Even though Saudi Arabia has shown an interest in signing a labour pact on domestic workers, it has expressed reservations on some conditions put forth by Nepal. It has reservations regarding basic salary and a provision of weekly day off, a senior official at the Ministry of Labour and Employment (MoLE) said. 

However, the Saudi government is yet to give its official comment on the agreement draft regarding minimum salary provision. MoLE has proposed a minimum salary of $300 and a day off in a week for refreshment, among others. The official at MoLE said that Saudi officials are saying that since it was an open market, the salary should not be fixed. As per a memorandum of understanding (MoU) reached between Saudi Arabia and India, Indian domestic workers get $266 to $319 a month. 

Among all destination countries, Saudi Arabia is one of the top five nations absorbing Nepali workers. Budhi Bahadur Khadka, spokesperson of MoLE, said that they were expecting comments and a visit of a delegation from Saudi Arabia to discuss on the labour agreement issues. “The visit date is yet to be fixed, which may be after Dashain,” he added. 

The pact on labour supply is vital to protect the interests of workers on issues including minimum salary, duty hours, provision of weekly day off for rejuvenation, paid leave, health insurance and communication facilities to keep in touch with family members at home country, among others. The MoLE official said that the Saudi officials are reluctant on weekly day off provision for the Saudi society being ‘closed type’. 

Based on the experience of returnees, long working hours, no provision of leave for refreshment and communications, and physical and mental abuses are some of the problems Nepali domestic workers face. In an agreement reached with Indonesia in February this year, Saudi Arabia has agreed to give one day off a week, allow workers to keep their passports and get in touch with others, and provide health insurance, according to international media reports. 

There are an estimated 1.5 million foreign domestic workers in Saudi Arabia, mainly from Indonesia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Nepal. India started to supply workers based on the MoU signed in July this year. 

Though Nepal is asking the Saudi government to ink two separate agreements — normal labour pact covering all Nepali migrants and an agreement on domestic workers — it has shown an interest in signing the pact on domestic workers only.

Published on: 22 September 2014 | The Himalayan Times