Amid recruitment bans, illegal maids up wage demands

JEDDAH: Illegal housemaids in Jeddah have begun asking for huge salary increases following the decision to suspend recruitment of housemaids from Indonesia and the Philippines.

Many families are reporting that the maids have threatened to walk out if their demands are not met, especially that Ramadan is one month away when demand for extra domestic help spikes.

“I just started looking for a new maid from the ones already here in Jeddah. I was surprised when my maid asked for a SR2,000 monthly salary. I remembered not long time ago when they used to take only SR700,” said housewife Um Ahmed.“I believe that they are doing this because they know the high demand for Indonesian maids especially that they have stopped being recruited.”

“My maid threatened to quit her job and leave me if I didn’t raise her salary to SR1,800. She knows I just gave her a raise three months ago from SR800 to SR1,300 upon her request,” said Hanan Al-Shareef, a high school teacher. “She also told me that it would be easy for her to find another job because many families are looking to hire maids for Ramadan.”

Under Saudi labor law, it is illegal for maids to seek work elsewhere without the consent of their employers in the form of a no-objection certificate. However, the high cost of recruitment, which can involve middleman fees in the thousands of riyals, encourages families to hire maids in the black labor market.

Following the decision to stop maids from Indonesia and the Philippines, recruitment from countries like Ethiopia or Kenya and other countries came as an alternative choice to fill the demand for domestic labor in Saudi Arabia. Spokesman of the Ministry of Labor Hattab Al-Anzi hinted that the Kingdom would start allowing recruitment for domestic workers, including maids, from different countries. Several recruitment offices have begun shifting their focus toward African countries. “However, I personally doubt whether one or two nations will be able to cover the gap in the domestic house labor market ruled by Indonesia for some time now,” he added.

Most domestic workers are recruited from Indonesia, the Philippines (which was recently barred due to a dispute over minimum wage) and Sri Lanka. Egypt doesn’t allow women to travel to the Kingdom to work as maids. Pakistani and Indian maids in Saudi Arabia are uncommon.

“In light of these new regulations, recruitment from other nations, such as Ethiopia and Kenya, could work,,” said Ahmad, an employee at a recruitment office. –SULTAN AL-TAMIMI & RIMA AL-MUKHTAR | ARAB NEWS