RIYADH, 6 October 2007 — The head of the National Recruitment Committee, a nongovernmental organization of labor recruiters, has rejected any move to declare a minimum wage for maids “until problems in the status of the maids are resolved.”

Newspapers reported recently that the committee has rejected calls to declare a minimum wage for domestic workers. The Philippines earlier this year declared that maids would not be granted permission to work as overseas Filipino workers unless they were granted a minimum wage of $400 a month (SR1,500). In return the Filipino government has pledged to increase training and skills of these so-called household service workers (HSWs) prior to their departure.

The Philippines and Indonesia supply a majority of Saudi Arabia’s domestic help. Saad Al-Baddah, chairman of the committee, said it would not make any decision on minimum salaries until the problems of maids running away after signing their contracts to work illegally (often for higher salaries) and of maids being sent who lack adequate skills to fulfill their duties are resolved.

Al-Baddah added that the committee’s stance applies to maids of all nationalities. Illegal maids often get paid higher salaries due to convenience of not having to go through the official channels to acquire domestic help legally. Further, families can pay more for illegal maids because they don’t pay charges incurred by acquiring domestic help through official channels.

“The refusal applies to the recruitment of other nationalities as long as the conditions the committee is stating are not met and the problems are not resolved,” he said.

Saudis, who are heavily dependent on foreign domestic workers, are struggling to find legal and illegal alternatives. Media reports say that Saudis have had trouble finding maids for the Ramadan seasonal spike in demand for extra domestic help during the month when families prepare large meals and host iftar (fast breaking) guests.

Al-Baddah said that many families are now recruiting domestic help from Nepal, Vietnam and Sri Lanka, and specifically endorsed Vietnamese workers by calling them well trained. He said that 600 domestic-help work contracts were signed for Vietnamese maids last year.

The committee chair said that recruiters are abiding by the demands of the Philippine government regarding the SR1,500 minimum wage at the expense of Saudis and expatriate families in desperate need, adding that recruiters are acting solely out of greed.

They may not have any choice, though, since the Philippine government will not grant visas to maids who do not sign a work contract stipulating not only the minimum wage but an annual home visit where the sponsor pays for the plane ticket.

But there is a common loophole called “contract substitution,” where maids sign a work contract in the Philippines with this minimum wage (in order to receive clearance to work abroad by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration) but then sign another contract on arrival in the Kingdom that lowers this wage. This phenomenon has existed for years in various types of job — more often at the lower-wage positions — but may be utilized in greater frequency considering that the Philippine government began increasing scrutiny of work contracts last year.

Al-Baddah rejected the Philippine move and said recruiters should simply look elsewhere. He added that by abiding by the minimum-wage demands of foreign governments, recruiters are ignoring the National Recruitment Committee’s recommendations about the needs to resolve the “problems” before any move to increase wages is tabled. And he says he would like to know who is ignoring his committee’s stance.

“I, like you, would like to know what is the party in charge of breaching the committee’s recommendations,” he added.