Foreign Workers Continue Their Strikes
Bahrain has witnessed continuous protests by hundreds of foreign
workers from India and Bangladesh. The protests took place in front
of the Labour Market Regulatory Authority in which the workers demanded
 |
that their construction company pay their three months overdue wages,
and to give assurances that this delay would not happen again. The
same workers had previously gone on strike for five consecutive
days but the Ministry of Labour intervened and resolved the matter.
The Assistant Under-Secretary Sabah Al Dosary said that the company
had promised to pay the wages, which is what actually happened.
In addition, hundreds of foreign workers at three companies in
the Sitra Industrial Estate demonstrated because of a 4-month delay
in paying their wages. Also, workers in Isa City protested four
times in three weeks and the staff of one of the hotels protested
outside the Ministry of Labour demanding their rights. The Secretary
General of the General Federation of Bahraini Trade Unions, Salman
Jaffar Al Mahfouz, supported the demands of the protestors and urged
the Government to take tough deterrent procedures against these
companies who were violated the law. He also added that ‘ it is
understandable to see foreign workers protest every day because
their rights were denied, after all they are humans who suffer,
feel pain and they have rights which should be respected by their
employers’, Al Wasat (10th September 2009).
|
