Saeed Al-Suraihi Okaz WHAT tempts or encourages companies and establishments in this country to recruit foreign manpower is the ignorance of these foreigners of their rights guaranteed by the system and labor laws. This ignorance allows the employers to exploit them beyond humane limits. They demand that they work for longer hours than those stipulated in the system, deny them their weekly days off and refuse to grant them paid annual vacations. Some foreigners, who are aware of their rights, do not pursue these rights for fear that their employers may terminate their contracts and issue them with a final exit visa. This fear makes them submissive. It also makes the contract between the two sides an unwritten agreement of subservience taking away all the rights of the worker and placing them in the hands of the employer. There should be a mechanism to enable the foreign manpower to know their rights guaranteed by the system, especially the municipal cleaners and domestic workers. These foreigners should also be protected against the abuse of their sponsors. Establishing a system that guarantees their rights will correct the relationships between the workers and their sponsors. Before we examine the reasons for the “huroob” (running away) of housemaids, we should ask ourselves if our disregard for their rights is not an injustice we practice against them. In most cases, the "huroob" of workers is only a reaction to what we have done to them. We should understand the link between our "passive" violence represented in disregarding the rights of the foreign manpower with the physical violence these foreigners may turn to as a reaction to what we have done to them. This reaction is only ignited by our disregard of their rights, which are guaranteed by the system.
