JEDDAH, 18 October 2004 — Expat workers located in a compound near Jeddah are living in fear for their lives because of inadequate security. They say that due to their company's failure to pay the rent on their compound, security levels are very low. Electricity and water have been switched off, leaving pregnant women and the chronically ill in very unpleasant circumstances. Many who have decided to leave cannot because they have not been paid their wages and are concerned about their end of service benefits. The workers — citizens of the United States, Canada and South Africa among others — have been contracted by DIFA (an English rendering of the Arabic word for "defense") to provide training and maintenance services for Lockheed C-130 aircraft. | I'm sure this will do wonders for their job performance. |
Security inside the compound has all but disappeared because guards have not been paid. Electronic security cameras are infrequently, or no longer, functioning because electricity has been cut. | Why don't you just give their address to the boomers? |
Living conditions have deteriorated recently because the compound has not paid many of its outstanding debts. "The Saudi Electricity Company terminated power on Oct. 13 for non-payment," a note issued to the compound residents on Saturday said. "Water has been rationed because Al-Safyah Water Company has reduced our allocation of water from 18 truckloads per day to only 10 truckloads per day. We have not been able to pay the company for three months."
One of the tenants, who declined to be named, explained that DIFA had been paid by the government but had not paid rent or salaries. "The rent payable by DIFA for our housing is SR5,000,000 annually and it hasn't been paid for 18 months." The result is that families are currently living without air-conditioning and running water. The note also stated, "The last of our money has been used to rent generators for one week. If we do not receive any funds from DIFA by Tuesday, Oct. 20, we will lose the generators and the entire compound will be without power or water." | Company took the money and ran, leaving the workers to fend for themselves? |
The loss of power will also affect the sewage disposal system on the compound and consequently increase the health risks to the occupants. "My wife is pregnant and has asthma and I'm worried because without air-conditioning she's more likely to have an asthma attack," said another resident. Over the last few months DIFA has increasingly delayed payments of salaries to Western expatriates and has not paid some employees, such as Pakistanis and Filipinos, at all for months. Last evening, Pakistanis and Filipinos were chopping up wooden garden fences to use as fuel for cooking.
"Unless this money is forthcoming, we will be unable to maintain services to the villas," said the notice to residents. "It is very unlikely that the villas will be available to DIFA for housing their employees at the end of the current contract." For the South Africans working for DIFA, this is a particularly serious problem. South Africans are subject to hefty fines if any of their bills are paid late. "The whole situation has made it no longer worth living here," said one South African. "All it has done is increase my debt and I cannot leave because I have not been paid either salary or end of service benefit." Arab News telephoned the director of operations of the company responsible for the compound but at the time of publication, no response had been received. A Google search gives the following information on DIFA:
Durango Human Resource Management Services (DHRMS) is a U.S. company which recruits and assists in the administrative processing of qualified personnel to fill positions in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. DIFA Operation and Maintenance is a Saudi company which employs and administers those personnel on behalf of the Royal Saudi Air Force.
DIFA O&M is a subsidiary of ZAN Trading Co. Ltd., a renowned company in the international defense community for over twenty years. DIFA was specifically founded to support the world's third largest C-130 aircraft maintenance program for the Royal Saudi Air Force. The substantial experience gained in the defense sector (hence the name DIFA, which translates into "defense") over the past years by the ZAN Group of Companies, contributes to the overall success of the operation.
So, it's a Saudi company who's stiffing the infidel maintenance troops and their families. Guess they're not too concerned about those planes being able to fly much longer. |
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