DAMMAM, 9 June 2004 — Eastern Province Governor Prince Muhammad ibn Fahd has promised the Indian ambassador to bring a speedy solution to a labor dispute in a Jubail-based company which has not paid its workers for over eight months.
Ambassador Kamaluddin Ahmad told Arab News he took up the issue of 130 Indian workers of Comet Contracting with the governor at a recent meeting and urged him to waive their iqama transfer fee of SR1,800 so they can go home.
Nearly 130 employees of Comet Contracting have not been paid for more than eight months. They are virtual prisoners of their sponsor as they have neither passport nor iqama, or residence permit.
The Indian Embassy intervened after the camp where the workers stay threatened to evict them as their employer has not paid the rent.
There are reports that many of the workers have resorted to begging in order to survive.
In a signed memorandum sent to various authorities and the media, the workers said they were in misery since they have no money and are not getting regular meals. “We are literally starving,” said a technician who joined the company two years ago.
He told Arab News that some workers who have been with the company for three years and more have not been paid for over a year.
To add insult to injury, a former general manager of the company ran away with their passports. The Indian Embassy has issued emergency certificates, but for an exit visa their iqama has to be renewed, which requires SR1,800 each and the sponsor’s consent.
In recent days the Passport Office arrested some of the workers because they could show no valid documents.
“We are being punished for our sponsor’s mistake and we are starving because of his cruelty. What kind of a justice is this?” asked one worker from Bihar.
Most of the workers came from India on an assurance from their recruiting agents as well as the sponsor that Comet was a big company involved in contract work at Saudi Aramco. They paid between 80,000 to 100,000 Indian rupees (SR7,000-9,000) to the recruiting agent to secure a placement in the Kingdom. But when they arrived here they found that not only the company did not have any projects with Aramco, it hardly had any projects at all.
Some of the workers filed a case against the company at Jubail Labor Court, which found in their favor and directed the sponsor to pay them SR2,000 each and an air ticket to India. However, the workers say the court order was never implemented.
