GCC labor ministers conclude their meeting in Oman

Ministers agree on applying further cooperation rules to organize labor within GCC states

Occupations, business that should be confined to national manpower defined

GCC officials attach special importance to health sector, labor market reform

The 26th meeting of the GCC ministers of labor concluded at Al Bustan Palace on Sunday under the chairmanship of HE Sheikh Abdullah Bin Nasser Al Bakri, Minister of Manpower.

The GCC ministers decided to promote the role of the labor administrators of inspection services in GCC states. The meeting also approved the first stage of the ideal executive decisions of vocational health and safety, and called the executive office to keep following the second stage of the decisions and to refer it to the joint technical committee to finalize it and present it to the coming meeting of the council.

During the meeting, the ministers were informed about the national annual report of the GCC states about the program of increasing local job opportunities in GCC countries, which will be referred to the general secretariat of GCC states.

The ministers agreed to revise the laws and legislations related to establishing and supporting the small companies and to facilitate the legal procedures to set up such small establishments.

The ministers decided to prepare a GCC directory of job descriptions and classification and characterization considering the new development in the labor market and in the light of the international standard of classification and to prepare a technical study on the proposed alternatives on the classification and characterization.

The ministers also decided to adopt a model Regulation Schedule on the recruitment of foreign labor, to prepare a draft model regulations guiding to regulate recruitment agencies and to prepare a study on absconding migrant workers in the GCC countries.

The ministers also decided to review the actions taken by the executive bureau on the draft unified labor system law in light of the new developments and changes and called on member states to provide the bureau its observations and views on the project.

They also decided to take note of the experience of Bahrain on insurance against unemployment and the new method introduced by Kuwait for job seekers. They also thanked International Labor Organization (ILO) for its support and technical contribution to implement a number of joint activities between the GCC and ILO.

The ministers also decided to send a letter to the director-general of the International Labor Office seeking technical assistance in many important areas.

HH Sayyid Fahd Bin Mahmoud Al Said, Deputy Prime Minister for the Council of Ministers, had received the GCC Labor Ministers. The meeting was attended by HE Abdulrahman Bin Hamad Al Attiyah, GCC Secretary-General and Ahmed Luqman, Director-General of the Arab Labor Organization.

After welcoming the guests, Fahd affirmed that out of its belief in the shared objective and joint destiny and in a bid to deepen and enhance ties and joint cooperation aspects, the GCC countries have achieved steady strides and made remarkable achievements especially in the field of developing human resources, standardizing labor laws and other fields also.

Fahd also said the Sultanate, under the wise leadership of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Said, takes part with the brotherly GCC countries in all efforts undertaken to activate the plans and programs that aim at developing this vital sector.

The meeting also reviewed the items listed on the agenda of the meeting and the Gulf labor legislations and systems in light of the developments on the regional and international arenas.

The ministers expressed their thanks for the Sultanate for hosting this meeting and praised the good preparation for the meeting which contributed to coming out with a number of positive outcomes. The ministers also hailed the constructive role played by the Sultanate to ensure the success of the Gulf cooperation march. They also expressed their deep thanks and gratitude for His Majesty the Sultan and hailed the impressive achievements and comprehensive development witnessed by the Sultanate.

HE Sheikh Abdullah Bin Nasser Al Bakri, Ministry of Manpower, attended the meeting.

HH Sayyid Shihab Bin Tariq Al Said , Adviser to His Majesty the Sultan presided over a function to honor the distinguished private sector companies and establishments in the field of nationalization of jobs, as well as, the first honoring celebration for the entrepreneurs in the field of small size enterprises at the GCC level at Al Bustan Palace Hotel on Sunday.

Shihab said the celebration comes in recognition of the efforts made by the GCC private sector companies in replacing expatriates with national manpower and nationalization of jobs as well as encouraging them. Shihab hoped that the other GCC private companies and establishments will follow the same trend. He said the companies have made ample and impressive achievements in the field of training and employment of national manpower.

At the beginning of the celebration, HE Sheikh Abdullah Bin Nasser Al Bakri, Minister of Manpower, said the achievements made by these companies and the entrepreneurs in the development fields, especially in terms of employment of national manpower have reflected positively on the development of human resources; that have been provided with the required skills and knowledge as they are the main pillar for building the digital economy.

He added that the world is facing the challenges posed by globalization, freedom of trade, market openness, expanding scopes of knowledge and rapid innovations. This requires GCC countries to continue their development march and invest more resources and potential to expand the participation of the private sector in development and avail job opportunities for the national manpower.

Sultan Bin Hassan Al Dosari, Labor Minister of Qatar, said the celebration comes within the framework of the initiatives taken by the GCC countries to encourage private sector companies to nationalize jobs and enable nationals to take over the different jobs efficiently.

HE Abdulrahman Al Attiyah, GCC Secretary-General, said the GCC countries are responsible for training their national manpower therefore they should draft the appropriate training plans and programs to develop human resources till they are capable of playing key role in the development process witnessed by the GCC countries.

There should be collaboration of all efforts by the respective apparatuses in the GCC countries to achieve the sustainable development sought by the GCC leaders. There should also be coordination between the education outputs and the requirements of the market in terms of the jobs taken over by expatriate workers so that these jobs can be taken over by national manpower.

Salim Bin Ali Al Mahiri, Director-General of the Executive Office for the Council of GCC Ministers of Labor and Social Affairs, said the labor programs and plans during the last period proved that this approach aims at achieving the best results not through issuing more decisions but rather enhancing our ability to activate the decisions that have been already made by the Council.

Hamad Abdul Rahman from Gulf Aluminum Traction delivered a speech which he said the national and moral duty of the companies urges them to rely on the national manpower in pushing forward the development process.

Musallam Bin Salim Al Rahbi delivered a speech on behalf of entrepreneurs where he pointed out that this ceremony, the first of its kind to honor entrepreneurs on GCC level will make the entrepreneurs more enthusiastic to develop their projects to contribute to the social and economic development processes in their countries and create job opportunities for the youth in the GCC countries.

Later, Shihab distributed shields to the private companies and establishments in the field of employment of national and the entrepreneurs in the field of small size enterprises.

The honoring ceremony was attended by a number of their highnesses, ministers, undersecretaries, officials at government departments and private sector establishments and Omani businessmen and their counterparts from the other GCC states.

His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Said had issued a Royal Decree to amend certain provisions of the existing labor law in the Sultanate.

According to the new Royal Decree No. 63/2009, the labor law will be amended to prohibit expatriate workers from working with other parties or practice any of the Omanized professions.

The amendment to articles of the law issued pursuant to Royal Decree No. 35/2003 incorporates certain penalties on any employer failing to fulfill the specified Omanization percentage in the company. The employer has to pay a fine amounting to 50 per cent of the average total wages paid to expatriate workers in the company.

Firstly, a new article No. 18 (bis) will be added to the second section of the second chapter of the labor law.

According to the Article No. 18 (bis), the employer shall be prohibited from the following:

1. To allow any of his expatriate workers licensed to work with another party.

2. To employ any licensed expatriate worker to work for another party or any illegal resident in the Sultanate.

3. To employ any expatriate worker in any of the professions scheduled only for Omanis.

A non-Omani worker is prohibited from practicing any profession other than with the licensed employer.

Secondly, paragraph (4) of Article No. 106 of the aforementioned labor law shall be replaced by the following stipulation:

According to Article No. 106, if it becomes evident to the court that the dismissal of the worker or the termination of his/her service was arbitrary or in violation of the law, the court may either pass a judgment to reinstate the worker or oblige the employer to pay a fair compensation not less than the wages of three months to be calculated on the basis of the last total pay and not more than the total salary of a year; in addition to:

1. The end of legally pay-able gratuity and all other benefits prescribed by the law or the contract of employment, whichever is greater.

2. The basic salary with other allowances - if any - for the notice period provided by the law or the contract of employment, whichever is greater.

Thirdly, the new articles bearing No. 113 (bis), No.118 (bis), No. 124 and No. 125 shall be added to the labor law and they shall read as follows:

According to Article No. 113 (bis), whoever provokes, assists in or agrees to commit any act in the Sultanate in violation of provisions of Article No. 18 (bis) of this law shall be punished with imprisonment for a period not exceeding one month and a fine of not less than 1,000 rials and not exceeding 2,000 rials or any of these two penalties.

If the perpetrator of such violation is an expatriate, he or she shall be deported from the Sultanate at the expense of the employer and shall be deprived of entering the Sultanate in the future.

According to Article No. 118 (bis), apart from any other penalty contemplated herein this law or another law, the employer or his/her representative shall be penalized by a fine not less than 100 rials and not exceeding 500 rials and by imprisonment for a term not in excess of one month or by any of these two penalties if he/she violates provisions of Chapter 6 of this law and the executing regulations and decisions. The penalty shall be doubled in the event the violation is repeated.

According to Article No. 124, with the exception of penalties prescribed for the violations set forth in the aforementioned articles, violators of provisions of this law and its executing regulation and decisions shall be paying a fine not less than 500 rials and not exceeding 1,000 rials and the expatriate perpetrators shall be deported from the Sultanate at the expense of the employer and denied entry to the Sultanate in the future.

According to Article No. 125, the minister or whoever represents him may halt the case proceedings of the penalties set out herein this law if the violator pays financial consideration as per the rules and categories for which a decision from the minister is passed, provided that such consideration shall not exceed half the maximum limit of the set fine in question together with deportation of the violator at the expense of the employer and depriving him/her of entering the Sultanate in the future.

Fourthly, Article No. 114 of the referred to the law shall be replaced by the following stipulation:

According to Article No. 114, any employer who employs non-Omani workers without permits shall be punished with a fine not less than 1,000 rials and not exceeding 2,000 rials for each worker.

The penalty shall be multiplied by the number of such workers who are subject to such violation. In addition, the employer shall be obliged to pay the cost of repatriating the worker to his/her country and such employer shall not be permitted to bring along non-Omani workers for a period not exceeding two years.

The penalty will be multiplied if it is proven that the worker employed has entered the Sultanate illegally or absconded his/her work from the employer who is permitted to employ.

Any employer who willingly allows any non-Omani worker to be employed with another party shall be penalized with imprisonment term not exceeding one month, and with a fine not less than 1,000 rials for each worker or with any of the two penalties. The penalty shall be multiplied by the number of workers who are subject to such violations.

In addition, such employer shall not be permitted to bring non-Omani workers for a period not exceeding than two years and the penalty shall be increased in case of repetition.

Any non-Omani worker working in the Sultanate without the proper license from the department concerned or who works with another employer other than the one who is permitted to employ shall be punished with an imprisonment term not exceeding one month and a fine not less than 400 rials, and not exceeding 800 rials or with any of the two penalties.

In addition, the license issued to the worker shall be cancelled and the worker shall be deported from the Sultanate at the expense of the employer and shall be denied entry to the Sultanate in the future.

Any employer failing to comply with the prescribed Omanization percentage shall be punished with a fine equivalent to 50 per cent of the average of total wages paid to non-Omani workers who represent the difference between Omanization percentage observed by the employer and the rate actually realized.

Any contractor of expatriate manpower violating provision of Article No. 20 and the decisions regulating the permit and its conditions shall be punished with an imprisonment term not exceeding one month and with a fine not less than 200 rials or with any of the two penalties, in addition to canceling the permit or suspending the same for a period not exceeding one year.

Any employer violating provision of Article No. 29 shall be punished with a fine not less than 50 rials and not exceeding 200 rials.