Minister of Labor Ghazi Al-Gosaibi said Saudi labor officials tasked with arbitrating the complaints of foreign workers against their employers will hold a series of discussions with labor representatives of foreign embassies in order to arrive at solutions for expediting workers' grievances and complaints. Al-Gosaibi revealed this during his meeting with Philippine Secretary of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Marianito Roque when President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo visited Saudi Arabia recently, according to Philippine Labor Attache' David Des T. Dicang. The discussions will be held between Saudi labor officials and the labor attachés and welfare officers of labor exporting countries, such as, the Philippines, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka. “The strategy of the bilateral discussion is to familiarize both parties with ways to find common ground in addressing and expediting solutions for the complaints filed by expatriate workers against their employers, including amicable settlement,” Dicang said. According to Al-Gosaibi, 40 percent of all labor complaints filed by foreign workers against their employers are solved by amicable settlement. Dicang said that Al-Gosaibi expressed confidence that the solution of employer-employee disputes can be easily resolved if both parties – Saudi labor judges and arbiters, on the one hand, and foreign labor officials, on the other hand – fully understand each others limitations. Al-Gosaibi said another move to resolve labor cases is the establishment of more labor courts throughout the Kingdom. Labor exporting countries have been urging the establishment of separate labor courts to hear cases of expatriate workers in order to expedite the resolution of cases. The approved judicial reforms, which would revolutionize the country's justice system and improve the human rights and business environment, also provide for the setting up of new labor courts that will take over the functions of labor offices currently operating under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Labor.
