Car workshop say they are going to have genuine difficulties putting into action government plans for the Saudization of the sector over the next few years. A group of citizens has cast doubt upon the possibility of implementing this plan worked out by the Ministry of Labor for creating jobs for Saudis as auto mechanics, Al-Bilad Arabic daily said. Ahamd Al-Fahmi, owner of a car workshop in Bani Malik, said, “I have a mechanic and two assistant mechanics who are all Africans. The three together get SR2,200 a month and then I have to pay SR1,500 as the monthly rent of the workshop. The workshop generates about SR4,000 monthly, although sometimes can be as much as SR5,000. This raises a crucial question: Can I afford under these circumstances to offer a Saudi mechanic SR2,000 which is the minimum monthly pay fixed by the Ministry? Definitely I can't afford paying this salary simply because the average monthly income of a small workshop ranges between SR4,000 and SR5,000, and I would need to employ at least three Saudi mechanics. This proves that the ministry's plan is impractical.” Saud Al-Mawald, who runs a small workshop in Bani Malik, said, “I go all the way with Al-Fahmi because this is the fact of the matter. Let's be realistic in the Saudization of jobs for mechanics. This should be done gradually. In the beginning, the plan should be applied to large workshops then to medium and at last to small workshops. For me, Saudization is not merely a catchphrase; it is a national obligation, but it has to be done realistically in order to be a success.” “Most of the Saudi graduates of the Vocational Training and Technical Education,” he added, “prefer to work in large workshops. In my experience, many of these graduates look for jobs in the public sector because of better terms of employment and working hours, whereas in private workshops, mechanics work for long hours, little salary, and get only one day off per week.” Narrating his experience with three Saudi youth, Saleh Al-Zahrani, owner of a small workshop, said, “I am very keen on employing Saudis in my workshop. I have been doing this for the last five years. But I have had a lot of bad experiences. One of the Saudi mechanics asked me to promote him to the position of workshop manager after only being with me for two weeks. Of course, I turned down his request because I can't risk the source of my family's income.” “Another common problem,” he said, “is that most of the Saudi mechanics I employed were not punctual. They would come to work one day and then disappear for the rest of the week without permission.” Qusi Bin Ibrahim Falai, Director of the Labor Office in Jeddah, stressed that the ministry's plan for the Saudization of jobs will be carried out according to the set timetable. He pointed out that the ministry is cooperating in this regard with the chambers of commerce throughout the Kingdom, adding that this cooperation has yielded fruitful and encouraging results, as through the chambers, thousands of young Saudi mechanics have found positions in workshops in factories and private companies. Another example of fruitful cooperation, he said, was the office's cooperation with the Saudi Japanese Automobile Institute, pointing out that the institute gives professional training to Saudi youth in all branches of mechanical engineering and thus there is a high demand for them in the labor market. __
