http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=65571&d=18&m=6&y=2005
Saturday, 18, June, 2005 (11, Jumada al-Ula, 1426)
Kingdom Rejects Higher Wages for Sri Lankan Domestics
Mohammed Rasooldeen, Arab News
RIYADH, 18 June 2005 - Saudi Arabia rejected Sri Lanka's requirement of
enhanced wage for the island's domestic workers in the Kingdom, saying the
decision was taken unilaterally by officials in Colombo.
According to an announcement made Thursday by the Sri Lankan Embassy in
Riyadh, the minimum wage set for domestic aides, effective from July 1, shall
be $150 per month as against the current $100.
The chairman of the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE),
Professor P.V.B. Karunatilaka, has instructed Sri Lankan missions in the Middle
East, including the Kingdom, to observe the ruling. According to the
instruction, the Sri Lankan Embassy in Riyadh and its Consulate General in
Jeddah will not attest any documents or job orders that do not conform.
"The increase is a unilateral action that cannot be accepted by the
Kingdom," said Waleed Al-Swaidan, the chairman of the Saudi Arabian National
Recruitment Committee (SANARCOM). He added that the Sri Lankan officials should
take such a decision only after consulting their counterparts in the Kingdom.
Al-Swaidan pointed out that Sri Lanka should first improve the quality of
its domestic workers supplied to the Kingdom before it embarks on a salary
rise. "Sri Lankan maids who come to the Kingdom fall short of several
requirements when compared with women workers from other countries," he said,
noting that Sri Lankan maids could not speak English and would not undergo job
orientation before their departure.
Saudi Arabia is home to some 350,000 Sri Lankans, of whom 250,000 are
maids.
If Sri Lanka insists on the new salary scale, the chairman said, the
Kingdom would be "reluctantly compelled" to turn to countries such as Nepal,
Bangladesh, Cambodia, Vietnam and the Philippines for recruitment of maids. "No
country is indispensable in this trade. The market is wide open," he added.
The new salary structure is being implemented on a proposal made by the
country's Labor Minister Athauda Senevirathne who said most Sri Lankan workers
in the Middle East have been receiving a monthly pay of $100 for over 18 years.
The minister stated that he would not hesitate to take steps to stop workers
leaving the country without agreement on the stipulated salary.
P. Wijesundera, charge d'affaires at the Sri Lankan Embassy, said that
although the new rule is to be effective from next month, a number of
individual sponsors have already signed the job agreements with recruitment
agents in Sri Lanka accepting the increased wage.
"The embassy has formally attestedd these agreements," he said.
Wijesundera said the mission will ensure that the sponsors are
financially capable of paying the monthly salaries of their maids.
The Lankan mission here receives some 40 runaway maids daily, of whom 50
percent are handed over by the government-run Women's Welfare Center for
repatriation. The common problems that trigger the maids' escape from their
employers' homes include non-payment of wages, lack of communication and
harassment.
A recent report on the plight of maids released in Colombo stated the
number of broken homes and the trauma faced by children cost the country much
more than the remittances received by mothers going overseas for employment as
domestics.
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