Saudi to hire domestic workers from India

Saudi Arabia is planning to sign an agreement with India allowing the Gulf Kingdom to hire domestic workers from the Subcontinent following persistent disputes with its largest maid suppliers Indonesia and the Philippines.

The two countries will sign the landmark pact within the next few months after India’s parliament approved Riyadh’s request to recruit domestic workers from the world’s second largest populated country.

“India and Saudi will sign an accord allowing the Kingdom to recruit Indian domestic workers,” said Sibi George, deputy chief of the Indian embassy in Saudi Arabia.

“I don’t think the agreement will face any obstacles because India has no impossible conditions.…our conditions are confined only to the protection of Indian housemaids and guaranteeing their dignity and rights,” he told the Saudi daily Aleqtisadiah.

He said the two sides are currently studying a minimum wage for Indian maids to be hired by Saudi Arabia and that it would be disclosed soon by Riyadh.

Saudi Arabia, the largest base for Asian housemaids in the Middle East, decided to turn to India and other countries after Indonesia and the Philippines halted the travel of their maids to the Kingdom following disputes on salaries and other issues.

Several rounds of negotiations have so far failed to break the deadlock despite concessions by the Gulf Kingdom, including higher salaries for maids. Riyadh has also suspended hiring maids from Ethiopia following deadly attacks by its maids against their employers in the largest Arab economy.
“There is a shortage of around 30 per cent in the supply of foreign domestic workers to Saudi Arabia because of the suspension of the recruitment of housemaids from Ethiopia and other countries,” said Mutlaq Al Hazmi, a member of the expatriate labour hiring committee at the Jeddah chamber of commerce and industry.
“There are plans to open the door for hiring domestic workers from India and Sri Lanka. I believe that this will make hiring maids from Indonesia unnecessary.”
Nearly two million housemaids from Asia and Africa work in Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter with a population of around 29 million, including 9 million foreigners.

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