Bahrain MPs endorse law to end union-linked dismissals

Manama: In a landmark development for trade unionism in Bahrain, the Council of Representatives (lower house) has approved a draft law that bans unfair dismissal for trade union activity.

According to the draft, "No employee may be dismissed from his job because of trade union activity. The court should reinstate him and compensate him for the dismissal period when there is evidence that he was sacked for trade union related activities." The draft was approved unanimously on Saturday afternoon by the MPs although some expressed concern about the compensation clause.

"I have some reservations about the compensation part of the draft because it is not legal. I am afraid the Shura Council [upper house] might reject it," MP Fareed Gazi, a lawyer, told his peers.

He was supported by MP Othman Shareef who said that compensation was an automatic development if a court reinstates a sacked worker. "There is no need for mention in the draft," he said.

But the other MPs voted to keep the clause after they rejected a proposal by MP Jassem Al Mawali to limit the compensation to 500 Bahraini dinars (Dh5,138).

The draft approval was hailed by MP Abdul Nabi Salman as good news for employees who were "unfairly dismissed amid disquiet and eerie silence".

"We have had lately the cases of Khalifa Al Shamlan who was sacked by his company, a few weeks after Hassan Madan, who was dismissed by his airline company and who is now abroad looking for a job," Salman told the council.

"These are horrible pictures and we need to reinvigorate all existing laws as well to prevent such tragedies," he said.

Bahrain's constitution recognises freedom of association, and in 2002, King Hamad promulgated a law on labour unions that, for the first time, granted workers the right to form and join unions. The law also grants non-citizens the right to join unions.

LABOUR
Kingdom has 46 trade unions

The kingdom today has about 40 private sector unions, representing 10,700 workers and six public sector unions, representing approximately 6,000 civil servants.

The Labour Union Law established a union federation, the General Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions (GFBTU) which in 2004 criticised the government for changing the pension fund laws without consulting it.