MAKKAH — The National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) has asked the Ministry of Labor to rescind its decision of imposing an annual fee of SR2,400 on workers in cleaning and contracting companies to renew their work permits. “The ministry should review this decision especially because Saudi citizens would not accept jobs in cleaning, construction and road building firms,” head of the society's office in Makkah Sulaiman Bin Awwad Al-Zaidi has said. He said the society has also asked for increasing the salaries of cleaners, providing them with suitable accommodations, ensuring them with an appropriate working environment and guaranteeing them with an acceptable level of living standard. “The decision cannot be imposed on companies in which Saudis will refuse to work such as cleaning and construction companies,” Al-Zaidi insisted. He added that the fees should only be collected from companies in which Saudis would accept employment. Al-Zaidi said prior to the implementation of the decision, the ministry should have made lists of companies and establishments in which Saudis do not take jobs so as to exempt their foreign employees from the fees. He cited the example of the cleaning company in Makkah in which the cleaners refused to work and said the government had to intervene to pay extra compensation to the contractor. “This problem might recur in the next years if the issue of the fees was not solved once and for all,” he warned. Al-Zaidi blamed low wages for the strike of cleaners in Makkah. “A monthly salary of SR250 is not at all reasonable in the light of the high cost of living in the Kingdom,” he said. He warned that cleaners might escape to work for other employers, turn into beggars or turn into criminals so as to make an income that would enable them to support themselves and their families. “Serious social, security and economic problems might result from low income,” he said, warning that garbage might stockpile to alarming levels. Al-Zaidi also called for renewing the accommodation of workers to make them healthier. “Cleaners should have proper accommodations and should be paid their salaries on time monthly otherwise our cities will drown in garbage,” he said.
