it just happen that i had to work on weekend and i saw one of the cleaners supplied by A naba working all days of the week. i asked him when is he going to have a day off and he said to me that he is getting 1 day off/year. He workd 15 hours a day/ 30 days a month and get payed RO 60/month. He was promissed to get RO 150/- by the recruiter in India where he had to pay IR 90000 to get the job. Now committed to paying the loan, he cannot quit. Is it humaine? where are the laws? where are humain rights? very sad what do you think?

I really think it is unfair.
I think they should raise his pay if he is working everyday!
The workers who clean the streets work only during the weekdays and get paid 60 r.o and maybe more now!

This should be talked about somewhere and soon...

did he go to his embassy?????

Very unfair, those workers come to the gulf hoping for a better life and to earn more money. Work them like this is really inhumane. He should go and talk to the embassy about it and demand paying him what they promised him at the beginning.

people should put their money where their mouth is and stop employing slaves.
this is slave labour, nothing else. who keeps a person in their business /house knowing the agency is paying them a pittance have got a lot to explain in front of God.

These domestic workers should have they salaries payed into a transparent source of somekind that can be easily verified.

If the employeer does not pay the full salary ... they have breached the contract. Employee owes no loyalty to them and should be able to move on to another or return home.

They should also be able to sue for back wages owed.

That's ridiculous!! 60 rials a month :S
I read an article about this - human trafficking and the so-called 'agents' who run the whole operation. It's so sad - I heard about this stuff happening in other places in the world, but for some reason I (naively) thought that this couldn't happen in Oman :os

I want to share a real sad story, without going into much details:

A well known company got this expatriate worker few months ago & before he came to Oman he was told that he will be working as a welder, he did initially start working as an welder & he got his salary after the first month

Later they started dumping all different sort of work on him, overload him & didn't pay him on time either

He simply became psychotic (lost his mind, got crazy, became mad, call it whatever you wish) & was admitted under psychiatric care for around 3 weeks

When he improved, the company was contacted to take him back or get his ticket so he can travel back

They ignored him for around 2 weeks & the guy was banging his head on the floor & crying

Eventually after some pressure, the company came & took him & sent him back to his country

One of the many sad stories

ouch :os
I think the Ministry of Manpower in Oman needs to do more for the workers than they do for the employers.
Something like give the employees a chance to make complaints about their employers to an authority or something, which something tells me isn't available to them right now.

how about people cut the middle men and employ people directly from the other country?

its a normal practice in companies indian workers getting as low as 35rials per month and in india need to pay upto 100,000rupees...but i thought Al Naba'a recruiter was charging 40000 Max...
that's really sad that they get only 1 day a year on a two years contract and annual leave of two months after two years with this pay!

This sounds like slave labor to me. Crap.

1 day off/year, I think that is against the law.

Definately against the law. He should go to the embassy and complain.

how about people cut the middle men and employ people directly from the other country?

Minerva, this is what should have been done but i wonder how these company gets permits to bring those so called slave lobors while we cannot get even one?

1 rest day per year? can you imagine? i will talk to him about the embassy issue but i guess they know about it and just.... a blind eye. Allah Akbar.

poor men, this really breaks the heart

did he go to his embassy?????

Hahahaha! since when does the Indian, Pakistani or any of the other embassies for that matter have a record of stepping in to help? The Embassies are perfectly aware of what goes on with the recruiters but theyve never done anything to stop it......and I doubt they ever will. bad for business an all ya know?

It IS sad that ppl are treated this way but there are laws in place in Oman to prevent this. It is illegal, but would you even begin to enforce somthing like this?

I think the problem lies in the countries who are knowingly and even actively "selling" their people. India, pakistan, Indonesia etc etc

That's ridiculous!! 60 rials a month :S
I read an article about this - human trafficking and the so-called 'agents' who run the whole operation. It's so sad - I heard about this stuff happening in other places in the world, but for some reason I (naively) thought that this couldn't happen in Oman :os

Although I admire your outrage at the idea of human trafficking taking place around the world, your horror at someone earning 60rial a month is a tad strange. Did you ever wonder how much other Omani/ expats are being paid?

As for trafficking - Oman is on the Tier2 watch list which means that the Govt is at least making an effort to curb it.

"Human trafficking is the recruitment, transportation, harbouring, or receipt of people for the purpose of exploitation. It is estimated to be a $5 to $9 billion-a-year industry. Trafficking victims typically are recruited using coercion, deception, fraud, the abuse of power, or outright abduction. Threats, violence, and economic leverage can often make a victim consent to exploitation.

Exploitation includes forcing people into prostitution or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs. For children, exploitation may also include forced prostitution, illicit international adoption, trafficking for early marriage, or recruitment as child soldiers, beggars, for sports (such as child camel jockeys or football players), or for religious cults.[4]

Tier 1: Countries that fully comply with the act’s minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.
Tier 2: Countries that do not fully comply with the minimum standards but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance.
Tier 2 Watch List: Countries on Tier 2 requiring special scrutiny because of a high or significantly increasing number of victims; failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat trafficking in persons; or an assessment as Tier 2 based on commitments to take action over the next year.
Tier 3: Countries that neither satisfy the minimum standards nor demonstrate a significant effort to come into compliance. Countries in this tier are subject to potential non-humanitarian and non-trade sanctions. "

Oman was in tier 3 I remember
UAE in 2 and Yemen watch list
This because at least they have governmental organisations helping expats in these conditions
If you talking about the US department report

What does tier means?

And I don't think 1 day off/year is true.

Don't you remember that US dept report on human trafficking, we discussed here ?
All Gulf countries apart Yemen and UAE were last place
Yes for sure the reason behind it was political [same period of the FTA] but there was something true
Actually only Oman doesn't have a human rights office [there's something affiliated to Min of For Affairs but never heard of it]
It would be good initiative to have it

What does tier means?

And I don't think 1 day off/year is true.

Believe it or dont believe but for sure, someone is suffering.
if he dont work 7 days a week and for long long hours, i guess his pay will be only RO 30 to 40 only.

People are suffering around the world, this is the nature of life, people are different. After all this life is temporary one.

But people should get their rights according to the terms of the contract and agreement.

I might be harsh BUT...laws dont protect dumbs!...
BUT we have to look at the issue from ALL perspectives...
The country were they came from...do they protect their nationals???
They know and they dont do anything about it THEN they are with the offenders co operated togather!...Ditto!

Dont take me wrong...I do think that every one in this world is entitled to get what he should deserve from his work according to the amount of literally speaking (sweat) that that work is requiring from him to produce...and IT should be ON time and Well deserved!...

Issue to be solved has to come from the root....(I.e. Their country of Origin)

Thug mmm... as harsh it is what you just said, there is some sad reality behind it :(

but again, if their country isn't protecting them, that doesn't give us the right to abuse them!! this is some kind of injury! not physically but it is!

Amo I never knew we didnt have a human rights office or base :(

I assume most those people didn't even sign a contract! so how can the labor law apply on them?

in a case like this, there must be something an individual like me can do! what is it? report the case to 9999!

one day per year! :no:

Issue to be solved has to come from the root....(I.e. Their country of Origin

No, weight is on both sides
There are commercial agreements between governments
There are organisations like UN to which the Sultanate belongs because decided to abide by their rules
Before signing a deal, they set up a memorandum of understanding
There are laws here in Oman and we all must respect them
Some of these laws prove to have a flaw, because some locals abuse them

I never knew we didnt have a human rights office or base
In the end I don't think it will make much difference, but knowing that the country where you live wants to protect you, that would be a lot

most those people didn't even sign a contract! so how can the labor law apply on them?

For example those on free visa on papers should work for their sponsor only but is rarely like that : housemaids, plumbers and similars
When one doesn't pay or beats them, they cannot present complaint because they wouldn't be allowed to work that way

Maybe having more Omanis working in low positions, might help so their fellow citizens would learn respect
And rethinking the visa-labour card system would be appropriate too