Fatima Muhammad
JEDDAH — Around 200 construction workers, who went on strike for not being paid their salaries for three months, have returned to work in Badr near Madinah, thanks to the intervention of the Ministry of Labor.
Rami Al-Sharif, director of the labor office in Badr, said the contracting company has paid the arrears in line with a strict directive from the ministry and consequently the workers have ended their protest and resumed work at the project site.
Al-Sharif said the labor office had earlier received complaints from workers in which they cited non-payment of salary as the reason for their decision to go on strike.
Inspection teams from the ministry visited the project site and listened to workers’ grievances. Labor officials spoke with representatives of the workers as well as with company officials.
He said the company officials have been ordered to settle the arrears. The ministry also blocked its services to the company. This resulted in the prompt payment of the pending salaries by the company to the workers who returned to the project site.
“Labor officials visited the construction site on Monday to meet the workers and to see whether that construction work has resumed,” Al-Sharif added.
