Strikes blamed on Indian minimum wage comment

Manama: The Indian ambassador has been accused of intervention and causing a a recent series of strikes by expatriate workers.

A first strike last week by 600 foreign workers, mainly from India, employed by Almoayyed Contracting was followed by a second strike on Sunday by 1,300 labourers from contractor GP Zachariades and a third on Sunday by 200 people from the Mohsin Hajji Ali Group.

The strikers were asking for better living conditions, including an adequate supply of water and electricity, medical care and better wages.

But while two of the labour movements have ended, a strike at the Durrat Al Bahrain (a multi-billion-dollar man-made island development) is continuing after strikers pledged not to resume work until the issue was resolved satisfactorily.

Majeed Al Alawi, the labour minister, has ordered the creation of a commission to help resolve disputes involving foreign labourers.

A spokesperson for the ministry, in the meantime, said the strike at Durrat was illegal because it contravened the labourers' contracts.

The spokesperson said that the strike had partly resulted from a misinterpretation of a statement last week by the Indian ambassador Balkrishna Shetty about his country's decision to institute a minimum wage of BD100 (Dh975) for all Indian unskilled workers starting March 1.

The finger-pointing gained in intensity after some contractors employing the strikers talked about foreign instigation over the refusal to work, complaining that the statements about the minimum wage assured the labourers of official support and snowballed the strikes, and demanded the intervention of the foreign ministry.

However, Indian embassy officials rejected the allegations, saying that the new minimum wage was an official Indian policy decided months ago and that it would affect only labourers recruited on March 1.