Job Discussion Forums

[nomad soul]

Interesting. A friend sent me this link, http://ladies4justice.com, about issues Princess Noura teachers are having with SBC. Seems like SBC is borrowing from the same playbook AETG, M-Trading, and others ascribe to. Apparently, quite a few teachers have now approached the Ministry of Labor with their complaints.

The following was also posted on CNN's ireport.

Female Teachers in Saudi Arabia Seeking Justice from Saudi British Centre (SBC)
By l4justice | Posted December 12, 2011
(Source: http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-716683?ref=feeds%2Flatest)

Female teachers from several countries, including North American and European countries, have suffered deterioration of our spirits and deliverance of quality education due to our treatment from Saudi British Centre for Education and Development of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (SBC), one of the contracted human resources departments for Princess Norah University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Our contracts are not being honored and many of us are being pressured to sign new unfavorable contracts that scream intolerable actions such as, cutting our salaries in half. Some of the Saudi Arabian teachers were told they would be hired temporarily, but many others stand by their original contracts that deemed them long-term teachers working for SBC. Families have been separated due to SBC not honoring their contracts. Among other issues, many of foreigners are constantly being denied our right to our passports; those few that were lucky to obtain their passport from SBC have had our salary withheld due to not relinquishing passports to SBC immediately following our Eid holiday.

One such teacher was denied the right to her passport though she told SBC administration that her mother was dying. After begging to get out of the country for several days, her mother passed away. SBC actually demanded a death certificate so that she could get her passport to go to the funeral, and she still is trying to get out of the Saudi Arabia.

Support us www.ladies4justice.com
(End of ireport)

[Fernwood]

They seem to have a real case going. I wonder how much progress they will make considering they are western women trying to bring charges on a Saudi system and government.

This is so very sad. Here is one of the testimonials from the website.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I was one of the women employed by SBC and like others I suffered at the hands of this deceitful company. SBC uses a recruitment agency by the name of Adawaa Rabia Enterprises who promised a great deal but delivered only lies and stress. Before leaving the UK for Saudi Arabia I was promised that I would have my own accommodation. Lie 1! I was promised that I would have transportation to and from work or an allowance of 10% of my monthly wage. Lie 2! I was also promised that I would be going straight into the accommodation which was absolutely key to my welfare as I suffer from IBS and must adhere to a strict diet. Lie 3. I, along with many other ladies, was kept in a hotel for two months. We had no cooking facilities and as a result of this, I became very unwell.
I worked for this company for almost three months and I was underpaid twice! When I handed in my resignation SBC owed me 2553 Riyals. I managed, by staying calm and basically pretending that I'd consider returning after a short break to recover and get my sky-high blood pressure down, to get back about 1800 riyals of which I was owed. This was after I'd been woken up with my passport, which had been withheld up to this point, at 7am and told to get out of the compound!
I refused to leave stating that I'd had no opportunity to book a flight home as SBC had been withholding my passport and my money. No mercy was shown to me until I threatened that the only way I'd leave was if the police came and dragged me out!!! I could go on and on about this company. I could talk about the unsafe compound in which one woman had her money stolen by the workers still working on it. I could rant on about how many women were without hot water and working toilets. I could even scream and shout about how one of the women was sexually assaulted by a workman employed by SBC however, none of this will make the slightest difference unless the plight of the women still stuck in Saudi Arabia is heard and acknowledged on an international plain.
Please get behind us, please help us and please please please don't let SBC get away with this appalling treatment of innocent women.

[nomad soul]

I found the comments on the survey about SBC and Adwaa quite revealing (link shown below). Ironically, many US companies utilize similar surveys to allow their employees to give feedback on the company's effectiveness and how things could be better. None of these crappy recruiters/employers would ever welcome such criticism. How fast can you say denial and defensive. These employers continue to operate with a mindset from 50 plus years ago when slavery was acceptable. In fact, KSA only abolished slavery---at least, on paper---in 1962.

Survey link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/sr.aspx?sm=YBbzVJ2b2ZpVV261bJGZuEFuiGOv97Pr0FHrAcKvUcY_3d

[Bellatrix]

Thank you for this post, nomad, including the sources and links.

[veiledsentiments]

If this survey reflects the rest of the teachers, I think I see the problem. 64% of those that answered are in their 20's. (I certainly wouldn't have coped well with these types of problems at that age)

Or could it be that it was the younger crowd that set up the survey so are over-represented.

VS

[lynnknows]

VS,

There are more women over 40 here. The young girls/women do their fair share of stunts but they are NOTHING like the over 40 crew. I am shocked and amazed at the things these women do. I am not saying SBC is perfect. The thing people have to remember is YOU are getting ONE SIDE of the tainted story.

In the case of the woman whose "mother died" , this was just her way out. She told SBC her mother was ill. They gave her the passport the next day, SHE WENT TO OMAN. She stayed there for over a week. Came back after pay day wanting her salary and TO LEAVE AGAIN.

Then she went on our FB site and posted a comment telling everyone to excuse her actions for the next few days because she was going to act crazy, then tell SBC she was in transition from being a woman to a man, going on a hunger strike, she threw furniture in the pool, the list goes on.

NOW you tell me, What part of what she did was right? Do you really think they believed her when she came back from a vacation in OMan? If My mother was ill I would go home period. I would NOT go to OMan to visit friends. I would worry about my pay later.

SHE HAD her passport and gave it back to them in order to get her salary. IMO, Her salary was MORE important than going to see her mother.

I dont know why some of the women come here to work. How can any woman with a computer, cell phone, Ipad or any device that connects to the internet say they didnt know they would be required to hand over their passports in order to get an iqama? This is what the women are saying. SO SBC said if you do not give us your passport so we can process you iqam's we will not pay you your full salary becasue We, SBC, will have to pay fines. Some, not all, but a few, are on business visa. They have been here over the 90 days. Each day there are here they get fined. SBC told them this but THEY STILL want to hold on to the passport. WTH? How can anyone not know women are required to wear an abaya or a head scarf? EVERY morning someone complains about having to get dressed afer they are already dress. What is the difference in putting on a coat and an abaya? They BOTH go over clothes and you only wear them outside. They complain about their hair getting messed up everymorning. How can these GROWN WOMEN come here and think KSA will be a better place just because they are here?? I swear if you heard some of the things these women say you would think they were royality. The want the furniture in the villa to match the bedspread and everything has to match the curtains. They want shower curtain and rugs in each bathroom and not just any rug, they have to match the bedroom lay out. COME ONE PEOPLE!!!! Everyone has to get their way about EVERYTHING or they whine and complain. They stay home from work on "strike" and get mad when they dont get paid for those days.
I have never seen anything like this.. KSA MUST bring out the crazy in people.

Again, SBC has done there fair share of horrible things. IMO they should have told these women to go home and be with their kids. WHy keep them here KNOWING they would not get a visa for them?
There was a woman here with some health issues. They didnt take her seriously and her condition got worse. I think they didnt believe her becasue of the crap that happened with some of the other women. Whatever that case they were wrong. They need to look at each situation objectivly.

[veiledsentiments]

Thanks Lynnknows... but to be honest, this wasn't surprising... and rather humorous if one is not having to deal with it every day... BUT... I would have to put the blame equally on the employer and recruiter as to that flaky inappropriate batch of teachers.

Do they do no vetting? (obviously not)

Do they hire any female that can produce some sort of CV in sort of English? (looks that way)

Do they not point these issues out in an interview to ascertain if these women can deal with the culture and the system? (obviously not)

Is there no orientation for new teachers? (seems not)

Truly the mind boggles...

VS

[nomad soul]

I agree with VS. The vetting process is non-existent, and frankly, I don't think these recruiters know how to vet applicants nor do they probably give a hoot. They're focused on the sales commission/money-making aspect of recruiting and not on employee retention for the long run. (Holding employees' passports doesn't count as a legal, valid retention strategy!) Apparently, the universities don't care much either since they don't appear to intervene in situations like this despite witnessing high teacher turnover rates as well as a decline in the number of highly-qualified teachers.

I'm not excusing SBC's tactics; however, some of these teachers have themselves to blame somewhat by not fully researching Saudi customs and labor and visa laws before heading overseas. For instance, the English version of the Saudi labor law is posted right here on the KSA forum, but I doubt many teachers---male and female---take the time to review it. Additionally, so many topics have been covered in this forum and on blogs about KSA, but if folks don't take the time to check things out and ask lots of questions, then they set themselves up for disappointment, or worse, when their expectations don't match the reality. (Amazing how some people spend more time researching a country for their two-week vacation than they do for an employment situation abroad!) Anyway, there are those who do their research but still end up with deceitful, crappy employers. Know before you go and always have an exit strategy!

[lynnknows]

VS you are 100% correct. I know for a fact Adwaa did not do interviews. They just asked a few questions and that was it. When I spoke with him he did not ask me one question about my teaching skills, background, or why I want to go to KSA.

It seems like many of the recruiters hire anyone. If they can get a visa they can work.

[It's Scary!]

At least, lynnknows, you've been around the "block" a couple of times and post relevant information. You're not one of those pre- & post-Saudi arrival experts who feel compelled to strike out at those who don't post the info that they, desperately, want to hear.

It's sad, actually, as they can't see how they are perceived to the world at large. PM's are not required in this situation where people are continuously falling down into deep holes. Transparency is key here.

It's like they know everything from the get-go!