RIYADH, 7 March 2004 — Protection of workers’ rights was the main topic at a meeting yesterday between Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Dr. Ali Al-Namlah and visiting Indonesian Minister of Manpower Jacob Nuwa Wea. Issues discussed included long working hours and the non-payment of salaries for Indonesian workers.
“Both parties brought up problems facing Indonesian workers and their respective employers in the Kingdom and sorted out ways and means of solving the problems amicably by implementing new procedures based on mutual understanding,” Dr. Namlah told Arab News.
The International Labor Organ-ization (ILO) stipulates 40 hours of work per week for domestic workers. Dr. Namlah said delayed payment of salaries was mainly due to mutual consent between the employer and the employee, adding that this could be negotiated by mutual agreement between the two parties.
The visiting minister, who leads a 15-member delegation comprising legislators, ministry officials and media personnel, was invited by his Saudi counterpart. Indonesian Ambassador Mohammed M. Basyuni was also present at the talks. Some 90 percent of the 400,000 Indonesian workers in the Kingdom are domestic workers while the others are maintenance workers in electrical and telecommunication fields and paramedics.
The Kingdom hosts the majority of the one million Indonesian overseas workers in the Middle East.
“The visit aims at improving bilateral relations in the use of Indonesian human resources in the Kingdom and also to assist the Saudi government in getting quality manpower from my country,” Wea said.
The minister admitted that sometimes the wrong people are sent to the Kingdom because of fraudulent practices among recruiting agents in Indonesia. He declared such recruitment agents would soon be blacklisted.
There are 400 recruiting agencies currently involved in providing Indonesian workers to the Kingdom. Many agencies are likely to be closed when the minister returns home.
The number of Indonesian maids sent to the Kingdom dropped from 14,000 to 10,000 last year after employers complained that many were underaged and untrained. The minimum age of housemaids has been set at 25 and the minimum salary is SR600 per month.
In addition to housemaids, the minister said Indonesia wants to send medics, paramedics and skilled labor to the Kingdom. To ensure employees’ quality and efficiency, he explained, Indonesia has introduced a mandatory orientation program before their departure.
Following a request made by Dr. Namlah, the Indonesian government will also give the housemaids training in spoken Arabic to enable them to fit into Saudi households.
Wea also met with Minister of Health Dr. Hamad Al-Maneh, who pointed out that some GCC clinics in Jakarta are not performing as they should. There are four clinics currently operating in the Indonesian capital and they certify the health of the applicants who are coming to work in the GCC countries.
