RIYADH: Indonesia has asked for a monthly salary of SR3,300 for housemaids as a precondition to send them to work in the Kingdom, according to a website.
The Indonesian Ministry of Labor has called a meeting of the recruitment agencies, which deal with their Saudi counterparts for job opportunities of Indonesian maids to tell them about its decision and new terms and conditions.
Indonesia is expected to start sending maids to the Kingdom within a month. However, it has also made it a condition that the process of recruitment would not be done by individuals. Only the Saudi hiring agencies could contact their Indonesian counterparts for the recruitment.
The SR3,300 monthly pay precondition means the biennial contract should be worth SR80,000. Contracts for household workers in Saudi Arabia are valid for two years, subject to renewal.
There were sharp differences between Indonesia and the Kingdom over the terms and conditions of hiring maids, and the recruitment was frozen for over four years.
Zyad Al-Saigh, undersecretary at the Ministry of Labor, said the housemaid recruitment market is driven by supply and demand. There is also competition between the offices for providing best services.
Mashari Al-Dhafeeri, head of the recruitment committee at Riyadh Chamber, said: The decisions to fix new rates and salary, even if it is agreed by the Kingdom, would have an adverse effect on the hiring sector as a whole.