission for Recruitment (NCR) said it would allow the recruitment of workers from Indonesia and the Philippines on a new consolidated contract beginning on Jan. 1.
The NCR, a subsidiary of the Riyadh-based Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry, postponed the date of the implementation of the new contract regulations because it had noticed some labor supply agents in Indonesia resorting to swindling and forgery of documents related to worker recruitment, Al-Eqtisadiah daily reported.
“Several Indonesian labor suppliers are attempting to cheat Saudi employers and labor importers with forged documents. However, the Saudi Embassy in Jakarta has helped the Saudis resolve such problems,” said a source at the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI).
…
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
November:17:2008 - 11:41
I agree with much of what is said here, but I think it’s important to explain that the different pay rates has to do with rules implemented by respective countries. The Saudis don’t set these wages. Of course, it behooves them to do that, to set a standard minimum wage (at, say, the highest of the countries remitting workers, which I think is the Philippines, which I think generally has the best foreign-workers advocacy of the labor-remitting countries) but that does explain the different wage rates.
November:17:2008 - 12:19
The various countries may play a role (most do not) in setting minimum wages and conditions for low-level workers. They do not play a role in the employment of white collar or professional workers.
As a result, you can have two equally qualified accountants or doctors, say, with the same education and certifications, but one will draw higher salaries based solely on what passport he carries.
This has been a source of great resentment among those holding the ‘wrong’ passport.
November:17:2008 - 14:45
That’s true, and a bad problem, but I was referring to the category of lower-skilled workers who will be working in the Kingdom at the lowest wages paid anyone, who also have fewer rights inside or outside of Saudi law, and to whom remitting-countries’ minimum wage protections are aimed at.
I don’t think very many doctors are getting the minimum wage in the KSA as determined by their respective governments’ minimum wage laws for their workers abroad, though I suppose this could be an issue with entry-level accountants or other diploma-holding workers.
There is an inherent bigotry in some Saudi’s perceptions — where they may pay an American more than than an Indian with equal skills simply because the former is from the US and the latter is from India — but that’s beside the point of these minimum wage standards and why they differ based on the workers’ country of origin. They differ because the Philippines has one standard and Sri Lankan has a different one.
It would be nice to see some of these remitting countries forming a standard so they’re not all competing with one another for a race to the bottom in wage terms. I hate to sound like a Communist, but the workers of the world could really use a bit more protections across the board in a formal, standardized coalition — especially with regards to the recruitment processes.
November:17:2008 - 16:17
I think one can safely say, without being taken for a communist, that workers are abused around the world. Collective bargaining has a role to play, though labor unions can become self-perpetuating bureaucracies of their own, once their utility expires.
I do not think wages in Country A should be fixed according to what the immigrant worker’s country B or C considers adequate. Instead, it should be what the market in Country A is willing to pay for that labor and what citizens of Country A expect as a minimum were they to earn it themselves.
November:18:2008 - 03:32
So basically, it’s incumbent of the KSA to establish a minimum wage for these workers! One thing I haven’t been able to ascertain is what the minimum wage is in KSA in the first place — on paper if not in practice. I’ve read that the per capita income of a Saudi is about SR2,500 a month. Not sure if that’s true. The question then becomes: Should the KSA establish a minimum wage that’s the same for Saudis and foreign workers or not, or should it establish an alternative minimum wage for non-Saudis that’s lower than for Saudis. It’s a very complicated problem, and one the US is facing as well.
November:18:2008 - 10:21
I think a minimum national wage isn’t a bad idea. I do believe, strongly that equal work should result in equal pay. But a Saudi and a foreigner might not have to have the same benefits packages.
There would need to be some legal mechanism to protect workers and prevent employers from simply going for the cheaper labor, however.