The plight of 300 Bangladeshi workers in Madina, who for three years, have been living in fear of deportation because their new sponsor has declined to provide them with residency permits, apparently as a result of a fallout between him and a co-sponsor, continues to worsen with no clear solutions in sight. “Of the 300 workers, 129 of us are in Madina and 70 of those 129 are still working with the sponsor. The rest have run away. Moreover, many of us have not gone home for over eight years now,” said one of the workers, requesting anonymity. “Most of the workers ran away from the company so that they could work elsewhere while some of them went home without taking their hard-earned salaries. We fear deportation, which would mean we would have to leave the country without our dues, just like criminals,” he said. The workers allege that their sponsor did not honor the conditions of their contract with the construction company, which mentioned “accommodation, a good salary and a holiday every three years with a paid ticket”. The workers said their sponsor “beat us, demanded commission from us if we worked elsewhere and threatened that he could do anything with us because he has a copy of our fingerprints and the sponsorship rights,” said one worker. The workers filed a complaint against the sponsor in labor courts in Jeddah and Madina, where the case has been going on for three years with no result. They said they sought help from the Bangladeshi consulate but, that was “in vain.” “We want this case to be solved. We want to go home through legal channels,” said the worker, adding that whenever they tried to talk with their sponsor about granting them residency permits or going home, their sponsor refused to help, saying they would have to be deported if they wished to go home. “Our sponsor has never turned up in the court because of which there has not been a settlement and we continue to suffer,” said one of them. The case of the 129 Bangladeshi workers in Madina was registered with the Human Rights Commission and labor courts in Jeddah and Madina after the workers' plight was highlighted by sections of the media. According to sources, problems started when three years ago, the company in question was sold to another sponsor. The workers told Saudi Gazette that there were difficulties between the new sponsor and his business partner, following which the two registered a case against each other. The co-sponsor, meanwhile, got hold of the workers' passports. The workers then arrived in Jeddah and camped outside the Bangladeshi consulate, complaining that their salary of 16 months had not been paid and their residency permits had not been renewed. According to officials at the Bangladeshi consulate, the co-sponsor lost the case against the sponsor. “We have been following the Bangladeshi workers' case since it started. Our representative went to the labor courts several times, but because the co-sponsor never turned up in court, the case is pending and there has been no verdict in favor of or against the workers,” said a consulate source. He said apart from approaching labor courts in Madina and Jeddah, the workers sought help from the Governor's house in Madina, Human Rights Commission and Shariah court. “However, there seems to be no end to their misery,” added the source. He said the consulate has written in this regard to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, labor court and other higher officials, although they have not received any response. “Golam Sarwar, Bangladeshi Consul General, held a meeting with the director general of labor court seeking a settlement of this issue. Moreover, the Bangladeshi government has given instructions in this regard to recruitment agencies. Since the law holds the Saudi sponsor responsible for his employee(s), it is he who can solve the case,” he said. “The workers' transfer to another company is not possible and it is not easy to send them home through the consulate because of the expense and exit issues. We have already spent SR30,000 on the workers and the consulate does not have many funds,” said the consulate source. Saudi Gazette contacted a human rights official, who is handling the Bangladeshi workers' case. Requesting anonymity, he said the case has been registered with them but nothing can be done unless the labor court gives its verdict. When contacted by Saudi Gazette, the co-sponsor had this to say: “I am the sponsor of the workers and the court's ruling was in my favor. However, I cannot do anything for the workers because they ran away from me and only 60 to 70 of them remain with me. I cannot get them residency permits because the passport office asked me to bring the documents of all the workers. How can I do that when some of them are not with me anymore?” He added that the case in the labor court may continue for “two more years.” When contacted, the sponsor refused to comment and gave a ‘representative's' telephone number instead, which was unreachable.
