- JEDDAH: Following an order recently by Minister of Labor Ghazi Al-Ghosaibi that gives companies one year to implement a policy of reducing daytime shifts for employees who work outside during the hottest part of the year, some workers question why companies are being given so much time to implement the policy.
“I am glad that the Ministry of Labor has decided to help protect workers who work under the scorching sun, but the decision ignores the fact that we are suffering now and need relief immediately.
“The law should be put into effect as soon as possible,” Ali Azubadi, a construction worker in north Jeddah, told Arab News.
When the law is implemented, employers will be required not to make their laborers work under the sun from noon to 3 p.m. in July and August, when temperatures exceed 45C. Temperatures during this time hover between 40 and 48 degrees centigrade.
“I don’t feel that companies should need a year to prepare in order to allow its workers to stay out of the sun from noon to 3 p.m. every day,” said Mohammed Arshad, an employee of a local contracting company.
Arshad also pointed out that during Ramadan (which will be in July or August for the next three years) work schedules are shifted to evening hours, so the precedent already exists for implementing this policy immediately.
Contracting companies in Saudi Arabia say they need a year to implement the regulation.
“We have several building contracts that need to be completed on schedule and if we allow our workers to have a daily noon break we would not be able to complete the projects on schedule,” said Talal Mohammed, owner of Talal Construction Group in Jeddah.
“This in the long run will compromise our contracts and cost us dearly both in terms of money and our company reputation,” he said.
Mohammed Sadek Al-Madani, president of Jeddah’s Awtad International Company for Construction disagrees.
“If I take proper care of my employees they will do their best to get the projects completed on time,” he said. “We don’t need a year to keep allowing foreign and Saudi workers to suffer.”
This is the first time Saudi Arabia has issued such a decree. Other GCC countries have policies in place to limit the amount of time workers can toil in the heat. The United Arab Emirates, for example, recently extended its daytime work stoppage period into the month of September.
Under UAE labor rules, outside workers must stop work from 12:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. from June 15 to Sept. 15.
