Gulf | Saudi Arabia
New Saudi labour contract aims to curb agents' role
He said the new contract contains necessary provisions to protect the rights of all parties involved, such as the worker, the local hiring office and recruitment office in the respective countries.
- By Mariam Al HakeemCorrespondent
- Published: 00:19 May 23, 2008
Riyadh: Saudi Arabia will start implementing a mandatory unified labour contract effective June 1.
"The unified contract, which is aimed at protecting the rights of all parties involved, will curtail the role of middlemen and agents in the process of hiring workers from abroad," said Abdul Rahman Al Kanhal, assistant secretary-general of the Council of Saudi Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the meeting between the National Recruitment Committee and the Sri Lankan Ministry of Labour here on Tuesday, he said the labour contract had been modified by the committee in coordination with the Ministries of Interior and Labour and accordingly the foreign embassies in the kingdom had been notified.
Employees' rights
Al Kanhal said that almost all the countries where Saudi Arabia hires manpower from were briefed on the salient features of the new contract.
He said the new contract contains necessary provisions to protect the rights of all parties involved, such as the worker, the local hiring office and recruitment office in the respective countries.
"The committee had earlier briefed the Sri Lankan side on the new labour contract. However, Sri Lanka's Minister of Labour Relations and Manpower denied having any information about such a contract. So we have furnished him with another copy of the contract for his perusal," he said.
The new contract, according to Saudi officials, stipulates wages offered, and rights for the employee, including leave and air tickets.
Referring to the meeting with Sri Lankan officials Al Kanhal said Sri Lanka had violated its agreement with the recruitment committee.
"They failed to meet the condition for increasing the salaries of housemaids. They had earlier promised they would conduct training programmes for maids before sending them to the kingdom but did nothing."
Sri Lanka's Minister of Labour Relations and Manpower said the government had imposed a condition that newly-recruited workers be given a 65 per cent increase in their salaries effective from the beginning of 2008. He denied reports housemaids were not undergoing vocational training programmes before arriving in the kingdom, saying 98 per cent of Saudi families had expressed satisfaction with their work.
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