ABHA, 31 January 2007 — Employers of foreign workers have expressed concern at the way work-permit holders are able to freely travel across the Kingdom having absconded causing employers to annually lose thousands of riyals.
Employers spend huge amounts of money in arranging visas for expatriate workers. However, as soon as they arrive, many begin to plan ways of leaving their jobs and finding alternative better paid work.
Some Saudis feel workers should be prevented from carrying their work permits and passports saying such a move would make it difficult for workers to abscond. The Passport Department in Abha says such a move would be fruitless as workers need to be able to carry their permits to prove they are legally residing in the Kingdom.
Sheep farmers Saeed and Salim Al-Ghamdi say they face two kinds of problems with their workers. Firstly, there is a shortage of skilled workers who are willing to deal with sheep. Secondly, there is no guarantee that their workers will remain with them. There is always a constant fear of them absconding.
“They can go whenever they want, wherever they want leaving our work hanging and us in the dry,” said Saeed. The brothers added that they lose between SR5,000 and SR6,000 on each absconding worker.
“We pay for their visas, work permits and even their flights. As soon as they arrive in the Kingdom and receive their work permits, they abandon ship,” said Salim.
“A year later they give themselves up to the police as absconded workers and are then deported to their home countries. They pay nothing for their trip and are more than satisfied with the money they collect over the year,” said Saeed.
He added, “A few days ago I had a new worker. I got him his work permit and he only stayed with my sheep for one night. He then fled leaving over 200 sheep locked in a small area unattended. What is more vexing is the fact that these workers cooperate with each other. They tell each other about work in different areas and will leave us just to work somewhere where they are paid small amounts like SR200 more.”
The Al-Ghamdi brothers blame neither absconding workers nor sponsors but rather Saudi law. “The new law allows workers to go everywhere as long as they have their work permits with them. Workers are now controlling and threatening us. They go so far as to tell us to pay them better salaries otherwise they will flee,” said Salim.
“We had a Pakistani blacksmith. He fled with a whole host of others. He went to work in Jeddah for a company that is managed by a Pakistani. I informed the police about him, I gave them his car number as well as his phone number but nothing has happened,” he said, adding, “He visits Abha every now and then and tries attracting my other workers to go and work with him. He even went and took some of my equipment to use at his new work in Jeddah.”
The brothers feel disheartened that there isn’t much security at checkpoints around Saudi Arabia. “I accompanied one of my workers between Abha and Najran. We were not stopped or questioned at any of the checkpoints,” said Saeed.
Salim added, “We give these workers their wages before they have even finished their duties. However, they leave us when others attract them with extra cash. We need protection as well. These workers are afforded all their rights as employees but we are left unprotected. They financially benefit from us and from the illegal jobs that they get on the side. On top of that they get to go back to their home countries free of charge when the Passport Department deports them.”
The brothers say it is very difficult to retrieve the money they initially spend to bring workers into the Kingdom. Speaking about replacement workers, Saeed said: “First you have to inform them about the work. Then you have to wait for three months to get a response and then another two months to get a visa for a new worker. Then another two to three months for the worker to arrive.”
Salim added: “We urge the authorities to be strict with foreign workers and not to allow them to go back to their countries without first consulting their sponsors. People need to be punished. This year seven workers have left causing us to lose more than SR25,000. What can we do? Do we just give our businesses up?”
Saeed said, “The police protect workers and then ask us to pay for their tickets so they can return to their home countries. They would never leave their jobs if they didn’t find people willing to pay them more. It is us who lose because we pay for everything but at the end of the day we get nothing.”
He also added, “I know a driver who was working for a Saudi man. He had two accidents. The man ran away and later rang the Saudi from the Philippines telling him that he had left the Kingdom. If this driver was working somewhere else in the Gulf then he wouldn’t be able to flee like that.”
Salim added, “Some of these workers have killed many of my sheep and then fled. I report them to the police but they manage to flee the Kingdom. One of them could not go because his passport was with me, but he was able to escape later because the Passport Department contacted me and took his passport.”
