DAMMAM — Labor officials in the Eastern Province caught a number of Asians and Saudis working alongside women in major stores supposedly run exclusively by women in two of Dammam's mega malls. The professions stated on the iqamas of the foreigners were driver and contracting laborer, Al-Riyadh Arabic daily reported. The campaign was carried out in cooperation with the related authorities. It resulted in the closure of two stores, which sold well-known brands, as they did not comply with the decision to make such shops staffed by women. They were also fined. Several other shops found selling women's accessories were issued warnings, as this activity did not come under their jurisdiction. They had to sign undertakings to remove these products immediately. Muhammad Al-Manna, Director of the Ministry of Labor's branch in the Eastern Province, said: “These campaigns aim to ensure that shops abide by the feminization directives, to follow up shop owners who were issued warnings earlier and to check how far they were abiding by the undertakings they had signed.” Al-Manna added that these were surprise checks, unlike the periodic inspection campaigns. He said the violations related to the feminization decision have started decreasing tremendously due to the continuity of these campaigns and their seriousness. He stressed that routine and surprise checks will not stop even if there are no violations. He said the reason is that some shops repeat the same violations the moment the campaigns come to an end. Al-Manna said there is great cooperation and coordination between the Labor Ministry branch in the Eastern Province and the Ministry of Interior and the Eastern Province municipalities. He called on the owners of companies and shops to comply with the decisions issued by the Ministry of Labor, as this will lead to good results in their commercial activities in the short and long term. He said it would also be in the interest of the nation. This is also meant to prevent the closure of their shops due to non-compliance with the Labor Ministry decisions, he said.
