Saudi- Municipality deports 89 maintenance workers

(MENAFN- Arab News) The Jeddah municipality has resolved the issue of about 20,000 expatriate maintenance workers going on strike last Tuesday by deporting 89 workers who had failed to perform their duties. The municipality, however, gave a clean chit to two senior officials from the company which had been given the contract for garbage-lifting operations in various parts of Jeddah. Mayor Hani Aburas issued the directions for the deportation after 20,000 maintenance workers from a contracted company went on strike after one of them faced a traffic accident during his work. Following the decision to deport five percent of the maintenance work force, the remaining workers fell in line and immediately reported for duties to remove garbage in areas that had been affected by the stoppage of work within 24 hours. The action was preceded by several meetings between municipality officials and the contracting company to hammer out a solution. These 89 workers were insistent that they won't return to work, which led to their deportation. Abdul Majeed, assistant secretary for municipalities, said the civic body increased the number of shifts with additional dump containers to solve the problem quickly and ensure normalcy in maintenance works. "The percentage of maintenance workers who have been deported is five percent. They are working with a contracted company that is responsible for cleaning districts of Al-Jamia, Khuzam and Sharafiya," he added.