MADINAH — Officials at the Ministry of Labor have assured employees working in the private sector that their salaries will never be altered when mandatory weekly working hours are officially reduced to enable them to take two days off a week. The National Committee of Workers and businessmen have in effect agreed to the rule change to allow a two-day weekend for employees in the private sector during a social dialogue forum on the issue recently. The sources said employees in the sector have budgeted so they can meet their daily costs, including transport, housing and their children's education based on their monthly wages. They told employers to resist the urge to tamper with salaries, adding that doing so would undermine the ministry's attempts to strengthen citizens' confidence in the private sector. They said it would also create chaos in the labor market because employees would in all likelihood abandon their jobs and seek employment in the government sector. The proposal to reduce the working week for the private sector from six days to five days was greeted with opposition by a section of the business community. Officials at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) had argued that introducing a two-day weekend would increase production costs for local industry. “A two-day weekend for employees in the private sector will only lead to higher production costs, particularly for the industrial sector,” the local media quoted Mazen Batterjee, deputy chairman of the JCCI, as saying. “We are now looking for ways to lower costs to remain competitive.” An extended official weekend would mean that private sector staff who work six days a week would have to be compensated with overtime pay after the rule change. But the officials said Adel Fakieh, Labor Minister, was clear and direct during a meeting on the proposed changes to the working week that took place in Riyadh last week. They said the ministry always supports competitive wages in the private sector and reiterated they should not be tampered with in any way because it wants to maintain a solid base for business owners and employees. The ministry has received information about businesses attempting to form blocs to fight for reduced wages for their employees if changes to the working week are approved, they added. The officials said such actions would be strongly resisted and could lead to prosecution.
