Riyadh: Expats working at Saudi construction firm United Seemac, which include Filipinos, Indians and Pakistanis–have been told that they must give up on receiving pay arrears if they want to get their passports back and leave the kingdom, reported Middle East Eye.
Desperate foreign employees had submitted a request for their passports to company management in Riyadh before the annual Haj pilgrimage on September 9, the report said.
On Sunday they were reportedly told that if they want their passports back, they must accept not being paid money owed by the company.
“Head office [in Riyadh] said in order to return the passports we have to sign papers saying we have received all our money,” Kamran Bhatti, who has not been paid in 14 months, reportedly told MEE.
Bhatti has reportedly worked as a designer at United Seemac for five years, and is based at the company’s office in the south-west city of Khamis Mushait.
He is one of more than 500 staff at the building company who have been working without pay for months. A database compiled by workers revealed that staff haven’t been paid for a minimum of six months, while some have gone without wages for 20 months, said the news portal.
Bhatti’s work permit – known locally as an iqama – expired on 3 April, but most permits for foreign staff expired last year and the company has not paid to have them renewed. This has resulted in workers being trapped in company accommodation, too scared to go outside as they face arrest for being in Saudi Arabia illegally.
“We are trapped in our rooms and can’t go outside,” Bhatti was quoted as saying.
Staff at company accommodation in Riyadh reportedly said living conditions have deteriorated quickly in recent weeks, as services have been cut off and maintenance has lapsed.
“The situation is getting worse day by day,” one staff member said, asking to remain anonymous. “There is no water for toilets and the kitchen – people have to go to the mosque to use the bathroom.”
Some workers have reportedly found jobs at other companies in the kingdom, but Bhatti said United Seemac are refusing to return their passports and allow them to transfer to another sponsor, as stipulated by Saudi Arabia’s employment sponsorship system, known as kafala.
“They said United Seemac does not allow staff to transfer sponsor,” Bhatti highlighted.
Bhatti added that the labor courts have done nothing to uphold a 2015 law that prohibited employers from confiscating workers’ passports.
“No action is being taken against the company,” he said, explaining that United Seemac staff have tried to get the courts to intervene for the past nine months.
No one at United Seemac responded to repeated requests for comment, but the general manager – known only as Abu Mohammed – previously told MEE the reason staff haven’t been paid is because the government hasn’t paid up for completed contract work.
At the end of August Abu Mohammed said “when we get our money from the government we are going to give the people their money” but one month on and nobody has been paid, said the news portal.
Two strikes outside company offices have taken place in the last fortnight, despite protests and public demonstrations being strictly banned in Saudi Arabia, reported MEE.
