DAMMAM: The business of subcontracting foreign workers for deployment in the local job market is now a flourishing enterprise, labor brokers said. “This business of subcontracting foreign laborers is helping many who are jobless, including the so-called freelancers,” said Lutfur Rahman. Rahman, who used to work as a human resource manager until his company closed two years ago, is now a successful broker finding jobs for foreign workers, mostly from Bangladesh. Rahman has entered into an arrangement with his new sponsor to establish a pool of workers, and to find jobs for them in various industrial, commercial and service sectors in the Eastern Province, particularly in the industrial areas of Jubail and Dammam. “They (unemployed foreign workers) come to see me seeking jobs, and with the demand of establishments for low-cost workers, I am able to find positions for them,” Rahman said. “I do not just pick them up from the street; they must have legal papers showing they have sponsors and are not illegals or overstayers,” he said. Johnny Marco, a Filipino engineer who turned labor broker finding jobs for Filipinos, is also a successful broker. “I work part time finding employment for my compatriots and doing small service jobs – from maintenance to small shutdown projects,” Marco said. Brokers get a percentage of the pay from the foreign workers they are able to deploy in the market. “It is a good business. It is also helping those who are in need of a source of income,” Rahman told Saudi Gazette. Brokers usually keep lists of workers available for deployment to any establishment. For Marco, his lists include skilled Filipinos. Rahman, who is from Bangladesh, keeps a record of workers from Bangladesh, India, and Nepal. His records include laborers, steel fixers, carpenters, masons, plumbers, welders, duck insulators, painters, pipe fitters, fabricators, secretaries, drivers, clerks, gardeners, riggers, cooks, waiters, machine operators, and medical workers. Contractual salaries of these foreign workers differ according to the places they are deployed. “For example, a laborer to be deployed in Jubail Industrial City gets SR12 per hour with food or SR14 per hour without food,” Rahman said. According to Rahman, all workers who are subcontracted must have legal papers from their employers, preferably authenticated by the local chamber of commerce, and have police clearance. Rahman has a pool of over a thousand, mostly blue collar, workers, while Marcos has teams of skilled Filipino workers.
