Posted: Monday, 4 April 2011

The Canadian Labour Congress condemns the wave of mass sackings, threats, and violence against workers and their trade union representatives in Bahrain, in reprisal for their participation in legitimate strike and protest action for greater democracy in the country.

A large number of workers, including trade union representatives, are being heavily penalized by the authorities simply because they exercised their legitimate rights to strike, and to freedom of expression and assembly, following the widely-supported call for strike action by the General Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions (GFBTU), the national trade union centre.

The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) reports that about 300 workers have been dismissed for taking part in the strike and in demonstrations, mainly from the aluminium company Alba (Aluminium Bahrain BSC) and the Khalifa Sea Port (driven by APM terminal). Around 40 workers have apparently also been dismissed by Gulf Air. Furthermore, the aluminium company Alba has announced that it will make its rules and procedures even tougher, notably through action in the courts against striking workers.

Abdul Ghaffar Abdul Hussain, President of the trade union at the Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO) has been sacked for having “called on workers to take part in the general strike” and faces legal action in the coming days. The company management has threatened to take legal action against other members of the union as well.

Bahrain University is also the scene of heavy anti-union repression. The Vice President of the Bahraini Teachers’ Association and four other members of the union’s leadership were arrested on March 29, and the union’s General Secretary the following day. Nineteen students were also arrested, and the payment of salaries of certain lecturers and union members was stopped. Students supported by scholarships who participated in demonstrations have been punished by non-renewal of their scholarships.

Such punitive actions, especially dismissals, for having taken part in legitimate demonstrations is a flagrant violation of ILO Convention 111 concerning discrimination at work, which Bahrain has ratified, and of Convention 87 on Freedom of Association, which Bahrain is obliged to respect.

The punitive policy being imposed on workers and their union representatives is all the more unacceptable given that the GFBTU called on workers to return to work, and received assurances from the authorities that there would be no punishment for those who participated in the industrial action. The GFBTU’s call for a return to work was done in order to promote a spirit of national dialogue and in the interests of the country’s economy.

The Canadian Labour Congress is calling for all forms of anti-union repression to be stopped immediately – only negotiation can resolve the political and socio-economic problems facing Bahrain.

Since mid-February, when the unprecedented popular protests started, the Bahraini authorities’ bloody repression, supported by troops from neighbouring Saudi Arabia, has caused the deaths of at least 20 people, while some 300 have been detained without any information available on where they are being held. Several dozen others have disappeared and 300 have been injured.