Runaway maids and drivers in the Kingdom continue finding a new job every other month. Many Saudis worry they may have to change sponsorship or recruit, either which way they end up losing money and their workers.
“Every Ramadan, my maid would ask me for a month’s vacation saying she needs to spend time with her family in Makkah. I give her the vacation until I found that she works with a family during Ramadan for higher wages,” Layla Tayyeb, a housewife, said. “I was very disappointed when I saw my maid working at one of my distant relatives’ house and when I asked her, she said me she comes there every Ramadan for a salary of SR2,000,” she added.
Khaireyya, an Indonesian maid, said when she was in Makkah for Umrah, a Saudi woman approached her and offered her a job at her recruitment agency. “She said the workload will be less and I would be paid by the hour by people who hire me. I was tempted to leave, but I also realized that I was very happy with the family I was working for,” she said, adding: “When I saw her, she already had three other Indonesian maids and I’m sure they all accepted her offer and will run away from their existing jobs to join the agency.”
Ramadan is the peak season when families need more maids to work at home, says Abu Omar, an agent at a Jeddah-based recruitment office. “We receive a huge number of phone calls from Saudis who are looking for maids and drivers to serve them in Ramadan. With the new guidelines, we can only bring workers from their own countries under certain conditions and we can no longer transfer maids from one sponsor to another,” he said.
Overworked drivers threaten their sponsors that they leave or quit their jobs and head to their embassies to return home. “Its Ramadan and we are supposed to have time to go to the mosque and feel the spirit of Ramadan. But all that my sponsor wants to do is go shopping day and night,” said Muneer, a Filipino driver.
“During Eid time, I asked for permission to take two days off to celebrate with the Filipino community, but she rejected saying she needs me to drop her at her family’s house so she can have fun. I finally informed her that if she does not give me time for myself, I will quit and return home or find another sponsor,” he said.
Muneer was offered a job by a neighbor for his friend at a better salary and less work, but he was worried that the Passport Department would arrest him and send him back home.
Black market for household workers remains lucrative after Ramadan
