JEDDAH, 19 May 2007 — A landlord threw out 150 workers that were housed in his building after the company they worked for failed to pay him rent for 18 months, Al-Madinah newspaper reported.
The workers were left surprised and shocked when they returned home from work to find the building locked and so decided to go on strike until their employer — a well known Jeddah-based company — provides them with alternative accommodation and pay them their salaries, which were six months overdue.
“We just couldn’t tolerate this anymore. The landlord locked us out when we went to work. When we asked him why, he told us that our company had not paid him the rent for 18 months,” said Sabir Ambabi, one of the workers.
Ambabi added that they took the opportunity to ask the company to pay them their outstanding salaries. “Some of us weren’t even able to get our iqamas renewed because our company is having problems with the Labor Office. We need salaries, iqamas and a place to sleep,” he said.
The landlord, Abdullah Saad Al-Shihri, said: “Although I’ve reminded them several times, the company has failed to pay the rent for one and a half years. This building in fact belongs to some orphans and I am only their legal representative. It seems that the company wants to take advantage of these orphans.”
