Nada Al-Maddah Saudi Gazette MAKKAH – The Makkah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) has criticized the penalty system implemented against runaway workers, saying it does not do enough to help Saudi employers.The MCCI said the existing system favors the runaway worker, who can be deported free of charge to their home countries after they serve their time in prison.The state loses about SR1.8 billion in deportation costs annually.An official at the MCCI said: “According to official estimates and statistics, in some months the number of workers who are deported from Saudi Arabia can reach 30,000.“These include workers who escaped from their sponsors and Umrah and Haj pilgrims who overstayed their visas."He stressed the importance of imposing stiff fines on runaway workers before deporting them and depositing these fines into the state coffers. He said it is the nation that is harmed the most. Maher Saleh Jamal, member of the MCCI Board of Directors, said it is necessary to impose a penalty on the worker who escapes from his sponsor.He said they have received information through a workshop held earlier by the MCCI that the Ministry of Labor does not look into the huge amounts being spent by different authorities like the Traffic Department, Ministry of Electricity and Water, and Ministry of Communications and Information Technology due to illegal expatriate workers.He added the Labor Ministry is just concerned about deporting the illegal expatriate worker.Jamal said according to the average number of deportees per month, at least SR1.8 billion can enter the state coffers annually if penalties are implemented including a fine of at least SR5,000 for each escaped worker, overstayer or violator of residency (iqama) and labor regulations.He added: “It is unjust to impose a fine ranging from SR5,000 to SR15,000 on the citizen who covers for a runaway worker when no such fine is imposed on the worker himself.“Also, the worker is not fined when he is found not to be carrying a residency permit (iqama).“However, a legal resident who is found not to be carrying a valid iqama is fined SR1,000 the first time, SR2,000 the second time and SR3,000 the third time."Jamal said the chamber's national commerce committee recently approved the formation of a working team to discuss labor problems in general and runaway workers in particular.The committee's aim is to propose solutions for this issue.The working team will also discuss ways to crack down on this trend, which occurs frequently and has had a negative impact on economic sectors in the Kingdom.He said the reasons workers run away from the sponsors include the strict recruitment procedures that can sometimes lead to employees being tempted away by the more lucrative job opportunities available elsewhere.Another reason is the nonexistence of deterrent penalties that would prevent them from even thinking of running away from their sponsor.Jamal, who is also a member of the commerce committee, said the negative impact of runaway workers hits the construction sector hardest, because most companies in the sector are way below their Saudization targets and cannot replace expatriate workers easily.They are then forced to hire runaway workers for higher salaries, driving up costs.Jamal said contractors and others working in operations and maintenance are put in an impossible position because they are governed by contracts that contain clauses forcing them to pay fines if they do not meet particular terms or deadlines.Therefore, they rely on runaway workers or those violating residency regulations and pay them high salaries.After completing their contract, they often leave the market due to the huge losses they have incurred thanks to the complicated regulations and lack of sufficient protection, he added.This has paved the way for rogue companies to enter the market, especially in the building sector.He said the sector is suffering now due to its inability to fulfill market requirements.Jamal pointed to a situation that occurs at one of the foreign consulates in Jeddah each year and which has been ongoing for the last few days.About 200 expatriates came from this particular country, overstayed on their visa and now want to return home, demanding deportation.He said this is the biggest evidence that labor regulations are flawed, especially as security authorities are not arresting these workers but simply guarding the consulate.He said these workers ask the consulate to issue them passports in place of the ones they have lost and deport them at their embassy's expense.
