A number of seasonal workers employed on the Mashaer train project during last year’s Haj in Makkah have launched legal action against three companies who had allegedly not paid salaries owed to them four months ago.

Mohammad Al-Bishi, one of the workers, said their contracts stipulate that they should have been paid SR3,000 each. He claimed the company he worked for ignored all requests for payment.

Another worker, Majid Hussein, said he and several colleagues completed the work assigned to them. “But after two weeks we received text messages requiring us to sign financial settlement documents. When we asked about our salaries, the company told us we would be receiving them after two weeks,” he said.

Majid Baqader, a citizen, said he had joined other workers in asking for their salaries and reference letters. “The company did not even offer us decent meals during our two shifts. When a meal was provided, it wasn’t fit for human consumption.”

Baqader said the company refused to give them their salaries because most of the workers are foreigners and cannot demand their rights through the Labor Office.

Lawyer Awad Al-Harthi, who is representing the workers, said the case is currently being considered by the Labor Office in Makkah. “When I tried to get copies of the contracts on the company’s website and searched its business records on the website of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, I did not find anything,” he said.

He said a class action suit was filed at the Labor Office. “Two of the operating companies were present during the session, the third did not show up. The company employed 5,000 Saudi and non-Saudi workers without official mandates from sponsors and the Labor Office,” he said.

The director general of the project, Abdulaziz Abdullah, said on social networking sites recently that all cash entitlements would be paid out as long as the project is under way and agreements have been signed.