160 Employees of Saudi Biscuit Factory Strike against non payment of salary

Unfair labour practices is nothing new in the Gulf, but the manner in which the local media is handling such cases is encouraging. About 160 Egyptian and Indian employees of the Badra biscuit factory in Saudi Arabia who have been on strike, protesting against the management's refusal to implement Labour Office verdicts in their favour.

The strike began six months ago when the company failed to pay outstanding salaries totaling millions of riyals. Many of the workers' salaries were not paid for seven months and their iqamas have not been renewed. Some workers have not received their salaries for 13 months - outstanding payment is more than SR2.7 million. Salary arrears and end-of-service benefits still outstanding for those who left the Kingdom on exit visas exceed SR3 million. Thousands of ordinary Indian workers in the Kingdom and other Gulf countries are facing similar difficulties

According to the Arab News, the Indian Consul for Labor O.P. Aggarwal was not even aware of the problems facing Indian workers. There Indian Consular can help the Indian workers by providing them with a single translator, and by sending "a reminder" to the court about the case. Otherwise, the Indian Embassy is also unable to do anything.

The Saudi Labour Office asked the company owner to pay outstanding full payment and fined him SR4,000. Instead of honouring the verdict the Saudi employer has simply disappeared - a common practice in many Gulf countries. The workers have been denied their annual leave and were living without electricity in a substandard accommodation provided by the Saudi company. They were not getting medical benefits also.(keralamonitor.com)