Private sector employees suffer when seeking their rights [Archives:2008/1122/Reportage]
By: Almigdad Dahesh Mojalli
[email protected]
Many employees complain of both unfair dealings by the private sector and procedures of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs.
In dismissing employees, some firms never grant them severance pay nor treat them if they become infected by disease or are injured on the job because doing so would cost them a lot, so instead, they resort to threatening and hurting those employees.
Then, when going to the Labor and Social Affairs office to lodge a complaint, the employees are socked with long and boring procedures, additionally discovering that they must stop seeking work and devote years to the courts. For this reason, such employees don't know where to find support for their rights.
Fuad Al-Jabal, 26, maintains that he worked four years at Al-Shifa Honey Press and suffered two slipped discs in his back due to the heavy loads he had to carry. When he requested the company treat him, it refused and asked him to resign.
When he went to the Labor and Social Affairs office to lodge a complaint seeking medical treatment and severance pay, his company manager abducted him and forced him to sign some unknown documents. Al-Jabal tells his story as follows:
“For four years, I worked at Al-Shifa Honey Press and was responsible for storage and production. They give me tons of honey, which I had to weigh, distribute, check and organize. My workday began at 8 a.m. and finished at 10 p.m. without a break, for which I received YR 25,000 or equivalent to $125.
“The work was so hard, especially because I had to carry all those tons of honey myself. I asked them to provide another employee, but they procrastinated and never brought one. The company also doesn't provide its employees insurance.
Injury
“I started working for them in 2003. After a year and a half, while working one day, I suffered a slipped disc between the fourth and fifth vertebrae of my back. It occurred as a result of carrying heavy loads of honey.
“Since this happened while I was on duty, I asked them many times to treat me, but they procrastinated. When I requested their permission to be treated at the limbs center where I had physical training , they permitted me to attend for one month, but then canceled it four days later.
Hard times
“Because I needed a job, I returned and continued my work, despite the pain, which had spread to my neck and shoulders. When I asked the company to reassign me to another job due to my health, they refused, with the manager retorting, 'If this work doesn't suite you, you can resign!'
“I explained to my manager that the doctors at the hospital had barred me from carrying heavy loads, but it was to no avail. my manger asked me to submit my resignation, so I wouldn't be able to claim severance pay. So I resigned and paid all of my debts in January 2007, after which I went directly to the Labor and Social Affairs office and lodged a complaint against the company.
“Becoming crazy when he learned that I had lodged a complaint, the manager and one of his employees, Saleh Al-Wadiee, began threatening me. I knew Al-Wadiee had promised the general manager to bring me back dead. So they started chasing me. One day, my manager came to my zone and found me on the street. He started threatening and shouting at me and accusing me of embezzlement. I told him that I had left the job after taking investtory.
Abduction
“While I was on my way to attend my niece's wedding party one Tuesday in July 2007, four men wearing military jackets and other civilian clothing emerged from a taxi and intercepted me, waving a compulsory order from the prosecution and demanding I get into the car quietly.
“About 10 kilometers south of Sana'a, one of the men pressed his gun to my neck and told me to lie down in the car. I then asked, 'Is this a compulsory order to go to the prosecution or is this an abduction?' to which he replied, 'It isn't your business. Lay down!'
“So I lay down, he blindfolded me and then we continued driving for about an hour. We arrived at a building and the car entered the a building yard then I was taken to the basement where I was left for 20 days.
“I only ate every three days, with the food consisting of some cheese, halvah and a five-liter bottle of water. I was in an unfurnished underground room with a continuously-lit lamp. There was no toilet, so I relieved myself in a small broken room next to mine.
“During this time, my abductors came and asked me to sign some papers without reading them, but when I refused, they started beating and kicking me, eventually forcing me to sign them. They returned a week later, inquiring about my possessions and whether I had a car or not and then beat me again.
Release
“They released me on a Friday, but before doing so, they demanded I sign some more documents. I protested, “I signed once,” at which they immediately began beating me again. Because I couldn't stand such torture, I signed the papers.
“That night, they took and threw me out in a deserted area south of Sana'a. A taxi driver took me to the hospital where my family was contacted. I then proceeded to the southeastern prosecution, where I was accused of owing my former employer debts, as evidenced by numerous invoices I had never signed.
No recourse, only games
“I'm now so hurt and no one has helped me, even at the Labor and Social Affairs office. I discovered that the previous judge completely neglected my lawsuit, which I've followed for 10 months, but with no result.
“When I came to look at the file for my lawsuit, I discovered that it was lost. Who benefits from losing my file? So, I lodged a new file, gave it to them and obtained a receipt for it. I eventually learned that it was a type of game between a judge named Al-Hamdani and his secretary, as my first file wasn't lost, but rather at the secretary's house.
“I'll continue following up my lawsuit until I obtain my rights from the company. I expect a lot from the new judge.”
Judge Ahmed Al-Qubati notes that Al-Jabal's case is a criminal matter and that he should follow the procedures outlined by law. “Regarding his allowances from his employer, Al-Shifa Honey Press, we're continuing to investigate the issue, although so far, we've learned that he's resigned from the company twice, for which there's a document of acquittal between him and them.”
Further, Al-Shifa General Manager Mohammed Al-Hamati denies abducting or even threatening Al-Jabal, adding that his former employee embezzled funds, for which they now are involved at the judiciary, which has the right to judge the guilty.
More victims
Another victim of private firms and labor office stalling is Taha Saleem, who worked for a contracting firm for seven years, but was dispensed by his manager when he sought a pay increase.
“I worked for Khalid Al-Hashedi's general contracting office for seven years, first as an accountant and then as an accounting manager. When I asked my manager to raise my salary, as happens in the public and mixed sectors, he dispensed me without a satisfactory reason.
“Following this dismissal, I requested what was due me from my annual vacation, but they denied that I had anything with them. Such behavior compelled me to lodge a complaint at the Labor and Social Affairs office, which called Al-Hashedi many times, but he paid no attention.
“My complaint then was transferred to the labor office; particularly to the arbitration committee, which summoned him using the police, but to no avail. I'm now awaiting the arbitration committee's decision.”
Although Parliament issued the 1994 Labor Law, Saleem maintains that it's actually against employees. “In addition to being against workers, the Labor Law isn't even applied. In short, the state is unable to apply it,” he complains.
Judge Al-Qubati, who is the head of the arbitration committee, comments that Al-Hashedi seemingly neither recognizes the state nor the law. “We've summoned him three times – twice via personal phone calls and once through his firm's guard. We then turned to the police, but with no response. He didn't even send anyone to represent him before us. We find no justification for such behavior except to call it recklessness. We've now appointed a lawyer and given him all the case documentation.”
The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs refuses to divulge how many labor cases it received in 2007.
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