Expats have an advantage over Saudis in the private sector

By Eman Al-Humood A FEW years ago, toward the end of the presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy, the French government tried to win public support by issuing several decisions that appeased the public. The French continue to suffer from the consequences of the financial crisis, something that has increased unemployment in the country. One of the decisions the government issued concerned foreign students living in France. The government banned French companies from hiring foreign students who had recently graduated if there was a French person who could do the same job. In other words, the companies should opt for French citizens rather than foreigners. Many protested the decision while others supported it. The support, however, did not last long because of the pressure exercised by student groups and unions who rejected any form of discrimination against citizens and residents. The groups and unions said the only criteria for hiring should be qualifications and competency. Unfortunately, expatriate workers in the Kingdom continue to be discriminated against by some Saudis to the extent that a cartoonist at a local daily drew a cartoon and described expatriate workers as rats. It is sad to see some Saudis venting their anger on expatriate workers who have exerted great efforts to build the Kingdom since it was founded. It is true that some employers do not prefer Saudi employees and say that they do not work hard, and many companies fake Saudization to circumvent labor laws. However, this is not the real problem. The real problem is bigger than this. Many companies do not have a good working culture and there are no laws that protect the rights of employees in the private sector. Therefore, how can we expect a Saudi employee who gets paid every three months to work with dedication? How we can expect a Saudi to work hard when his colleague who does the same job earns much more than he does? Absence of social justice makes Saudis lag behind and places expatriate workers at an advantage. Most expatriate workers want to work in the West but do not have a chance to go there and end up working in the Middle East. We have to tackle the problem at its roots.