DHAHRAN, 16 July — Saudi national Yahya H. Al-Faifi was on 48 hours leave from his job as Command Post Technician/STAN/EVAL Supervisor at the Dhahran Air Force Installation, when he was urgently recalled by BritishAerospace (BAE) on June 18. At the time he was ordered to sign a notification of termination without cause from his position at BAE.

Al-Faifi is ex-military, having served in the Royal Saudi Air Force. In 1998, he had come to work for BAE directly. For nearly all of a career that has spanned more than two decades, Al-Faifi has trained, worked and been under the supervision of BAE. During his years with BAE, Al-Faifi received letters of commendation from both BAE and the Ministry of Defense and Aviation. When informed of Al-Faifi’s termination, the post commander, a brigadier general in the Royal Saudi Air Force, wrote a letter of protest to Al Yamamah project officer.

Al-Faifi traces the reason for his termination back to autumn 2001when BAE asked its Saudi workers to sign a document which would allow the company "to make changes" in the employment agreements of its Saudi contract manning staff (CMS). While most BAE CMS employees without hesitation signed the "Application to continue employment with the Al Yamamah Project", Al-Faifi objected to legal "remarks" at the end of the document, which permitted BAE to abrogate the current employment contracts.

"I would not sign the application document because I realized that doing so would enable BAE to completely re-write my employment contract, putting forward any terms they so desired annually," explained Al-Faifi. "Basically, I was being asked to sign away my rights under my old employment contract without having any idea what I might be offered in any new contract. If I didn’t sign I was threatened with termination. This was absolutely unacceptable and completely against Article 22 and Article 6 of the Labor and Workmen’s Law, which is in force in the Kingdom."

Al-Faifi hails from a family of modest means in Taif. In his youth, Al-Faifi’s father worked on private construction projects and frequently faced attempts by disreputable project managers to abuse his employment rights. H. Al-Faifi kept a copy of the Saudi Labor Law at home and over time his sons had poured over its contents so often with their father that they had almost memorized it. That is why when BAE presented Yahya Al-Faifi with the application to revise the employment contract, he immediately recognized that it was a violation of standard labor practices in the Kingdom. Not only would he not sign it but he advised other BAE CMS employees to reject the application too.

"At first all my colleagues ignored me even when I showed them the relevant sections in the Labor Law and advised them that the action from BAE was illegal," said Al-Faifi. Since the form didn’t specifically state that there would be salary reductions in future contracts from BAE, many employees were not aware of how damaging signing the form could be on an annual basis. Only when some lawyers agreed with me and pointed out to the employees that the phrase ‘changes to current contract’ could mean almost any changes the company wanted, did so many BAE Saudi staff begin to worry."

BAE Saudi staff are now beyond worrying and have begun to take legal action. BAE has Saudi employees throughout the Kingdom in Dhahran, Riyadh, Taif, Tabuk, Jeddah, Khamis Mushayt, Jubail and Al-Kharj. Al-Faifi estimated that more than 90% of BAE’s Saudi workers are middle-class family men whose dependents will be in strained circumstances if there is a reduction in salary or benefits such as the living allowance. The majority of BAE’s Saudi workers are in technical positions and it would not be easy for them to change jobs because military aviation and communication are specialty fields.

Al-Faifi was requested not to report for work after he was terminated by BAE. However, his last official day of employment with the company is July 18. After the termination, Al-Faifi demanded to know the reason for his dismissal. He was advised in writing from BAE that his employment contract was terminated on the direction of the Al-Yamamah Project Officer and consequently the termination could not be appealed.

According to Al-Faifi’s contract with BAE he could be employed until he was 60 years of age. As he is only 43 years old and had anticipated many more productive years on the job, he was shocked by his dismissal without cause. He immediately took his case to the Labor Office and now with the agreement of BAE’s lawyer the matter has been referred to Dammam’s Labor Court. The case will be heard on July 20.

"I do not want to be in court," said Al-Faifi. "I want to be back on the airbase in my job as Command Post Technician/STAN/EVAL Supervisor, where I belong. I am a hard worker and the company agreed that I was well qualified when I was hired. I have given my best over the years to BAE and my nation. In the past BAE has treated me very well and we have had an excellent working relationship. That is why the termination is so difficult to bear. I know that if the court rules in my favor I will be offered a large settlement, but that is not what I’m looking for. I hope to be reinstated in my position immediately and I want an apology from BAE or whomever is behind this unlawful action."

BAE management in Riyadh stated that they had no further comment on the situation beyond the letter already given to Al-Faifi explaining his termination. BAE’s lawyer, Khaled Al-Gosadi, requested that the case be moved to the Dammam Labor Court as BAE had no acceptable presentation to make before the Labor Office.