Over 300 trolley workers at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah briefly halted work on Thursday and Friday to protest the assignment of an additional job of collecting trolleys left by passengers outside the airport, said sources.

More than 380 workers mainly from India and Nepal work at the King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah in the north and south terminals as trolley workers. They work in two different shifts assisting incoming and outbound passengers with their luggage.

Unlike other employees these trolley workers work on a daily rental system, similar to limousine drivers where they have to pay a fixed amount of SR110 to the company everyday and keep the rest for themselves.

There are about 50 trolley collectors known as TC working on a monthly salary paid by the company and whose job it is to collect trolleys from parking lots and immigration counters. The porter’s job, on the other hand, is to pick up passengers and negotiate the rent for loading and unloading their luggage, explained sources.

“However, company officials have demanded that trolley collectors should also do the job of porters and it is not possible for us to collect trolleys and pick up passengers,” complained some of the workers.

“Retrieving trolleys left in the parking lots by passengers is a time-consuming job and if we try to do both, we will lose precious time and not be able to make a decent earning,” lamented the workers.

They also said that they had to pay SR 200 every month toward maintenance, for accommodation, Iqama fees and other expenses.

The workers went on a brief strike from Thursday evening lasting until Friday afternoon to protest the double duty. However, company officials discussed the issue with the airport authorities and sorted out the problem paving the way for the trolley collectors to return to work.