Cleaning companies taken out of Nitaqat system
posted by Mansoor Hassan in Saudi Arabia forum
The Ministry of Labor has exempted cleaning companies from the Nitaqat system after realizing the practical difficulties involved in implementing the system in that sector.
“Minister of Labor Adel Fakeih instructed his deputy to take swift measures to acquit cleaning companies, so that they can renew the residence permits of their workers and cleaning operations will continue uninterrupted,” Al-Sharq daily reported quoting a source yesterday.
The Nitaqat system implemented early this year stipulates that all private companies employ a certain percentage of Saudis or they will be subjected to penal measures. Such measures include denial of the ministry’s permission to renew labor cards and iqamas (residency permits).
The system classifies companies with the least number of Saudis as red category and those with too few Saudi workers in the yellow category. Companies with a satisfactory level of local workers are in the green category.
The first victims of the new system were the cleaning contractors. The nature of their work required employing thousands of expatriate laborers, as they could not find any Saudis to accept cleaning jobs. Another order of the ministry made it mandatory for companies to pay SR 2,400 for each foreign worker annually.
Cleaning companies found themselves stuck in the red category, which made it impossible for them to renew residency permits of their workers. Expatriate workers in the Kingdom without a valid residency permit are in violation of regulations and could be arrested and deported.
The situation prompted thousands of workers to refuse to clean streets. Many city districts faced plummeting hygienic standards and a resulting spread of diseases.
A cleaning company in Jeddah, also in the red category, was allowed to renew residency permits of 2,000 workers on Sunday. Their workers refused to work until their residential status in the country was set right.
The workers’ strike led to accumulated waste in neighborhoods such as Kandarah, Ammariah and Saheefah in southern Jeddah, filling the air with abominable stench and deteriorating the environment.
The deteriorating environmental condition was a threat to public health in those districts with the spread of contagious diseases such as dengue fever.
To keep the city clean and hygienic, Jeddah municipality ordered three other companies to undertake cleaning operations.
A source at the municipal office said the contracting company would be prosecuted for failing to fulfill its contractual obligations besides paying the cost of other contracting companies doing the task.
The ministry has made it clear that the exemption order was not applicable to the Saudization of monitoring and administrative departments of the companies, the newspaper reported.
The ministry’s decision to hike the fees for expatriate workers have come under severe criticism from businessmen, especially by the chambers of commerce across the country. Some companies, especially in the construction sector, fear they will have to cease their activities because they can’t meet the ministry’s demands.