RIYADH, 26 December 2002 — The Higher Arbitration Committee in Riyadh held a session yesterday to look into the appeal filed by BAE Systems against the verdict of the Labor Department’s Jeddah-based Primary Arbitration Committee to stop actions against two Saudi employees whose contracts were terminated from the company.
The committee adjourned the case until March 30 next year for final decision as the company did not present any new documents to support its appeal.
Earlier the Preliminary Arbitration Committee ruled against the dismissal of Bassam Al-Zargi and Abdulaziz Al-Tuwaijri, two Saudi employees working at BAE Systems in Tabuk. The ruling stated that the committee could not find any violation on the part of the employees to deserve the arbitrary cancellation of their contracts and dismissal from the company. The committee also observed that the refusal to sign a new contract with an unfavorable time clause did not amount to a violation deserving dismissal from their jobs as their service was governed by an earlier contract.
The two employees were first notified of contract termination in February after they had refused to sign the controversial annual contracts enforced on BAE’s Saudi employees. Al-Zargi was director of computer networks and database while Al-Tuwaijri worked as a civil engineer. Yahya Al-Fifi, another Saudi working in the Eastern Province is the third Saudi employee whose contract was terminated by BAE Systems.
Meanwhile, labor courts in the eastern, southern and central regions had ruled in favor of more than 900 Saudi employees who filed a lawsuit against the British company early this year for allegedly forcing them to change their contracts from permanent to annual . The British company was the center of controversy when it had forced all its Saudi employees in September 2001 to sign a new annual contract with the company or face termination of contracts, a move considered a clear violation of Saudi labor law. The issue spurred the workers to form the Kingdom’s first Labor Committee of Saudi Workers.
Saudis working in the company in Riyadh, Jeddah, Taif, Tabuk and Khamis Mushayt filed a number of lawsuits against the BAE calling for the company to revise its decision. On July 10 , the dispute between the company and its Saudi employees took a new turn when the Ministry of Defense and Aviation assured them that all the rights and privileges of the Saudi employees in the BAE Systems will be protected. The company subsequently announced withdrawal of it plans to modify staff contracts and agreed to protect the salaries and other rights of the employees and continue with the contracts without any modifications. Surprisingly in August, BAE Systems announced plans to cut down jobs.
