Bahrain: a Heaven for Investors and the Wealthy ,While workers suffer poverty and discrimination – Bahrain Freedom Movement

Bahrain: a Heaven for Investors and the Wealthy ,While workers suffer poverty and discrimination

  Bahrain Center for Human Rights
June 2007

Summary of the report:

• The Ministry of Labor forces Bahrainis to become cheap laborers for the private sector without adequate working conditions• Enormous disparity in wages of up to 50 fold in the government sector, and 1000 fold in the private sector• Salary increases in the salaries of government employees: Senior and Middle received 11 fold-increase in comparison to the lower waged employees• Bahraini families face difficulties in providing minimum needs for less than BD400 to BD500 per month:• 48% of the workforce in the government sector receive only BD200/-, (this is after the recent salary increase).• 18 thousand Bahrainis who work in the private sector are paid less than BD200/-.• More than 162 thousand Bahrainis and foreigners earn less than BD99/- per month.• 60% of pensions in the private sector do not exceed BD250/-, and about 5% do not exceed BD100/-.• The average wage preference of men over women is: BD63/- in government and BD147/- in the private sector• Salaries of three thousands Bahraini women working in kindergarten, who work in poor conditions, starts from BD40/- 63% of them are uninsured.• The ratio of foreign workers in the Public Sector is 10% and in the Private Sector has jumped in 2006 to 80%• The average wage preference of Bahraini over a non-Bahraini is BD170/-• Increasing death incidents and suicides among foreign workers due to psychological, financial and deteriorating working conditions.

• The government prohibits the establishment of unions in the government sectors and target “the unemployed committee” and prevents the collection of signatures on petitions which call for improved wages.

Standards of living and wage levels:

The semi-official studies indicate that the poverty line for a Bahraini family in the year 1995 was stable at BD309/-, but the cost of life has since rapidly doubled. This makes it difficult for any Bahraini family to provide itself with minimum needs for less than BD400/- to BD500/- per month. This is especially true when considering the high cost of housing, escalating food prices, and the lack of public transportation. While the State does not impose any taxes on income or investment made by the higher classes, average citizens are now being overloaded with 40 kinds of excessive fees for governmental services.

This report contains information from governmental sources which indicate that salaries in the Public Sector start at BD200/- per month, while there is no minimum wage in the Private sector. Most Bahrainis work in the Private sector, where wages can be less than BD40/-. The Ministry of Labor has introduced projects, encouraging the Private Sector to employ the unemployed nationals and the Ministry is temporarily supporting the salaries provided, on stipend basis, to new recruits. But this only targets the workers with low wages ranging between BD200/- (Secondary School graduates) and BD300/- (University Graduates), which makes the Ministry a tool for providing cheap national labor to the Private Sectors.

Stripping the disadvantaged workers from the right of freedom of organization, assembly and writing of petitions

The Government forbids Public Sector employees from forming their own trade unions. The government is currently investigating with employees who established five unions in the public sector; they have also prevented them from collecting signatures on a petition calling for a 25% wage raise. The government has also prevented the Teachers Society from collecting signatures on a petition which calls for a raise in the salaries of teachers. During 2005-2006 the Authority has dealt harshly with protests organized by the “Committee for the unemployed “, it used excessive force to disperse them on various occasions. Some members have been abducted, assaulted and threatened, and some were arrested and brought to unfair trials on the charges of participating in “unlicensed” gatherings and they have been sentenced with imprisonment for periods ranging between one and two years. Last week the “Committee for the Unemployed” received a second letter from the Ministry of Social Affairs, threatening the Committee with prosecution if they do not stop their activities. During the month of April the Committee organized four Walking-Marathons in poor villages throughout Bahrain to raise awareness and demand the rights of economic and social development. The committee has collected, so far, several thousand signatures on a petition calling for decent jobs and improvement of wages.

The government sector: low wages, disparity in wages, and lack of justice in the raise system:

This table shows which government employees have received a raise (38 thousand employees in total), according to the Head of the Civil Service Bureau:

Type of Employee: No. of recipientsDoctors 1000Judges 160Specialist Cadre 1800Executive Cadre 900

increased salaries to reach BD200/- 18,370

Conclusions from the table:

• 48% of the workforce in the government sector earn only BD200/- per month, this is after the salary increase.
• The biggest share of the raises was received by those in senior and middle positions (the average increase for senior and middle positions was about BD236/-) and those who are in lower-level jobs and receive low wages got insignificant increases (an average of BD21/- per month).

The salaries and privileges of ministers and their deputies:

According to the new law the Prime Minister will earn BD5500/- (five thousand and 500 Dinars), while his deputies will receive BD4500/- (four thousand and 500 Dinars), while ministers receive BD3500/- (three thousand and 500 Dinars). In addition to that the Prime Minister, his deputies and the ministers receive the amount of BD500/- as representation allowance, as well as one car for official use and a fixed telephone line, mobile and a line for the Internet . Ministers receive an annual grant for the occasion of the month of Holy Ramadan amounting to BD50,000/- (Fifty thousand Dinars) at a monthly rate of over four thousand Dinars. They are also being granted large areas of land for free. And many of them have been, directly or indirectly, involved in their own business and financial matters, though these contravene with the Constitutional Article no. 48 . Some also use their positions to influence and obtain concessions in governmental transactions, or to obtain facilities for their commercial or financial activity. Due to the foregoing privileges and authoritative abuses, a number of them have become among the wealthiest in region.

Low wages in the private sector:

This table shows wage rates in the Private Sector of the insured Bahrainis and foreigners (according to the General Organization for Social Insurance):

Note: The Highest wage received by employees is BD50,000/- per month

Monthly Wage: No. of EmployeesOver BD4,000/- 679Over BD1000/- 9,585Ranging between BD50/- – BD99/- 111,856

Less than BD50/- 50,465

Conclusions from the table:• The differences in wages in the private sector ranges from BD50/- (fifty Dinars) to BD50,000/- (fifty thousand Dinars) which is a thousand fold difference, this is an extremely huge difference. Therefore, the calculation of an average of wages is significantly misleading. Nevertheless, last years average wage in the private sector did not exceed BD214/-. This is in accordance with the General Organization for Social Insurance.

• More than 162 thousand Bahrainis and foreigners earn less than BD99/- per month

The workers in the government sector enjoy relatively better conditions when compared to workers in the private sector. Especially in regard to the retirement scheme and social allowances for heads of families and the number of working hours, averaging to 35 hours per week. While the number of working hours for the Private Sector employees is usually not less than 48 hours a week.

“One of the reasons for low wages in the private sector is the absence of legislation which sets a minimum wage. This is despite the fact that Bahrain ratified “Arab wages Agreement”, in addition to the absence of a ladder in hierarchy in many of the private institutions. There are cases registered with the Union in which certain employees have worked continuously for more than 20 years and their salary has not gone above BD200/-. The largest group of workers in the private sector are non–university Graduates who make up about 60% of the total Bahraini workforce. “

“While the Minister of Labor Majeed Al-Alawi emphasizes that it is not the government’s intention to put a minimum wage in the private sector, Al-Alawi excused this refusal to impose a minimum wage by stating that it is closely related to the wages of foreign laborers, since the imposition of minimum wages would lead to higher wages for foreign workers .. Al-Alawi continued that “there are currently about 18 thousand Bahrainis whose wages are less than BD200/-, and we know where they work”

“The Minister of Labor Majeed Al-Alawi stressed that the Ministry of Labor is still going ahead with its program to improve the salaries of Bahraini workers in the Private sector so that citizens who hold secondary certificates or below will receive the minimum wage of BD200/- as for those who hold an accredited Diploma BD250/-, and the minimum wage for those with a bachelor degree and above would be BD300/-. He indicated that the Ministry believes that these rates are still low compared to what they hope for. The program (Wage Improvement Program) so far succeeded in raising the wages of no less than 13 thousand Bahraini workers.. Al-Alawi also pointed out that despite the fact that low wages in the private sector are under the BD 200/- however the average rate ranges between BD150/- to BD199/-, this is according to what has been monitored in the statistical studies carried out by the Ministry”

Low pension:

“Nearly 60% of pensions in the Private sector do not exceed BD250/- and about 5% of them do not even exceed BD100/-.. That contradicts the Governmental decision, which sets the minimum pension at BD180/- “

Discrimination against women in employment and wages:

In the Public Sector: In 2006 the monthly average salary of Bahraini Females was BD643/- compared to BD706/- for Bahraini males, i.e. the difference of BD63/-. The ratio of female employment in the Public Sector was 44% which translates into 15340 out of the total amount of jobs where Bahrainis are employed. This number does not include the military (Defense and the Guard) and security (Interior and the National Security Service), in which the number of female employees is very low.

As for the Private Sector the Bahraini female employees receive much lower wages than the males. In the year 2006 the Bahraini females’ average monthly salary was BD307/- compared to BD454/- for Bahraini males , i.e. a difference of BD147/-. According to the 2006 statistics provided by the General Organization for Social Insurance, the number of Bahraini female insured in the private sector was 17701. That constitutes about 27% of total employment in the Bahraini private sector. Although it is the same percentage for 2005, however the number of female employees has actually decline by 1059 jobs.

As an example for low salaries of Bahraini women we can look at “the number of Female Bahraini workers which reaches 2880 workers in the garment factories and textiles with the average wage of BD120/-, this includes transportation allowance. The allotments of wages are often not differentiated between primary and secondary graduates and skilled or unskilled workers .” And the fact is that “large numbers in the Bahraini workforce are still paid less than BD100/- as is the case for female workers in kindergartens and garment factories”

Child care as an example for the abuse of the rights and dignity of working women:”The estimated number of female workers in kindergartens is three thousand, of whom only 1050 are covered under the social insurance program. The most obvious example of legal violation by the owners of kindergartens towards their workers is the setting up of short-term contracts which do not exceed one academic season (i.e. between early September until the end of June, of each year, or the equivalent of 9 to 10 months each year). The most notable effects of this contract is that workers are being deprived from continued Social Insurance coverage. This will consequently necessitate the worker to work extra years to be eligible to received pension.”The problem of low wages ranging from BD40/- to BD135/-, is the unpaid official holidays, maternity leave and infant breast-feeding-hours, and the dismissal of women during pregnancy in some kindergartens, and should workers want to take the provided sick leave, the person is required to find an alternative person to fulfill the job for free.

“Some kindergartens do not have contracts with their female workers, especially with those teachers who do not possess the required qualifications to practice teaching. Those females suffer from the number of tasks assigned to them, such as teaching, cleaning classrooms, in addition to changing children’s clothing, feeding them, all of this for a salary not exceeding BD50/-. Not to mention the consistent insults towards them. The owners of these kindergartens do not hesitate to threaten the female workers with ending their services by firing them at any time and without justification. This sector is suffering from competition by large immigrant Arab women in the kingdom , there is a group of females that Bahraini law does not allow to enter the labor market because they are allowed into the country only to accompany their husbands or their families, and thus they work illegally in Kindergartens. “

Foreign labor: The reason for & the victims of low wages

The General Organization for Social Insurance, highlighted that the general average wage in the private sector of last year was BD214/-, as for Bahraini workers it was BD377/-, while the average wage for foreign laborers was BD170/- , this amounts to a difference of BD207/- per month. According to official figures attributed to the General Organization for Social Insurance , the precise total numbers of the workforce in the private sector in the year 2006 was 313039, distributed as follows: 65614 National labor (or 21%) and the remaining 247425 immigrant labor. In the Public Sector: out of 38823 jobs in the year 2006 the share of 34771 was for Bahraini citizens, which was about 90% .

“What raises questions in the case of Bahrain is the presence of high unemployment figures, with the presence of high numbers of migrant workers… The problem with Bahraini labor market is the openness of the market which has a limited domestic demand and has been introduced to an unlimited external supply. Because of the prevailing economic freedom in Bahrain, employers prefer to employ foreign workers, taking into account costs and revenues, to maximize their profits and obtain an increased efficiency and competitiveness in their institutions.”

The government has recruited more than 20 thousand Baloushi Pakistani’s, and members of tribes from Yemen, Jordan, and Syria, in the defense forces, the National Guard and police. The government gave them privileges relating to salaries, housing and even citizenship, while it almost closed recruitment in these sectors to the citizens and especially those belonging to the Shiite sect. While Article (16) of the Constitution states: Foreigners should not be given Public posts except when prescribed by law, and that all citizens are considered equal in their right to fulfill any public post in accordance with the conditions established by law.”

However, the Asian workers who are low-skilled, are living in tragic conditions which exceed what Bahrainis suffer from as far as wages and working conditions. “The foreign workers usually live in small residential areas with crowded rooms, where one room is shared by 12 workers or more, usually they also share one toilet … The workers need basic necessities and minimum standards of living .” Some foreign workers are forced to work for long hours a day, sometimes up to 16 hours a day, including weekends. The foreign workers are also usually transported in large numbers in uncovered trucks which are not suitable for passengers, despite it being a violation of the law.

Sheikh Abdel Rahman Bin Abdullah, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Labor says that “we are very concerned about accidents at work especially the increased numbers of deaths .. some of these workers are working in areas which are not their specialization or that they are not trained for, therefore foreign workers are falling to their death from scaffoldings at the tower projects .. One of the workers who were killed recently – we discovered that he had worked as a restaurant manager and not a construction worker!” He added,

“We have doubled the penalties against employers who hire run-away workers not in the right specialization .. but this did not achieve anything .. for we still hear about accidents at work every day! The minister then advised; “some Bahrainis receive work permits for unreal new projects .. then they release those workers in markets without training and here lies the tragedy .. Some Bahrainis receive 50 work permits and then release the workers in the market! And when we ask them where they are? .. the respond that they escaped! .. Is this reasonable?

The Minister also said; “We are also disturbed by the phenomenon of suicide amongst foreign workers .. those who come to Bahrain with the belief that they are coming to Paradise. But after discovering the nature of their work, they get shocked, for they had sold all their property in India, for example .. because of this shock they commit suicide! “employment offices abroad are responsible for what is happening as they give the worker a bright picture of Bahrain, describing it as a Paradise .. and when the worker comes to Bahrain and discover the reality they commit suicide! “

According to National and international reports, women domestic workers remain the most vulnerable to abuse and assault due to the lack of legal and practical protection.