Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06MANAMA1192
2006-07-03 12:55:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Manama
Cable title:  

FLURRY OF SPRING STRIKES NETS WORKER BENEFITS

Tags:  ELAB PGOV PREL BA HUMRIT POL REFORM 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO7875
OO RUEHDE
DE RUEHMK #1192/01 1841255
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 031255Z JUL 06
FM AMEMBASSY MANAMA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 5135
INFO RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC PRIORITY
RHBVAKS/COMUSNAVCENT PRIORITY
RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 MANAMA 001192 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

NEA/ARP, DRL FOR JDEMARIA
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR FOR PACCOLA AND JRUDE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/28/2016
TAGS: ELAB PGOV PREL BA HUMRIT POL REFORM
SUBJECT: FLURRY OF SPRING STRIKES NETS WORKER BENEFITS

REF: MANAMA 1175

Classified By: DCM Susan L. Ziadeh for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

-------
Summary
-------

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 MANAMA 001192

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

NEA/ARP, DRL FOR JDEMARIA
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR FOR PACCOLA AND JRUDE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/28/2016
TAGS: ELAB PGOV PREL BA HUMRIT POL REFORM
SUBJECT: FLURRY OF SPRING STRIKES NETS WORKER BENEFITS

REF: MANAMA 1175

Classified By: DCM Susan L. Ziadeh for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

--------------
Summary
--------------


1. (C) There have been several incidents of labor actions,
strikes and near-strikes, involving both Bahraini and
expatriate workers over the past several months. These
actions have ranged from unauthorized strikes by non-union
South Asian and Southeast Asian expatriate workers to, from a
Western labor perspective, more traditional strikes by union
members or mediation to avert potential strikes. In all
cases, management sat down with worker representatives,
discussed worker demands, and agreed to some concessions.
None of the events resulted in violence on the part of
workers or management, although in one case alleged violence
against a worker by a manager initiated the strike by workers
in support of their colleague. One of the companies at which
a temporary work stoppage occurred is DynCorp International,
military contractor to the U.S. Naval Support Activity in
Bahrain. End Summary.

--------------
Expat Workers Start the Ball Rolling
--------------


2. (U) Bahrain has seen several high profile strikes and/or
threatened strikes over the last several months. On January
17, Al Khayam Construction Company reported that it had paid
back wages to 61 workers from India and had repatriated them
following the start of an unauthorized strike in November
2005, during which the workers claimed they had not been paid
for several months. (Note: The workers were involuntarily
repatriated. End note.) Company chairman Shaikh Ahmed Bin
Ibrahim Al Khalifa admitted that workers had been due back
pay for two or three months because of a delayed payment from
one of Al Khayam's clients. He publicly expressed his
displeasure that the Ministry of Labor had supported the
workers' plea to stop working until compensated. According
to Shaikh Ahmed, the strike resulted in his company's loss of
four contracts.

-------------- --------------

Chicago-Based DynCorp Workers Stage Short Stoppage
-------------- --------------


3. (U) Approximately 80 mostly Bahraini workers at DynCorp
International, which provides technical services to the U.S.
Naval Support Activity, stopped working for two hours April
18 while trade union leaders discussed member demands with
management. The work stoppage came after at least
three-quarters of the 62 members of the DynCorp Workers Trade
Union voted in favor of a strike. (Note: Seventy-five
percent is the current legal minimum to call a strike, but as
is reported reftel, legislation has passed parliament and is
currently awaiting the King's signature, that would require
merely a simple majority to call a strike. End note.) At
issue were a food allowance given only to expatriate workers,
reinstatement of an annual 2.5 percent pay raise for all
employees that had been discontinued in the wake of a sizable
recent raise, and a union demand to provide a social
allowance to Bahraini workers. The social allowance is a
customary provision given by some companies to its workers
based on their marital status and family size.


4. (C) DynCorp site manager Tommy Almquist told PolOff July
2 that the food allowance is included in the contracts of all
expatriate workers because they do not have the benefit of
families and residences in Bahrain. The Ministry of Labor
has taken the issue under consideration but has not rendered
a government decision on the matter. The union filed a suit
against DynCorp on the food allowance and is awaiting a
decision from the courts on whether the food allowance is
discriminatory. Almquist affirmed that DynCorp will abide by
the decision of the court. The Ministry of Labor has also
considered the social allowance matter, stating that some
companies do provide this allowance for their Bahraini
employees, but noting that there is no legal compulsion to do
so. DynCorp has reinstated the 2.5 percent annual pay raise
for all employees.

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Threatened Strike Nearly Cripples Airport
--------------

MANAMA 00001192 002 OF 003




5. (U) Bahrain Airport Services (BAS) Trade Union leadership
presented a petition June 19 that was signed by more than
1,000 members, over 90 percent of its membership, authorizing
the union to call a strike. Union demands included higher
wages for the lowest paid workers, shift allowances for those
working evening and night shifts, and worker inclusion in a
company savings plan. Union representatives discussed these
issues with BAS management June 26 in the presence of
officials from the Ministry of Labor and the General
Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions. BAS management announced
June 28 that under an agreement with the union, employees
would be enrolled in a company savings plan and evening and
night shift workers would have their allowances increased by
over 200 percent beginning in September. This agreement
brings all workers' monthly salaries above 200 Bahraini
Dinars ($530),an amount that the government has targeted in
recent months as a minimum salary for Bahraini workers.

--------------
Non-Union Expats Flex Their Muscles
--------------


6. (U) Approximately 2,000 expatriate workers of
Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC),a Bapco (Bahrain
Petroleum Company) subcontractor, called a strike April 15 to
support a fellow worker who was allegedly roughed up when he
refused to sign an agreement to be shifted to the company's
Qatar facilities. The aim of the strike was to protest the
forced move and to call attention to the substandard living
and working conditions at both the Qatar and Bahrain
operations. The workers in Bahrain live in a labor camp, one
of approximately 270 in Bahrain, consisting of small cabins
housing 12 men each. Common complaints centered on the poor
quality of food and health care at the camp. Workers pointed
to a "fee" that the company imposed when a worker had
completed his contract and wanted to return to his home
country. Another complaint stated that when workers
appointed leaders to represent their wishes before the
management, these representatives were dismissed and
deported.


7. (U) The strike at CCC lasted five days, ending when
management agreed to a five percent pay raise, improvements
in living conditions, cessation of any return fees, and
compensation to workers for the five days of the strike.
Representatives of four embassies were involved in the
discussions to assure that their citizens' rights were
respected. The Ministry of Labor declared the strike to be
illegal because by law only unions have the right to declare
a strike after a vote by their members.


8. (U) In another example of a spontaneous work stoppage,
nearly 1,000 workers at Down Town Construction Company
stopped working May 27 to protest living and working
conditions. Workers reported that the sewage in their labor
camp was blocked and had formed a pool near their sleeping
quarters and that drinking water for the camp was transported
in the same tank as the camp's non-potable water. Workers
also complained about the camp's food market which reportedly
sold products past their expiration date and charged
exorbitant prices for vegetables. According to the mostly
Indian and Pakistani workers, they earn only between $120 and
$330 monthly, but the company deducts monthly installments of
more than $25 from many of the employees' salaries to pay for
their visa fees. On May 28, company director Shaikh Isa Bin
Abdulla Al Khalifa agreed to end the deductions, provide
clean drinking water, improve living conditions, provide
medical insurance, and work to resolve the sewage problem.

--------------
Comment
--------------


9. (C) Workers in Bahrain seem to have found their voices of
late to speak out against abuses and collectively demand that
their concerns be addressed. These events have consisted
both of unions speaking out on workers' behalf and
spontaneous uprisings by non-union expat workers who are fed
up with the status quo and have the advantage of numbers
behind them. Expatriate workers from the sub-continent may
have been emboldened by what they saw happen in Dubai earlier
in the year. Although they have the right, expatriate
workers seldom join unions in Bahrain for fear of retribution
against them by management. Newly passed legislation
protects workers who are harassed or dismissed for union
activity, but it will likely be quite some time before expat

MANAMA 00001192 003 OF 003


workers feel confident enough to take part in unions on a
large scale. In the meantime, expat workers will probably
continue to rely upon unofficial labor actions until they
feel confident enough that their rights will be protected by
joining a union.

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Visit Embassy Manama's Classified Website:
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/manama/
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