JEDDAH, 20 October 2004 — The employees and owner of Chopsticks Restaurant in Jubail have resolved the long-standing dispute regarding non-payment of salaries. Except for one Filipino worker, the others have transferred their sponsorship to new companies and are now receiving their pay.
Arab News spoke to Entoy, a former employee of the now-closed Chopsticks Restaurant on Monday. He said, “Thank you very much. All of us except Larry have new sponsors and new jobs.”
Entoy is now working for a contracting company. “I just received my first paycheck and sent money home to my family for the first time in months. I am very happy. It’s a good company,” he told Arab News. As for Larry, Entoy explained, “There is a small problem with his papers but it will be solved soon.”
The plight of the Chinese restaurant’s workers came to light after Arab News received an e-mail from a concerned patron.
The ensuing Arab News investigation revealed that none of the employees had received their salaries for months. In some cases, mostly that of Bangladeshi workers, salaries had not been paid for as long as eight months.
According to the owner of the restaurant, Saad Al-Anzy, a downturn in business caused by the exodus of expatriates from the Kingdom, left him unable to pay his employees. One of the employees, Gringo, told Arab News, “It is only in the past few months that we haven’t been paid. In the past, everything was all right.”
When Arab News first reported the problem in August, the Philippine Embassy became involved and a subsequent complaint was filed in the labor court. The owner initially became very angry at the negative publicity and matters appeared to be at a stalemate.
However after being ordered in no uncertain terms to appear before the labor court, Al-Anzy on his own without a court order allowed all his employees to transfer their sponsorship. In addition, he has promised to pay all the salary dues when he is financially able to do so — sometime in the near future.
Entoy told Arab News: “Al-Anzy says he will pay us when he has money but we don’t know how long that will be. Right now we want to do good (sic) in our new jobs and send money home. We still have faith that Chopsticks will pay us our money from the last few months.”
In the meantime, all the employees and their families now have new hope for a brighter future in the Kingdom and have decided to continue working here.
