Unified contracts for new Indonesian workers next month

Saudi Gazettes, 3 Feb 2009

By Mohammad Al-Abdullah and Abdulaziz Ghazzawi

JEDDAH/DAMMAM – The supply of Indonesian manpower to the Kingdom will continue smoothly with no delay as at least 30,000 work visa applications filed with the embassy in Jakarta are being processed, Abdulrahman Khayyat, Saudi Ambassador to Indonesia, said.

The embassy processes between 2,000-3,000 visa applications a day for Indonesian workers with contracts in the Kingdom.
The ambassador's comment came in the wake of alleged delay in visa processing after the recent agreement signed between the Saudi National Recruitment Committee, affiliated with the Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry, and the Indonesian Labor Union on applying a unified contract for Indonesian workers in the Kingdom starting March 2009.

The 24-article agreement specifies the obligations of the recruitment agency and the Saudi employer as endorsed by the Indonesian Labor Union.

The agreement articles include the following:

• The recruitment agency should guarantee the performance of the worker for at least 90 days of arrival in the Kingdom as a trial period and the occupation of the worker should be as the same as the one required by the employer as proven by the worker's qualifications and experience.
• The recruitment agency should meet the time frame given for the arrival of the worker in the Kingdom once the work visa has been issued through the employer.
• If the recruitment agency does not bring the worker within the specified period of time of the visa issuance, the employer has the right to demand the return of the worker at the agency's expenses.
• In case the worker runs away or refuses to work without a valid reason or does not pass health tests or does not know the basics of original occupation, the recruitment agency should pay for the worker's trip back home.
• The recruitment agency should make all travel arrangements for the worker and make sure of final procedures at entry and exit points. No passport or air ticket should be handed to the worker by the recruitment agency to manage travel procedures.
• The recruitment agency should provide the employer with full itinerary information at least 24 hours before the arrival of the worker in the Kingdom.

All disputes between the recruitment agency and the employer need to be privately settled between the two, but if needed, they can take it up to the joint committee composed of the National Recruitment Committee and the Indonesian Labor Union whose decision becomes final.

The new unified contract has a positive impact on all parties, the ambassador said.

Sa'ad Al-Baddah, spokesman for the National Recruitment Committee, said the salary issue of Indonesian maids in the Kingdom was not tackled during the negotiations with the Indonesians. Therefore, a maid's salary remains at SR800, the total cost for recruitment at SR9,000 including SR7,000 for recruitment expenses and SR2,000 for the visa.

The contract covers the rights of all concerned parties – the Indonesian worker, the local recruitment office, and employer. The contract articles will be applied on all recruitment applications submitted to the Saudi Embassy in Jakarta starting next March, he said.

Local recruitment offices have been required to sign agreements with Indonesian ones for providing better quality of workers.

The national committee has agreed to hold periodical meetings with the Indonesian side every six months in both countries in rotation starting this month to discuss labor related problems including the running away of Indonesian housemaids and refusal of work upon arrival in the Kingdom.

On the unified contract for Filipino workers, Al-Baddah said the Philippines has asked for two months to study the contract and will decide during the visit of an official delegation to the Kingdom in April headed by the Philippines Labor Ministry's Undersecretary.

"All issues will be discussed during the delegation visit," he said. –Okaz/SG