By Mohammed Al-Abdullah

Okaz/Saudi Gazette

DAMMAM — Minister of Labor and Social Development, Ahmed Al-Rajhi, is scheduled to meet with the representatives of the local recruitment offices to discuss the implications of the new Unified Recruitment Contract (URC) which the ministry started implementing since Monday. The contract has been rejected by a majority of the offices.

The meeting is set for Thursday in Riyadh.

The National Recruitment Committee, local recruitment offices and the chambers of commerce and industry have appealed to the minister to cancel the execution of the URC because it contains items which almost all the recruitment offices consider to be unfair.

Under the new contract, recruitment offices will have to pay a fine worth about 30 percent of the value of the contract in case the arrival of the housemaid in the Kingdom is delayed by 90 days or more. Previously the fine was 15 percent.

The contract also makes it imperative on the offices to receive the housemaids at the airports and build special tracks for them at the airports to use for exiting and provide them with accommodation until their employers come to take them.

Informed sources said 20 people representing all recruitment offices in the Kingdom will attend the two-hour meeting.

They said the meeting will be an opportunity to discuss the repercussions of the ministry's latest decisions especially that the meeting the offices held with the ministry in July did not achieve any tangible results.

During that meeting, the two parties agreed to constitute a joint task force to review the URC especially the article concerning the fine but no results were achieved.

Sources said the local recruitment offices may not be responsible for the delay of the arrival of the housemaids for reasons out of their hands such as the protracted procedures of the foreign offices.