Rashed Al-Fawzan
Al-Riyadh
Years have passed and find it tough to recruit domestic help, especially housemaids. What exactly is the crux of the problem? The issue is presented and discussed time and again but without any real and tangible solution.
The problem is not only restricted to recruitment offices, as is portrayed.
They may commit mistakes or exceed their limits, so they can’t be completely absolved. But have we revised our recruitment conditions, taking into consideration the treatment of domestic workers in our country and protecting their human and financial rights? I am talking about the comprehensive view.
Unfortunately, there are people among us who have abused their domestic workers or not granted them their financial rights. Every day we hear stories about such cases, so we need to find a comprehensive solution for recruitment. This ought to take into consideration several matters, such as working hours, days off, financial compensation for their labor and protection of their personal rights.
We must change the way the Kingdom has conducted recruitment. Domestic workers should not be forced to work non-stop, for limitless hours. This is unacceptable.
As for the recruitment offices and the Ministry of Labor, each has some responsibility. First is the lack of options for recruitment. The Kingdom struggles to bring in enough domestic help because many countries have shown their unwillingness to supply domestic labor to us. Countries exporting workers set conditions for their recruitment, and while the Kingdom often views these conditions as unfair, countries exporting workers consider the Kingdom’s conditions and expectations to be unacceptable.
Therefore, we must drop some of our conditions, some of which I find to be unjust, such as unacceptable expectations for working hours and an absence of financial rights. These two conditions are the most important. How many stories do we hear about the abuse of financial rights and workers having to labor throughout the day?
Household chores can often be so abundant that a housemaid does not know whether to clean the house, cook, look after the children, or carry out a range of other tasks and duties. If workers in the Kingdom were treated kindly, and their rights respected, we would have a stronger position in negotiating and discussing recruitment with manpower supplying countries. We should convince them that we are providing workers with employment and a reliable source of income. In this way, the gap between the two viewpoints would narrow.
We can no longer impose our conditions, and not compromise with these countries. Such a position can no longer exist. It has to change. It must be a matter of the past. We must reconsider our conditions and the way some of us treat housemaids. Furthermore, recruitment offices have a duty to fulfill in providing domestic helps, at acceptable charges and within an acceptable period. There ought to be firm penalties and heaviest fine imposed on violators.
We have reached a point at which the issue of recruitment of domestic workers has become unsolvable. Aside from the complex recruitment procedures, this point has come about largely because of the way domestic workers have been treated in the Kingdom. It has also left the Kingdom in a weak position in negotiating with manpower exporting countries.
Everyone is responsible for this issue. The family that has a housemaid is responsible for her treatment, and must grant the maid her due rights. The Ministry of Labor must not issue visas to recruit workers from countries that cannot provide workers, which only creates more problems. Apart from this, recruitment offices do not comply with conditions. It is necessary for all to share the responsibility.
