No pay, 100 workers hit

Manama : Four major companies in the Kingdom have not paid salaries for several months, leaving scores of their employees in a difficult situation, according to General Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions (GFBTU).

The employees, both nationals and expatriates, in these companies have pending salaries for several months, said Karim Radhi, GFBTU Assistant Secretary for international relations. He said that at least a hundred employees from the companies did not get paid for up to 10 months.  

“There are employees who have not gotten paid for even 6 to 10 months. The employees have approached us and we are in contact with them. We have also seen cases of unjustified layoffs. Or cases of not paying the former employees the settlement amount,” Radhi told DT News, adding that the companies are from the construction sector.

He said that apart from the companies a social organization is also in the same boat. 

“The social organization has not paid the workers claiming that the organization is undergoing a restructuring,” Radhi said, adding that since the start of the oil price crisis, cases like this has increased. 

“The economic situation has had an impact. Many companies are struggling because of it. They are not getting enough business or not getting payments from the clients and do not have the funds to pay their workers,” Radhi said.

Radhi said that GFBTU will be helping the employees to find a solution. “We usually take three steps. First, we will try to negotiate with the employer to release the salary. If that does not work we take it up with the Ministry of Labour. The last course of action is to take it to the court, we have a lawyer who will fight the case,” Radhi said.