MAKKAH — Twenty-five Saudi employees have lodged complaints against two contractors of Saudi Electricity Company for terminating their services without prior notice. "We were shocked when we received the termination letters," said one of the Saudis who worked as electrical technicians in the two firms that had contracts with the SEC. Radi Mohammed said the two firms had asked them to buy new cars for their transport but they are now hard put because of the sudden termination of their services. "We are unable to pay installments to the car company and meet the daily expenses of our families," said Mohammed. "We have been working for a company in the Umrah district of Makkah for the last seven years and we were caught off guard when it served us termination letters," said Mohammed. His colleagues Ahmed Abdul Hakeem and Fahd Mohammed agreed. "We have big families and our children go to school and we have to pay installments for the cars that the company forced us to buy," said Hakeem while speaking to Okaz/Saudi Gazette. The Saudi workers said the company fired them without giving any reason. "We have been doing our duty perfectly and we have not made any mistakes for the management to punish us. Last week the company informed us that it was ending their contracts," one of them said. Nawaf Al-Dhamdi said the company asked them to purchase new cars to facilitate its operations. "We have been paying installments to the car company. Now the company has served us termination letters without giving any reason and we don't know what to do," he added. Rami Al-Harthi, Fawaz Ali and Rami Hussein also spoke about their difficulties after the contracting company served them termination letters. "We have been doing our duties efficiently despite the work pressure," said Al-Harthi. Walid Al-Luhaibi urged the Labor Office in Makkah to do justice to Saudis who have lost their jobs. "We have been receiving a monthly salary of SR7,000. We were paid in two installments to circumvent the General Organization for Social Insurance," he pointed out. He urged the Labor Office to force the contracting company to reinstate them and make them as official employees of the Saudi Electricity Company. Rabih Al-Sharief described the contracting firms' decision as arbitrary and in violation of the law. "We have not been given any notice prior to the termination of our service. We have not committed any excesses. Everybody knows that we come to office on time and do our work efficiently," he said. Okaz/Saudi Gazette contacted Ali Al-Habeeb, director of media affairs at Saudi Electricity Company, through email and WhatsApp for his comments but so far did not receive any response.
