Abdu Khal Okaz newspaper FOR a long time we have been talking about street cleaners and their sufferings, especially the workers in Makkah who went on strike because they had not been paid for three months. Another reason for their recently-ended strike was the local employer's failure to renew their residency permits (iqamas) and that resulted in some of them being deported. It is a must to hold accountable those who are responsible for committing these injustices against these poor people and not remain silent. They are being subjected to this sort of suffering in front of the Makkah Mayoralty, labor office and the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR). None of these authorities have come forward to put an end to their sufferings. A lot has been written about the condition of these workers who have been subject to injustices in front of us at the hands of the local cleaning companies, which are interested only in making financial gains at their expense. They are not at all concerned about human or national values and are happy to tarnish the image of the country. I recall writing about the same topic earlier in which I emphasized the need to find out which concerned authority can take action against companies that recruit these street cleaners and then fail to protect their rights. The street cleaners are being subjected to injustices in broad daylight and there is nobody who speaks up to protect their rights. The injustice to these cleaning workers begins when we give them contracts worth SR300 a month. These workers are destined to live in miserable conditions, with about 10 people huddled together in a single room. It is a great disaster that these people are getting their meager salary only after six months. The outcome of these irresponsible dealings, which we have mentioned a thousand times, will lead to the tarnishing of the country's image on both domestic and foreign fronts as well as religious and humanitarian levels. There is no serious concern about what the internal or external damage caused by this act could be. Of course, no senior officials from the mayoralty or owners of companies pay any attention to their situations, because they do not see this section of people starving. Also, they do not see them beg in front of traffic signals or leave their jobs to collect empty cans that eventually lead to a frantic scuffle with women who have also gathered to do the same thing. The officials are also not seeing these people asking for tips from citizens so they can stomach the duty of cleaning districts saturated with all kinds of trash. These officials cannot understand their bitter feeling of exile and pain of waiting for wages that do not come on time. These people are entitled to claim their rights simply to make a living. As for the erroneous recruitment companies, they have to face penal action. They hired them without fulfilling their responsibilities, either humanitarian or national, toward them. The owners of these companies are concerned only with concluding deals to undertake cleaning work in any cities in the Kingdom and receive their money. They pay little attention to the miseries of the workers. Is this right? If the mayoralty or Ministry of Labor does not take the initiative to guarantee the rights of these people, then where is the National Society for Human Rights, which is supposed to intervene in such acts involving threats to human rights and the rights of the nation? I wrote many times about this but nobody pays attention to those who are below them. In view of this reality, we have to remember that we will be questioned with regard to our dealings with these poor people on the Day of Judgment.
