RIYADH, 24 March 2004 — Many low-paid laborers moonlight by washing cars. Bengalis and Pakistanis in particular, typically earning SR300 a month, hope to make extra money this way to send home to their families.
Often they owe money to unscrupulous employment agents in their home country.
The practice is illegal; it is also risky. Car washers work by the side of busy main roads at night when they are already tired and vulnerable to accidents.
“I get a very small salary,” one of them told Arab News.
“That’s why I am here, like the others who want to earn extra. I spent quite a bit of money when I was applying to come here. I ran up debts and found it difficult to repay them on my salary from my regular job alone.”
He says he knows moonlighting is illegal, but it is the only way he can pay back his debts.
There are some legal car washers.
“Companies providing car washers are a relatively recent phenomenon.
“It’s an industry that’s worth exploring for local businessmen but I hope that they provide fair salaries and humane living conditions to their staff,” an expat journalist said.
