RIYADH, 18 October — Most of the Saudi employees laid off by the American McDonnell Douglas and BDM companies will be hired by Al-Salam Aircraft Company, according to an informed source in Al-Salam company.
Al-Salam, a company included in the Saudi Offset Program, will appoint 850 employees out of a total of 940 Saudis laid off by the two American companies last month, the source said.
Al-Salam has assured the dismissed employees that it will complete the formalities of new contracts shortly, the source said.
The source also said AAC is currently studying the list of the employees and has asked them to fill out the required forms. However, the employees are worried about the salary they will get from the new employer as the AAC has made it clear that their salary will be fixed after examining their certificates of qualifications and experience.
Twenty-three employees, who were working in the telecommunications and computer sections at their old companies, will be getting their old salaries in view of their special skills, the source added.
The agency, which is supervising the employees’ transfer to AAC, wants them to be appointed at posts corresponding to their old posts, with the same terms of contract. An action team has also been appointed to supervise the transfer process.
The joint aircraft maintenance projects of the US companies McDonnell Douglas and BDM, which terminated the services of their 940 Saudi employees, have been working in the Kingdom since 1980.
Abdullah Abu Nayyan, personnel manager at McDonnell Douglas, had said earlier that the decision to terminate the Saudi employees was taken solely because the period of their contract with the company had come to an end.
