CLAIMS of unfair dismissals accounted for nearly 70 per cent of all labour complaints filed with a major trade federation last year.
However, the number of labour disputes recorded by the General Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions (GFBTU) last year fell by nearly 15 per cent compared with the previous year – from 231 to 196.
The federation’s annual report, which was released yesterday, also revealed that due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, 45.9pc of the establishments could not pay wages to their employees last year, compared with 48.9pc in 2020.
Of the 196 cases last year, 136 pertained to individuals allegedly being dismissed from their jobs, while 56 related to claims based on workers’ rights, and four concerned arrests related to labour disputes.
According to the report, more than 95pc of the complaints were from citizens (188) while the remaining eight were from expatriates.
“In November, there were 18 complaints, 10 of which were related to job severance and the remaining eight to workers’ rights issues,” said GFBTU assistant general secretary for media and publishing Waleed Nasaif.
“In December, there were 13 complaints, eight of which were about job severances and five about workers’ rights.”
Of the 136 dismissal cases, 36 were due to restructuring or closure of companies and businesses, 34 involved termination without notice or compensation, 16 involved contract termination at the end of the term, 11 involved termination during the probation period, and nine involved worker inefficiency.
The remaining 30 cases were all-purpose.
Labour complaints recorded by the GFBTU last year
More than 66pc – 130 of the total 196 cases – were reported from the service sector, followed by the construction industry with 38 cases, transportation and telecommunications (eight), hotels and supplies (seven), metals and minerals (six), industries and factories (five), and oil and gas (two).
A total of 134 complaints (68pc) were from men, with 62 (32pc) from women.
The report also showed that last year, the GFBTU resolved 54 cases (27pc) by reaching an agreement with those in dispute.
“A total of 107 cases were referred to the courts, while 25 cases were terminated on their own,” added the report.
Ten cases remained yet to be resolved.
Sector-wise representation of the labour complaints last year
The majority of the cases – 131, 67pc – involved the younger population with the rest involving the elderly.
Classifying the cases further, the report said that 90 cases involved people with a high school diploma, while those with a bachelor’s degree accounted for 71 cases, diploma holders accounted for nine cases. Twelve cases were from those with less than a high school diploma and five master’s degree holders had nine cases.
Most of the cases, 31, were reported in April last year, followed by January and May (19 cases each), December (18), October and November (17 cases each), June (16), February (13), July (11), March (9), and August and September (eight cases each).
The Labour and Social Development Ministry announced earlier this month that its Individual Labour Disputes Settlement Office had recorded 1,652 disputes, of which 805 were resolved amicably with the remaining 757 put on hold.
During the same period, the department attended to 5,297 labour consultations and it gave written responses to 215 legal inquiries.
The department also received 12,165 legal inquiries over telephone.
raji@gdn.com.bh
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