Saudi-Arabien: Arbeitslosigkeit und Arbeitnehmerrechte

In Saudi-Arabien formiert sich unter dem Namen "The Saudi Society of Labor" eine Gruppe, die sich um die Einhaltung von Arbeitnehmerrechten kümmert und sich mit Wegen aus der Arbeitslosigkeit im Königreich beschäftigt.


A group of Saudis are in the process of establishing a society, entitled "The Saudi Society of Labor", to care about the rights of employees and discuss ways to tackle unemployment in the Kingdom.

Anees Al-Ansari, the society’s chairman and founder, said from among its many purposes the society aims to develop solutions for employment issues to be passed on to the Ministry of Labor. "We don’t have an organization that can handle the issue of unemployment in a legal manner. There are no clear regulations regarding employment, inspecting companies and violations in the private sector," said Al-Ansari, adding, "The rights are stated in the labor law. However, they are not being acted upon."

The society has developed an online forum in which members post what they feel its goals should be and discuss job-related issues. The website, saudi-workers.org, will soon be officially launched. The society’s members include lawyers and professionals from various backgrounds.

The society aims to fight unemployment, improve and develop the performance of Saudi workers and employees, activate labor unions while adhering to the Kingdom’s laws, empower the female work force, and offer foreign language courses and computer training. The society also wants to be given the authority to monitor and inspect the private sector firms and take note of violations.

"We will publish a booklet on our society and send it to Minister of Labor Dr. Ghazi Al-Gosaibi to gain accreditation... We want to ask the minister that we want permission to carry out inspections on private companies. A lot of people do not sign contracts and lose their rights," Al-Ansari said.

He added that the labor court and labor laws are not precise in defending employee rights and that courts operate in a haphazard fashion. Al-Ansari also believes there is a need for regulations that even simple employees can understand.

Once accreditation is secured, the society, which wants to work legally, aims to establish different committees for their work. "We hear random decisions from the ministry, but there is no mechanism or tools to make the decisions real. There are no civil society establishments to work with the ministry to decrease unemployment and solve employees’ problems. People that are employed and unemployed do not know their rights in order to fight for them," he said, adding that many private companies do not have salary scales and only care about accreditation from the municipality and not about the rights of employees.

Al-Ansari added that the society is open to all and membership costs SR100. Members will be able to take advantage of the society’s legal team, which will fight lawsuits on their behalf. Members will also be able to delegate the society to follow up on ongoing cases at labor courts.

Meanwhile, on the group’s online forum, unemployed members discuss their difficulties in surviving without a steady income. Others complain of low salaries in the private sector. One member wrote, "Until when will we suffer from the absence of a salary scale in private companies? A high school holder earns SR2,500, while a college graduate receives SR2,000. There is no one to defend our rights. The Ministry of Labor is calling for Saudization... companies offer inadequate salaries and when we leave work they say Saudis are lazy and do not want to work."

Another said there is no continuous training at work to help employees improve performance.

The website will also have a job vacancy section, said Al-Ansar. He added that the society hopes to ultimately establish itself as a link between employees and private companies. "We will supervise new employees in training and follow them up with this. This is to find out the problems facing employees, especially those who leave their job shortly after they get employed," Al-Ansari said.