JEDDAH, 16 January 2003 — Extra seasonal work during the Haj season on top of regular full time employment is resulting in a lack of efficiency among many Saudi workers.
Seasonal jobs are very common during Haj, especially in Jeddah, Madinah, Makkah and the holy sites. The Labor Office in Jeddah recommends that government and private organizations provide seasonal jobs for students and the many unemployed Saudis who wish to serve pilgrims.
However, Arab News has learned that many of those who take up these jobs are in fact already employed.
More than 20 government and private organizations at the Haj Terminal employ around 15,000 temporary Saudi workers every year over the two months of Haj.
The Transportation Syndicate, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Haj, Ministry of Islamic Affairs and Endowments and private travel agencies account for most opportunities.
Furthermore, the United Agents Office (UAO) temporarily employs around 6,000 Saudi employees from various government and private companies every year without any regard for the stipulation that they should not be employed anywhere else.
Assad Abu Zaid, general manager of employment at the UAO, said that the monthly salary is SR3,100 for university students, SR3,600 for BA graduates, SR4,200 for MA graduates and between SR8,000 and SR10,000 for academics.
Ahmad Al-Ghamdi, an Arabic teacher at a secondary school in Jeddah, said that this was his 12th year working at the UAO as a clerk.
“I have to work around 14 hours a day in the month preceding Haj,” he explained. “I can’t take a nap between the two jobs because I only have an hour between when I finish school and then set off on the 40 km drive to the Haj Terminal.”
A director of a construction section at Saudi Arabian Airlines, Wahid Al-Hibshi, complained about one of the staff, an executive engineer. He asked for 10 days sick leave during this month so that he can cope with extra work as a director at the Transportation Syndicate Office in the Haj Terminal.
