Job Discussion Forums

[Paul in Saudi]

Pay on 2 May, right on time. Still it is strange to have your boss bring you a sealed envelope with US$4K in it. No igama means no bank account.

On Tuesday the Big Guy from Riyadh came down to meet with us. It was quite surreal.

He began by explaining how tough his life was for him. It seems his 1:30 flight got postponed to 2:30 and so on. I found it fascinating. He went on to thank us for staying here working although he "couldn't understand" why we did. He then pointed out that we did not have igamas or visas or LONOs. That was his laugh line. The room was silent. Still he said thanks.

Then he discussed how hard he had been working. He mentioned he had arranged to pay us from ARINC USA's account. Then he had to get us igamas. He was excited to explain the procedure. First he had to pay the GOSI for DIFA. But since DIFA is related to both Zan and Kolsman, he had to pay the GOSI for that. Then he discovered he could not get iqamas without a business license in the Kingdom. It was tough on him to get that since someone (perhaps someone who had not been paid in eight months) deleted vital business records. The Big Guy from Riyadh had to reconstruct them. Then he found out you had to provide medical cards to the employees to get igamas. But of course no insurance company would sell to DIFA (I thought the BGFR was from ARINC?) so he had to work that issue.

But anyway, he promised us all igamas by the end of the month. (Remember this was our 1 May meeting.)

"Now the bad news" the BGFR intoned. No more than 10% of us can be on vacation at a time. Further if we do not us all our vacation, ARINC will not pay us for the days earned while we were working for DIFA. So use them or loose them, but no more than 10% at a time.

At this point I left.

Reports from the rest of the meeting included the highlights:
-No payment of the Saudi Service Award for the DIFA period.
-No payment of the eight months back pay owed to some support people during the ARINC period.
-No money for the widows and orphans of people who died under DIFA.
-No mail service. Ever.
-ARINC fully expects to get the contract again in 2008.
-No LONOs.
-Someone mentioned internet sites that were impacting on recruiting.
-The BGFR insisted "we do not lie during recruiting."

Anyway, after so many months of nothing to report, here is a little slice of life.

[Paul in Saudi]

Howdy Dean. Sorry we did not get a chance to meet. Hope your flight back to Thailand went well.

I hope you will post here with your first-hand experiences of being recruited here. MF seems to be in charge of recruiting and he seems to have been telling some interesting stories. But again, your first-hand account would be a of great interest to me and everyone else who is reading this.

[Paul in Saudi]

That previous post was directed at Dean, a guy I never met.

He arrived here about 1 May, maybe a few days before. In any case, we never met. He is some sort of sheet-metal guy. Anyway, it seems the recruiter (M.F.) promised him:

a villa (we got nasty apartments)
no roomie (nope)
a car (nope)
free TV (well the compound provides the TV, but no programing)
high-speed internet (we have expensive dial-up)
a pony (OK, I made that up.)

Anyway he got here asked management for what he was promised, got nothing and flew out on Wednesday 9 May. Never walked on post. Paid for his own ticket too, no help from management.

Dean said he reads this blog, so if I made any mistakes I hope he will post here.

[me no fool]

Hey Paul! Dean here. Sorry we couldn�t get together for a good ole Difa slap down session. But anyway I won�t clog up this forum with a bunch of Difa�s dirty laundry as I think you covered it pretty well. As far as what I was told I was getting, it�s about the same as your new guys who are spreading it around. I really didn�t see anyone being held captive so either you stay and accept it or leave. Anyone around for awhile knows the golden carrot is not coming so pick your poison. I knew it was going south when the first mention of what the recruiter promised was met with I have nothing to do with her and have nothing to do with what she says. First red flag came quick. Then began all the buzz words like depends, maybe, sometimes, coming soon, working on it, and the list goes on. I will give the upper management credit though they never had me see anyone in the office except the whipping boys. Easier that way, so they don�t have to hear any of the ugly truth. My favorite part was when Larry came by to see me and tell me how he was experiencing the same misery which meant we were to hug and just stick it out like warriors and wait on that elusive golden carrot together. His attempt to empathize with me and �our� situation would probably work on some young greenhorn. Oldest trick in the book. Anyway I tell everyone back here in Thailand who asks where I�ve been. I went to Saudi to get a chest x-ray. I don�t look down on anyone who stays there. Everyone has their reason personal or financial. Like I never missed a beat here. Summer session starts in 3 weeks and the GI Bill will just continue to roll since I never dropped from school having read this blog I had a heads up. Thanks and Good luck!!!

[Paul in Saudi]

M'pleasure Dean.

[Paul in Saudi]

This is starting to read like a newsletter.

Pay came in cash today, on time. No problem.

More remarkable today, on the last day of the month, I actually got my igama as promised four weeks ago. You could have knocked me over with a feather. In fact aside from the normal turbulence of new arrivals and clerical errors, we seem to be at 100%.

I am on vacation a week from today. That will make it 15 months with no break. I wonder if that is some sort of record for a Westerner.

In other news, they have most of the sewage pumped out from the parking lot. Live just gets better and better.

Nothing on restoring the pay cut, paying the families of the guys who dies with no health care and all the rest of it.

[0404059]

Hi all, This is my first reply.

My name is Paul Davidson and I worked in Jeddah for Diffa back in 2005 on the engine testing facillity right down at the end of the hangar. Reading the posts i see that the pay and conditions did nothing to improve over the period since I experienced the same headaches.

You has the contract now? I hear that any westerners are being brought in on visitr visas...how dodgey does that sound. Unless of course the requirement for an igama (sorry about the spelling) has relaxed since I was there. I suppose that would even cause difficulties cashing wage cheques.

[Paul in Saudi]

People are being brought in on visitor visas, but there seems to be no problem getting real visas. Currently they seem to be bringing in South Africans.

I have no idea as to who to contact. Have you tried the ARINC website?

[JT9D]

Some came in on proper work visas, while others came in on visitor visas. They do not have any problems getting iqamas, except for the usual red tape. The delays being experienced are all from the renewals.

[Paul in Saudi]

I am out of here this afternoon for the first vacation in 15 months. It seems all the Westerners are all leaving this weekend.

I wonder if we can get all the backlog of vacation cleared up by the end of the contract. The company has said they will not pay us for unused vacation.

[JT9D]

Seeing as Paul is still vacationing, I'll fill in. Salaries happened so quickly and easily it is now a non-event. On the compound side, there are serious threats about installation of the high-speed internet, and even a procedure to get hooked up. The earthworks to repair the flooding sewage works is also nearing completion. Other than that the status quo is being maintained

[Paul in Saudi]

We got paid on time, as JD mentioned. It was waiting for me when I got back from vacation.

The shoppette opened on the compound yesterday. Not all of two years to make that happen. The high-speed internet is a non-starter. It seems the router actually melted down for some reason. If they can fix it, fine, otherwise is will be weeks to get a new one.

New South Africans are still dribbling in. Still we must be at well under half our authorized strength.

[Paul in Saudi]

Paid at the start of August on schedule. In truth I shall no longer making regular posts on paydays. That seems to no longer be an issue.

Further, I am pleased to report the high-speed internet is now up. Just short of two years, but it is in fact now up. Life is better here now.

I still have issues. The company says they will not pay our ESB at the end of the contract. They have not paid the widows of the men who died while they were not providing health care. Until that happens, I will not be satisfied.

Perhaps of more import to those here, the recruiting situation is still quite bad. Recruiters in the US have been stiffed and refuse to do business with these guys. Some South Africans have come in, but most seem to leave quickly, and in any case, South Africans are not acceptable with the Air Force as English teachers.

So I may post here from time to time as events require, and I am always eager to reply to e-mails, but I suspect this thread is coming to an end.

[Latteegirl1974]

My thread wasen't allowed to go on for 17 pages!

Anyhow, Paul have a well deserved vacation. I think therei s a lesson in here for all of us.

[veiledsentiments]

It is not length that decides locking. It is when it turns into the usual suspects having the usual repetitive personal sniping attacks that quickly range far from anything to do with Saudi or education.

This thread has been a polite and factual reporting of the facts of the situation with Paul in Saudi's employment.

And we were all glad to see that it seems to be turning positive finally.

VS