Row over Indian workers' wage set to be resolved

Manama: The backtracking of the Indian authorities from their earlier decision to impose a minimum wage for unskilled workers in Bahrain is likely to end the standoff between Bahraini labour officials and contractors and Indian officials and labourers, a leading economist has said.

"New Delhi government is well aware of the significance of the remittance from the labourers in the lives of thousands of Indian families and losing it would be a seriously disturbing issue," Jasem Hussain, an MP who sits on the lower house economic committee, told Gulf News.

"While the dictation of a minimum wage is simply not acceptable, the labourers have absolutely every right to work and live in adequate conditions," he said.

He was commenting on reports quoting Indian officials in New Delhi as backtracking earlier decision on imposing a BD100 ($265) minimum wage for its unskilled workers in Bahrain. They stressed that the decision had meant to protect women not covered by labour laws.

Last month, India's ambassador to Bahrain Balkrishna Shetty said that Indian labourers on new contracts would be paid a BD100 ($265) minimum salary starting March 1.

Shortly afterwards, hundreds of construction workers expecting pay rises went on strike, calling for better wages and living conditions.

However, their action sparked an uproar among Bahrain's labour officials and contractors who blamed the ambassador's remarks for the strikes that crippled for days one of Bahrain's largest construction sites.

Women's salary

Shetty rejected the charges and, faced with intense resistance from contractors and officials to a minimum wage, said that the decision had been taken by New Delhi to protect the interest of its nationals abroad amid concerns over the erosion of real wages.

However, a senior Indian official on Monday said that the minimum wage decision was exclusively for women workers.

"India had earlier given the power to Indian ambassadors in various countries to prescribe the minimum wage for women workers between $300 and $350 based on local conditions. The reason that we prescribed the wage limit for women workers was they were not covered under local labour laws," G. Gurucharan, joint secretary in the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, was quoted as saying by IANS.