JEDDAH, 2 March 2005 — Hiring an overstayer to do a job may sound like a great way to save some money, but just because a desperate illegal says he is trained to do a job doesn’t necessarily mean he actually is. From the government’s point of view, when an overstayer takes a job, he’s taking it from an unemployed Saudi worker.
A large number of overstayers are gathered at different locations around Jeddah searching for work as laborers. It’s a fact known to all those who want construction, plumbing and electrical work done on the cheap. It’s also a fact being exploited by people looking for workers to do landscape gardening as well as agriculture and field cleaning.
The names of those locations have become associated with certain job categories. Usually the workers gather on a street, and each one of them stands in front of the door of the shop that reflects their trade waiting for a customer to show up. Once a customer appears, workers gather around him and negotiate a price, then they rush to his vehicle even without asking. According to Al-Watan newspaper, some of the areas in Jeddah where overstayers look for jobs are Heraa and Sitteen Streets. Some overstayers in Heraa have described the way they pick up customers.
“Each worker stands in front of the shop that sells the tools that concern his trade,” said Ahmad Mustafa, an Egyptian overstayer. “For example, a plumber stands in front of the plumbing shop, while the construction workers stand next to building supply stores. The same thing goes for the electrician.”
It’s a hard way to make a living.
“We remain there from the early morning until evening to catch the customers and deal with them,” Mustafa said. “Even if he asks me to do him some work that I don’t do, I’ll go bring him one of my coworkers who does.”
Most of overstayers have only been working for a short period of time after Haj to earn money for the trip home.
“Racism plays an obvious role in which the workers of the same nationality form a union that tries to monopolize the market and take control of the customers competing with other overstayers from other nationalities,” he added.
Overstayers say that people come to them because of the low cost.
“If the contractor asked for SR600 for some work we only ask for SR200 for the same work, which encourages people to deal with us,” said Rami Abulsaud, an Egyptian overstayer. “We also depend on the employers who demand a large number of workers to accomplish anything in a very short time. Mostly, the employer provides all the tools for workers while they only get paid for their handwork.”
Muhammad Radwan, a Yemeni worker, said he is against racism and against one nationality trying to monopolize a given market. He also complained about bad behavior like greed and cheating.
“Some workers lie about the trade they’re in depending on the customer’s request. The plumber claims that he’s a construction worker when the customer needs a builder, or claims that he is electrician when the customer needs one of them,” Radwan said. “Besides that, all the workers learn the trades here by practicing without any previous experience.”
The government says overstayers create problems and urges residents to help end the problem.
“We consider the overstayers as illegal residents living in the country illegally. If caught, they will be deported immediately,” said Gen. Salem Al-Belaihid of the Passports Department. “We urge them to respect the local law, which states that they should leave after the Haj or Umrah period.”
