Saudi Gazette report MAKKAH — The legal adviser of the Egyptian Embassy in Riyadh Khaled Hawari has asked the Ministry of Labor to intervene and help put an end to the suffering of thousands of Egyptian workers who have not been paid their entitlements because the contractor they worked for declared bankruptcy, the Makkah newspaper reported. Many of the workers have obtained court verdicts that instructed the contractor to pay their entitlements. The embassy is closely following up the case to ensure the workers receive their dues. Makkah interviewed the remaining batch of thousands of Egyptian employees of the contracting company. Ibrahim Ali Muhammad, a 70-year-old who was hired as a guard of a stalled school project in Batha Quraish district in Makkah, expressed hope that his entitlements reaching SR23,200 will be paid. He obtained a verdict for payment of the dues from the Labor Committee in the Makkah Labor Office in 2012. Muhammad said he still reports to work at the girls' school complex in Batha Quraish district even though all of the company's other employees left their jobs two years ago due to the delay in payment of salaries. “I have continued to work because I was entrusted with a responsibility to guard this school. As soon as I get a clearance from the project and my financial entitlements, I will go back to Egypt. My residency permit has expired and the company's management has not bothered to renew it,” he said while adding that he is living off of alms given by philanthropists. Muhammad appealed to the authorities concerned to intervene and pay him his entitlements so that he can leave the Kingdom for Egypt. He said one of his sons is in need of an urgent surgery to amputate one of his legs in a private hospital. The operation has been postponed because Muhammad was unable to pay the hospital. “I only want what is owed to me and I will return to my family. They are in the direst need for me, especially since my eldest daughter is facing problems from her fiancé's family due to my delay in making preparations for her marriage.” Muhammad said he had approached several related authorities, but all he got was promises that were not fulfilled over the past two years. A former official in the contracting company's personnel department confirmed to the newspaper that the company has gone bankrupt and it is facing many lawsuits before the concerned authorities and the labor office in Riyadh, Makkah and Jeddah due to not paying the salary arrears of its 17,000 employees including engineers, workers and managers. The former company official, Hamdi Hassan, said he too is looking for someone to help him get his salary arrears which amount to SR100,000 and that he be allowed to transfer his sponsorship to another company and renew his residency permit that expired 18 months ago. Hassan said earlier that the contracting company belonged to Egyptian businessmen and the new owner purchased the company from them. The new owner was surprised that there were financial dues that had to be paid. Also, several projects had stalled in Riyadh, Jeddah, Makkah and the Eastern Province. The projects were not completed despite the former management receiving additional funds. “Me and thousands of other employees of the company face an unknown future. Our living conditions have worsened and we cannot move freely as our iqamas have expired. We have no source of income and the only help we receive are from people who sympathize with us,” he said. Legal adviser at the Egyptian Embassy Khaled Al-Hawari told Makkah that the embassy does not have the resources to care for the Egyptian employees until their case is settled and they obtain their dues. He said the embassy can only give return tickets and passports to the workers. Director-general of the commission for the settlement of labor disputes at the Labor Office in Makkah Province Jameel Al-Barakati said the problem was aggravated due to the negligence of the contracting company's workers in coming forward to the executive court after obtaining final verdicts in their favor against the company's management.
