JEDDAH: Minister of Labor and Social Development Mufrej Al-Haqabani made a surprise visit to a telecommunications market on Palestine Street in Jeddah, as deadline for the shops to Saudize drew nearer.
The visit to phone selling and maintenance stores was in line with the implementation of the ministry’s decision to Saudize 50 percent of staff woking there.
The minister urged the shop owners to abide by the government decision to hire Saudi staff in their shops.
Most of the shops had to close fearing inspection campaigns amid their failure to recruit Saudi employees. Yet, some kept their doors open despite the lack of Saudi staff; but some of them stayed open but announced that they were unable to recruit citizens to work at these stores, while a few shops abided by the decision.
During a tour by Okaz journalists on Monday to assess shops’ commitment to the decision of the Minister of Labor, in the first days of the start of the implementation of the Saudization decision, it was noticed that there are many young Saudi trainers in stores that sell mobile phones. It turns out that they were trained only two weeks ago.
According to a report published in Al-Madinah, nearly 50 percent of mobile shops are up for sale and another 20 percent are shutting down in reaction to the move for total Saudization in the telecommunication sector.
In the beginning, Bandar Al-Harthy said: “The closed shops avoid being fined, and I expect that they will bring Saudis in to work in the near future … There is no benefit in evading the regulations, as relevant ministries will be firm in implementing the decision.”
Mohammed Hassan shares the same opinion with Al-Harthy, explaining that the work in mobile phone shops is enjoyable too. However, there might be two essential barriers in the coming period. The first is the difficulty of working in maintenance, which requires long experience and is not that easy. In addition, when Saudizing 100 percent of the sector, in the month of Dhu Al-Hijjah, Saudi jobs will be in loading and unloading of warehouses. That’s what makes Saudization difficult to be fully applied.
It is noteworthy that some shops are completely free of Saudi laborers, but there are also many with non-Arab Asians, and when they were asked about the reasons, they declined to answer. They also refused to disclose the daily gains or the total amount of sale per month.
The visit to phone selling and maintenance stores was in line with the implementation of the ministry’s decision to Saudize 50 percent of staff woking there.
The minister urged the shop owners to abide by the government decision to hire Saudi staff in their shops.
Most of the shops had to close fearing inspection campaigns amid their failure to recruit Saudi employees. Yet, some kept their doors open despite the lack of Saudi staff; but some of them stayed open but announced that they were unable to recruit citizens to work at these stores, while a few shops abided by the decision.
During a tour by Okaz journalists on Monday to assess shops’ commitment to the decision of the Minister of Labor, in the first days of the start of the implementation of the Saudization decision, it was noticed that there are many young Saudi trainers in stores that sell mobile phones. It turns out that they were trained only two weeks ago.
According to a report published in Al-Madinah, nearly 50 percent of mobile shops are up for sale and another 20 percent are shutting down in reaction to the move for total Saudization in the telecommunication sector.
In the beginning, Bandar Al-Harthy said: “The closed shops avoid being fined, and I expect that they will bring Saudis in to work in the near future … There is no benefit in evading the regulations, as relevant ministries will be firm in implementing the decision.”
Mohammed Hassan shares the same opinion with Al-Harthy, explaining that the work in mobile phone shops is enjoyable too. However, there might be two essential barriers in the coming period. The first is the difficulty of working in maintenance, which requires long experience and is not that easy. In addition, when Saudizing 100 percent of the sector, in the month of Dhu Al-Hijjah, Saudi jobs will be in loading and unloading of warehouses. That’s what makes Saudization difficult to be fully applied.
It is noteworthy that some shops are completely free of Saudi laborers, but there are also many with non-Arab Asians, and when they were asked about the reasons, they declined to answer. They also refused to disclose the daily gains or the total amount of sale per month.
