Saudis have taken to Twitter to indicate their displeasure after it was reported that a Lebanese woman had been appointed as director of public relations at Saudi Arabian airlines.
A spokesperson for the company, Mansour Badr, later clarified that Christy Sarkis had only been made consultant, rather than the head of public relations, as some social media users had claimed.
He added that this was due to her “vast communication experience in the international airline industry merited the consultancy assignment.”
Yet, the appointment was criticized as yet another example of the preferential employment of foreigners in the kingdom, a scourge on Saudi Arabian job seekers. Many took to Twitter to angrily discuss the controversial appointment.
سواءاً نفوا أو ما نفوا
— الـعـُـمـــدة (@aL3omdah_Raed) January 29, 2017
سواءاً تم تعيينها مستشارة أو مديرة
هذا ما يخفي انهم منتشرين
في بعض الشركات
على حساب كوادرنا الوطنية#كريستي_سركيس pic.twitter.com/B4Tm4uw9hl
Whether they denied it or not, whether she was appointed was appointed as a consultant or a director, this doesn’t hide the fact that the employment of foreigners is rampant in some Saudi companies while the national workforce is marginalized.
خلال ٩ أشهر تم فصل أكثر من ٥٠الف سعودي وتعيين أكثر من ١٧٢ الف أجنبي على كذا نوصل عام ٢٠٣٠ والسعوديين يعملون خدم وسائقين ببلدهم#كريستي_سركيس
— عبدالله الذيب (@Altheeb74) January 29, 2017
During [the last] nine months, more than 50,000 Saudis have been laid off, while more than 172,000 foreign have been employed. At this rate we will reach 2030 and the Saudis will be servants and drivers in their own country.
Meanwhile, a tweet advertising the services of a Saudi man who is currently working as a Careem taxi driver despite having studied an engineering Master’s in the UK went viral on Twitter, using the hashtag “Saudis first”:
لـ #كريستي_سركيس
— متعب السعيدي م /1 (@matabalsadi99) January 28, 2017
الوظيفة المحترمه و الراتب العالي
وانت يا مهندس الطيران وصل عيالها للمدارس بسيارتك pic.twitter.com/gJXg5TLopY
For #Christy_Sarkis a respectable position and a high salary. And you, aeronautical engineer, brought her children to school in your car.
In 2013, the Saudi Minister for Labor said that there were currently 7.5 million foreigners legally working in Saudi Arabia, with many more engaging in clandestine employment.
The high proportion of migrant workers, largely from the Indian subcontinent, has become more contentious recently while the Gulf state faces economic problems. As oil prices have dropped, pressure on the nation’s finances has grown leading to rising unemployment and discontent among many Saudis.
RA
