Watchdog proposed for workers’ wages in Bahrain

Watchdog proposed for workers’ wages in Bahrain

The federation, which completed 20 years since its establishment in 2002 to coincide with Labour Day yesterday, cited five major issues currently plaguing the Bahraini workforce – and offered possible solutions.

Social security, cost of living, unemployment, privatisation, and social dialogue were the main subjects of concern, it said in a statement yesterday.

“Today, the social gains attained by the Bahraini workforce are facing a real regression,” it added.

“We must remember that these gains have been achieved through the tireless struggle and strenuous efforts of our forbearers over many decades.

“To begin with, Parliament’s decision to halt the three per cent annual increase in pensions of retirees, in addition to amending some articles that affect the labour gains of retirees constitute a setback to the rights and gains enjoyed by the workers and retirees.”

The federation added that the solution to the crisis facing the Pension Fund lay not in resorting to diminishing and compromising the rights of retirees and subscribers, but rather through a prudent scientific and economic treatment that extricates and saves the fund.

It also noted its concern about raising value-added tax to 10pc, saying that the move weakened the purchasing power of all workers and worsened their living conditions.

“In the wake