Saudi Hospital Staff Strike Over Unpaid Wages

RIYADH, Sept 19 (APP/AFP) : Staff at a hospital in eastern Saudi Arabia have gone on strike over unpaid wages, workers said Monday, in the kingdom's latest case of corporate financial difficulties. "We are on strike," a nurse at Saad Specialist Hospital in the Gulf coast city of Al-Khobar told AFP by telephone.

"We didn't receive any salary for three-and-a-half months," she said, unwilling to be identified out of fear of being fired. She said the hospital is part of Saad Group, whose website says the Saudi-based firm runs "diversified businesses" in the Gulf and has investments around the world.

The finance and construction conglomerate controlled by Saudi billionaire Maan al-Sanea made a high-profile and acrimonious split from another Saudi business group, the Algosaibi family, in the wake of the 2008-2009 global financial crisis.

Saudi construction firms have been particularly hard hit this year, with tens of thousands of employees left unpaid. Sources in March told AFP that delayed receipts from the government, whose oil revenues have slumped over the past two years, had left employees of the kingdom's construction giants struggling.

"The hospital doctors and nurses are on strike," a hospital security worker confirmed to AFP. A spokesman for Saad Specialist Hospital could not immediately be reached for comment. The nurse told AFP that "almost all" the medical staff, which includes about 1,200 nurses, have joined the strike action in a country where labour unions are banned.