Conclusion
In his column in the local daily Saudi Gazette entitled “The dilemma of runaway maids,” Dr. Khalid Al-Seghayer said that the “phenomenon of so-called runaway maids” is “one of the most critical issues confronting the foreign labor force in Saudi Arabia.”

Published figures, he cited, show that 89 percent of Saudi households have at least one maid, which brings the total number of housemaids in the Kingdom, based on unconfirmed estimates to over 1.5 million.

“Of these, more than 80 daily and more than 20,000 annually are said to run away from their employers,” according to Dr. Al-Seghayer, who added that “the business of hiring housemaids in Saudi Arabia costs annually about SR41 billion and about SR50 million is lost because of the maids who run away.”

Besides those from the Philippines, most of the maids who flee are from Sri Lanka.

According to Dr. Al-Seghayer, the unpleasant issue of runaway domestic workers is due to a number of factors.

Dr. Khalid Al-Seghayer, a columnist of the Saudi Gazette, said that the problem on runaway maids is a big dilemma confronting the foreign labor force in Saudi Arabia. A large number of domestic workers who leave their abusive employers are from Sri Lanka.

“From the perspective of the runaway maids, the work environment is completely inadequate and is characterized by overwork, mistreatment by family members, poor living conditions inside the sponsor’s house, very low wages that are not paid on a regular basis or on time and also sexual harassment which in some cases leads to the housemaids becoming pregnant,” Al-Seghayer said in his column entitled The dilemma of runaway maids.

“In sum, the housemaids say that when their basic human rights and dignity are denied, they have little choice but to run away,” he added.

On the other hand, Al-Seghayer claimed that Saudi employers have maintained that they are the “ones who have been treated inappropriately by their dishonest housemaids.”

“Many have reported that their maids ran away within a few days of their arrival in the kingdom. Others have said that their newly hired maid asked to be sent back home because the nature of the assigned job was not the kind of work she came all the way to the Kingdom to do. There are also cases of maids sneaking out and bringing men to their workplace. Then again, local families often complain that their maids are not well behaved, that they lack good manners, and tend to hurt or abuse family members, especially children.”

In some cases, employers were frustrated with hired maids who are incapable of operating household appliances.

“They pointed out that they have paid for and been promised a fully qualified housemaid yet they get a village woman who has no idea how to use a telephone or electrical appliances, such as washing machines, vacuum cleaners, dishwashers, and the like,” Al-Seghayer stressed.

Lucrative
Saudi employers also contend that maids run away not usually because of ill treatment but by their desire to work in lucrative illegal networks where they can be paid up to SR1,200 a month instead of SR800.

“These housemaids are lured into working for a sinister network involving other runaway housemaids because of their need to earn money to repay debts to recruitment agencies back home,” Al-Seghayer said.

The Saudi journalist and educator cited a recent report by the Center for Maids Affairs in the Ministry of Social Affairs that deals mainly with housemaids who have fled from their employers within two months of their arrival in Saudi Arabia.

“Thus, it seems that plans for running away were orchestrated in the housemaids’ home countries where they were instructed to flee as soon as they arrive in the kingdom to be able to work freelance and as such earn more money,” Al-Seghayer wrote.

Condoned
He said that Saudi citizens also play a part in this drama because some of them tend to look for runaway maids for low salaries. Recruitment offices in the kingdom and abroad are to be blamed as well for profiting from runaway maids and thus, are “encouraging maids to flee from their sponsors.”

During the Hajj season, the Passport Department in Makkah detained several maids who fled from their legitimate employers. They confessed to officials that they came to Makkah after some brokers promised to help them perform in the Hajj and then find them employment with better salaries.

“The problem is also compounded by the absence of rules to deny households that mistreat maids the right to employ them,” Al-Seghayer pointed out.

Last year, the Saudi Labor Ministry stopped hiring maids from the Philippines and Indonesia over the issue of halving the minimum wage from $400 to $200 a month and for lack of greater protection for them.

Manila and Jakarta had aired disappointment over the way maids from their countries were being treated in the oil-rich kingdom.

For rent
Overseas workers group Migrante in the Middle East said that it has become a common practice among Saudi employers to “rent out” their housemaids. Employers will also send their own maids to relatives to work for a week or two where most maids are paid extra. Some, however, get nothing.

A runaway maid usually gets SR800 (P9,000) a month for “maid-for-rent” work but SR300 to 400 goes to the broker, Migrante alleged.

About 1.2 million Filipinos work in the kingdom, including skilled laborers, nurses and maids. They are part of about nine million Filipinos, or 10 percent of the population, who work in 190 countries to escape poverty and unemployment at home.

These workers, legal or not, send back remittances of about 10 percent of the country’s annual gross domestic product, fueling domestic consumption and keeping the local economy healthy.

Better workers
Filipinos are comparatively more trusted by employers when it comes to work. Take for instance the case of 20 Filipino men who are in charge of the internal security of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) in Jeddah.

The head of the all-Filipino security group told The Times that their foreign counterparts and even locals were only assigned to secure the perimeter of the IDB, the largest Islamic bank, while they are tasked to oversee the security of all personnel and properties in the bank’s offices.

Other Filipinos work legally in five-star hotels such as the Marriot, where they are accorded free accommodation and food besides salaries of at least SR1,200.

Presently, there are about 30 Filipinos who work either as frontdesk clerks, bellboys, waiters and events coordinator in the Jeddah branch alone, according to Remy Jarina, assistant events manager who has been employed in the hotel for years.

“We may consider ourselves luckier than others but this is not about sheer luck. A worker must focus and not think traditionally, meaning he or she must not choose a particular work but must be resilient and flexible. It is hard to be away from your loved ones but if it means better life for your family, you must take up the challenge,” Jarina said.

Ruel Villana, who is in his 20s, shares his task as restaurant cashier in the same hotel with a fellow Filipino while Tony, a Filipino midget, has been employed in the hotel since 1989.

“It is not about how you look. Good work cannot be measured by your height but by how good you perform. I have been treated fairly here,” Tony said.

Jarina said that in some instances, Filipino “talk ‘n text” or “tinyentes” are hired by some companies when more hands are needed.

“They [TNTs] are usually paid SR120 a day for that. They have a good network that finds available but temporary jobs for them here. That is the reality in this part of the world,” he added.