Saeed Al-Suraihi

Okaz

 

In the spirit of true gender equality, the delay in paying cleaners their salaries is not just limited to male cleaners but also includes female cleaners. Companies that provide establishments with cleaners are so concerned about gender equality that they have now started delaying paying their female, as well as their male, employees.



When male cleaners become totally exasperated with their companies, they go on strike. This is the most they can do. They go on strike having exhausted all avenues in attempting to force their employers to pay them. It is expected that female cleaners will follow suit. It is only when cleaners stop working that the authorities responsible for supervising cleaning companies wake up and do something. Resolving the problem for them involves convincing cleaners to return to work and pleading with the cleaning companies to pay them their overdue salaries.



By that time, our streets are full of garbage and the smell is unbearable. The garbage is piled high and our streets and neighborhoods are full of dirt. However, if people cannot bear the bad smell of garbage, they should also not be able to bear the foul smell of corruption, which denies these poor and helpless cleaners their legal rights, including the timely payment of their salaries.



A recent episode of this inexcusable corruption is what happened at a rehabilitation center for disabled children in Makkah. The 86 women cleaners there stopped working because the company that employs them failed to pay them their salaries. As a result, the female staff at the center were left in an embarrassing situation. There was no one to clean the rooms and toilets for the 100 disabled children who live at the center.



I am sure the cleaners did not suddenly stop working. They must have requested their salaries from their employers several times. They probably never thought their salaries would be delayed in a country where Islamic Shariah is strictly applied and where there is justice and fairness for all.



The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: “A rented hand must be paid his emoluments before his sweat dries.” This applies equally to men and women. We must never delay paying our employees and must give them their wages on time.



I am sure that the sweat of these female cleaners has dried a hundred times and they still remained unpaid. Their sweat as a result of chasing their employers for the payment of their wages has also long dried up.  These employers are totally undermining the rights of these people. Nobody listens to them. The employers consider the female cleaners to be mere slaves who are only there to serve them.



The authorities are not monitoring cleaning companies properly. They only do something when the cleaners go on strike and they see garbage piling up. The most that they seem to do is talk to the cleaners and ask them to return to work and beg the companies to pay them. Then they return to their deep slumber. After the long overdue salaries are finally paid, the spokesman of a leading company will boast to the media that the problem has been resolved and that everything is now under control. A few months later, the problem will crop up again. Who will rescue these poor cleaners from these greedy cleaning companies?