The Committee for Settlement of Labor Disputes in Riyadh has set Oct. 19 to look into an appeal filed by a Swedish multinational against a verdict to reinstate 600 Saudi employees it had sacked some years ago. Hadi Al-Qahtani, representative of the workers, said the fired Saudis were from the company's branches in Buraidah, Riyadh, Tabuk and Madina. The company is engaged in the oil industry. The representative of the company said the sacking over the past few years was due to the completion of some of the company's projects in the country. But, according to Al-Qahtani, the company still has contracts for projects in the Kingdom for the next four years and there was no need to fire workers. Al-Qahtani said the company had sent six-month termination notices to the workers. Some of those who got the letters had been working with the company for 19 years. He said that, at present, the company has only 80 Saudis working in its different branches as heads of department, administrators, technicians, field experts and security guards. Al-Qahtani said that the Saudi employees were put under so much pressure that many were left no option but to resign and join the list of plaintiffs, now totaling 150. He said 99 employees had withdrawn their power of attorney from their lawyer because the court case dragged on, reaching sometimes six months between sessions. He said that the committee scheduled only two sessions in the past year, including the one to be held on Oct. 19. A preliminary verdict from the committee had ordered the company to stop giving termination notices to its Saudi staff since it violated the Kingdom's labor law. In the verdict, the company was asked to follow the decision of the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources based on the letter sent by the Crown Prince to the company in which he said the termination letters must stop. The letter said the staff may be given the option to resign on their own free will or be given a chance to look for jobs elsewhere during the notice period. It made it clear that Saudi employees with long service should replace foreigners whenever possible and that the Saudis be trained to meet the company's needs and not be limited to jobs that end with the expiry of their contract. It said that the Crown Prince's directives included approaching Saudi Aramco to transfer the Saudi workers in similar posts there. Al-Qahtani said the multinational applied the Crown Prince's directives to 80 employees who stayed back and received training for jobs in Aramco. The procedure was, however, not followed for dismissed employees. Tariq Al-Shahrani, an ex-employee of the company, said the fired workers are asking for all their dues for the period following their termination, including their salaries and compensation for damages they incurred. – Okaz __
