More than 1,000 workers of a major contracting company in Jeddah went on strike on Monday to protest a six-month delay in payment of their salaries. The employees, who had gathered in front of the company's headquarters since early morning, disconnected electricity supply to the company by turning off the main switch. The strike witnessed dramatic incidents with industrial security officers blocking the workers from entering company premises and one of the workers turning off the company's power system. Some workers have reportedly destroyed company properties while others attacked the administrative staff belonging to different nationalities. Ahmed Salim, one of the workers, told Al-Madinah Arabic daily that they had not been paid for the last six months. "All workers, including Saudis, have not received their salaries for up to six months," he said. Khaled Al-Johani said the company had promised to pay one month's salary to employees who did not receive any salary in three to five months. "The administration has promised that all delayed salaries would be released after two weeks," Al-Johani told Al-Madinah, adding that the company's employees were on strike in Riyadh, Dammam and Taif as well. Mohammed Nooruddin said: "Although I work eight hours daily I have not received any salary from the company in the last six months and we don't see any manager explaining to us the reason for the delay." Abdussalam Abdulhameed urged the authorities to punish the company for delaying the payment of workers' wages. "We have signed agreements with the company but it does not honor the terms and conditions of the contract. Whenever we ask the manager about the salary he would say it would be paid tomorrow and tomorrow never comes," he said. Khaled Abalkhail, spokesman for the Labor Ministry, said the ministry has been investigating companies that do not pay salaries to their employees on time. "We understand that there is a big company in this category and has failed to fulfill conditions of the ministry's wage protection program," he said, adding that the ministry has stopped all its services to the company. "We have received complaints about the delay in salary payment from a group of employees in the company. We investigated the case and have found that the complaint was genuine and we have taken punitive measures against the firm," he explained. Abalkhail said the ministry has communicated with a number of government departments on the issue. He reiterated that the ministry would take action against all companies without exemption if they fail to pay salaries to their employees on time.
