RIYADH — A number of businessmen have objected to the Ministry of Labor counting foreign workers – who have abandoned their legal employers – while fixing the Saudization quota, making it imperative on the company to hire more Saudi nationals. Businessmen whose establishments are currently classified in the green zone of the Nitaqat grading system fear that this move by the ministry would eventually push them into the red zone. The Nitaqat system grades companies into three colors – green, yellow and red – according to the number of Saudis they employ. Companies in the green zone are provided with a number of services, while companies in the yellow and red zones face numerous problems including a freeze on renewing of residency permit (Iqama) for its foreign workers. Abdullah Al-Mekhaleel, who runs a heavy equipment rental company, says the ministry's off-the-cuff decision has created untold problems for businessmen like him, in addition to creating heavy financial losses, and claimed that the ministry did not publish any official statement either on its website or in the local media with regard to its latest move. “The Ministry of Labor's thoughtless action will only encourage the flight of much-needed capital from the country,” said Al-Mekhaleel. Bandr Al-Sehli, the owner of a contracting company, said an instruction from the Ministry of Labor two weeks ago to recruit more Saudis took him by surprise. The ministry asked him to replace foreign workers who had fled his company with Saudis. “According to documents I received from the expatriate sections of the passport and labor offices, the workers who had escaped from my company had been dropped from the company records and the percentage of Saudization quota was calculated accordingly,” Al-Hayat newspaper quoted Al-Sehli as saying. Al-Sehli said he made a mistake following legal procedures by providing the ministry with documents that proved workers who had escaped from his company had been deported. The ministry responded by pushing his company into the yellow zone and asking him to employ more Saudis. Following this, he could not get his employees' iqamas renewed nor could he issue exit/re-entry visas for workers going on their annual vacation. Spokesman for the Ministry of Labor, Hattab Al-Enezi, asserted that the ministry takes decisions based on statements it receives from the passport offices about fleeing foreign workers and data on Saudi workers provided by the General Organization of Social Insurance (GOSI) and did not deny or confirm the allegation that the ministry included foreign workers who have deserted their employers in the Nitaqat head count.However, Saudi authorities are addressing the issue in their latest attempts to crack down on workers who have abandoned their companies and rove the streets for odd jobs. The ministries of Interior and Labor recently decided to form a joint committee, similar to the national Saudization panel, to be tasked with inspection tours to put an end to the phenomenon. In order to combat the phenomenon, the Ministry of Labor plans to benefit from the Wage Protection Regulation that requires the transfer of workers' salaries through bank accounts. The requirement helps the ministry understand the extent of commitment by employers to their workers and identify those who are not on the pay rolls of their employers. The system will enable the ministry to monitor payment of wages and identify foreigners who do not work for their employers. The experts committee at the Council of Ministers has finalized amendments to the Labor Law and a law has been drafted that defines the procedure to deal with violators of labor market regulations. The amended article also authorizes Labor Ministry's inspectors to carry out surprise checks on companies and establishments to ensure compliance with regulations. According to SAMA estimates, expatriate remittances will reach SR128 billion by the end of the current year, a 16 percent increase over last year. Studies attribute the spread of the phenomenon of stray workers to the fact that unskilled laborers carry out low-paying jobs Saudis refuse to do. Citizens who trade in work visas and overstaying Haj and Umrah pilgrims have also added to the problem. — SG
