MPs approve wage increase for public sector employees

The lawmakers yesterday voted for increasing the wages of public sector employees by 20 per cent. The voting came after the second branch of the Legislative Authority, Shura Council, rejected the proposal earlier. The voting took place during the weekly meeting of the Council of Representatives held yesterday in Gudaibiya.

The law proposal, which has been in debate for over eight years, was previously passed by MPs, but the members of Shura Council rejected it. It was referred back to the Legislative and Legal Affairs Committee in the Council of Representatives, which amended it and approved it, before referring it to the council to vote on it yesterday. The majority of MPs voted for the proposed law considering it a necessity, taking into the account the ever-increasing expenses of life.

However, a few MPs opposed the proposal, stating that it is unjust to employees of the private sector and pensioners, who were not mentioned in the proposal. The proposal stipulates increasing the basic wages of public sector employees of ordinary, specialised, executive and educational levels by 20 per cent. It has been referred back to the Shura Council for further review and approval.  Meanwhile, a parliamentary bloc in the Kingdom has been demanding the government to limit the majority of job categories in the public sector to Bahrainis, considering the growing numbers of unemployed citizens in recent years.

The “Bahrain” parliamentary bloc had announced that it has submitted a proposed law to allow only Bahrainis to work in government jobs in different sectors, including healthcare, hospitality, legal departments, aviation and more. According to a statement that was issued by the nine-member group, the jobs include nurses, accountants, engineers, teachers, physician assistants, accountant assistants, nursing assistants, recruitment staff, recruitment directors, recruitment specialist, procurement specialists, procurement officers, auditors, hotel managers, reception managers, hotel chefs, flight attendants, receptionists, legal advisers, administrative jobs, dentists, dental assistants, maintenance specialists and maintenance technicians.