Labour standards abuses in Bahrain during the unrest

Labour standards abuses in Bahrain during the unrest
29.11.11 – by Labour Time Blog

During the unrest, thousands of workers in Bahrain dismissed from their job due to their political views or their unionist activity.

As GFBTU records, there is more than 2900 worker were sacked, include more than 45 unionist.

BICI report authenticate hundreds of worker cases and it show under what circumstances they were sacked, especially when the prime minister said “No violators will get away with it and all co-conspirators & abettors must be held accountable”.

The following paragraphs is part of the government and employers attacks against workers and unionist, which taken from BICI report.

Factual Background

1337. The Commission received a total of 1,624 complaints from individuals alleging that they had been dismissed or suspended from employment as a result of the events of February/March 2011. These allegations included dismissals in both the public and private sectors. What follows is a discussion of what occurred in the two sectors.

1338. The three main grounds used to dismiss employees in the public sector were: (i) absence from work; (ii) involvement in the demonstrations, at times occurring on work premises; and (iii) public display of opinions incompatible with the internal regulations of the ministries involved. In the private sector, the two main grounds used to dismiss employees were: (i) absence from work; and (ii) involvement in union activity related to the demonstrations.

1339. The information received by the Commission from government agencies has been in near-constant fluctuation. The Ministry of Labour (MoL) has reported that a large number of employees have been reinstated in the private sector; due in large part to its work on the matter, while the Civil Service Bureau (CSB) has reported low numbers of reinstatements and has on occasion denied reports of large-scale dismissals in the public sector. …more