Makkah Chamber of Commerce and Industry wants the Labor Ministry to give more attention to runaway labor than to Saudization, Al-Iqtasidiyah newspaper reported Sunday. MCCI has suggested three main proposals which it says are suitable to check the growing number of runaways. The Chamber wants concerned authorities to take runaway reports seriously and coordinate with the home countries of such laborers. MCCI says this issue needs urgent attention and is more important than Saudization, creating job opportunities, supporting private sector or combating Tasattur. Maher Jamal, spokesman of MCCI, said: “The Ministry of Labor should include articles in employment contracts that require laborers who run away from sponsors to pay SR50 per day to the government and pay one salary to his employer.” “Runaways shouldn't be allowed to travel unless they have a clearance from their employers and shouldn't be allowed to obtain any documents from their embassies unless they have a clearance. They shouldn't also be allowed to enter the Kingdom for three years.” Pertinent authorities should take reports of runaway laborers seriously and detain them at any port of entry, he added. Once these procedures are approved, all concerned countries should be notified of the changes, so they urge their citizens to respect Kingdom's laws, Jamal said. If expatriates have any problem with obtaining their financial dues, they should resort to legal channels, he added. “Countries which urge their citizens to respect Kingdom's laws should receive benefits in terms of more recruitment. We can benefit from the successful crackdown on Haj and Umrah overstayers and use it to check the problem of runaway laborers,” he said. Jamal warned against corruption which affects law enforcement and protects the violators. “Corrupt people destroy the society. They shouldn't be allowed to get away with it without any type of punishment or penalty,” he said. “If we let people violate laws and don't punish them for it, its negative effects will increase in our society and we won't be able to control the phenomenon,” Jamal said. “Citizens and expatriates are losing a lot because of this. Citizens pay a lot of money and are losers when the laborer runs away. Expatriates get affected because they will be treated with suspicion and their actions will be under the microscope all the time.” “There won't be any trust,” he added. “The phenomenon of runaway laborers has created a black market for smuggling people,” he warned.
