Arabisc: An Open letter to the Saudi Labour Minister · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Saudi Arabian blogger Raed Al Saeed has written an open letter to his Labour Minister Dr Ghazi Al Gosaibi, who is also a distinguished writer and diplomat, and posted it online.
The letter, whether it made it to Dr Al Gosaibi's office or not, is available on the worldwide web for all to read and calls for treating local and expatriate workers equally. The issue of expatriate workers in oil rich Arab countries is a sticky one. While on the one hand they are a boon to their local economies back home, remitting to the tune of $14 billion to their countries from Saudi Arabia alone annually, the questions of abuse and discrimination are routinely raised when addressing how the the Kingdom treats its six million-strong foreign workforce.
And while expatriate workers agree to do menial jobs which many Arabs from oil-rich countries look down at, there is still talk among nationals of foreigners competing to take jobs from them – something difficult to gauge I presume amid conflicting reports on unemployment figures!
In this letter, Al Saeed writes:
Al Saeed argues that enforcing Saudisation rates is unrealistic, especially since his country is keen to catch up with the rest of the world and sign the much-coveted Free Trade Agreements.
The solution, explains Al Saeed, is setting up a Saudi Employment Bureau, which registers Saudi job applicants and which binds Saudis to the jobs they were selected for.
Sounds like we have a plan!