VZCZCXRO7875
OO RUEHDE
DE RUEHMK #1192/01 1841255
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 031255Z JUL 06
FM AMEMBASSY MANAMA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 5135
INFO RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC PRIORITY
RHBVAKS/COMUSNAVCENT  PRIORITY
RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 MANAMA 001192 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NEA/ARP, DRL FOR JDEMARIA 
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR FOR PACCOLA AND JRUDE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/28/2016 
TAGS: ELAB PGOV PREL BA HUMRIT POL REFORM
SUBJECT: FLURRY OF SPRING STRIKES NETS WORKER BENEFITS 
 
REF: MANAMA 1175 
 
Classified By: DCM Susan L. Ziadeh for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
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Summary 
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¶1.  (C) There have been several incidents of labor actions, 
strikes and near-strikes, involving both Bahraini and 
expatriate workers over the past several months.  These 
actions have ranged from unauthorized strikes by non-union 
South Asian and Southeast Asian expatriate workers to, from a 
Western labor perspective, more traditional strikes by union 
members or mediation to avert potential strikes.  In all 
cases, management sat down with worker representatives, 
discussed worker demands, and agreed to some concessions. 
None of the events resulted in violence on the part of 
workers or management, although in one case alleged violence 
against a worker by a manager initiated the strike by workers 
in support of their colleague.  One of the companies at which 
a temporary work stoppage occurred is DynCorp International, 
military contractor to the U.S. Naval Support Activity in 
Bahrain.  End Summary. 
 
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Expat Workers Start the Ball Rolling 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶2.  (U) Bahrain has seen several high profile strikes and/or 
threatened strikes over the last several months.  On January 
17, Al Khayam Construction Company reported that it had paid 
back wages to 61 workers from India and had repatriated them 
following the start of an unauthorized strike in November 
2005, during which the workers claimed they had not been paid 
for several months.  (Note:  The workers were involuntarily 
repatriated.  End note.)  Company chairman Shaikh Ahmed Bin 
Ibrahim Al Khalifa admitted that workers had been due back 
pay for two or three months because of a delayed payment from 
one of Al Khayam's clients.  He publicly expressed his 
displeasure that the Ministry of Labor had supported the 
workers' plea to stop working until compensated.  According 
to Shaikh Ahmed, the strike resulted in his company's loss of 
four contracts. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
Chicago-Based DynCorp Workers Stage Short Stoppage 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
¶3.  (U) Approximately 80 mostly Bahraini workers at DynCorp 
International, which provides technical services to the U.S. 
Naval Support Activity, stopped working for two hours April 
18 while trade union leaders discussed member demands with 
management.  The work stoppage came after at least 
three-quarters of the 62 members of the DynCorp Workers Trade 
Union voted in favor of a strike.  (Note: Seventy-five 
percent is the current legal minimum to call a strike, but as 
is reported reftel, legislation has passed parliament and is 
currently awaiting the King's signature, that would require 
merely a simple majority to call a strike.  End note.)  At 
issue were a food allowance given only to expatriate workers, 
reinstatement of an annual 2.5 percent pay raise for all 
employees that had been discontinued in the wake of a sizable 
recent raise, and a union demand to provide a social 
allowance to Bahraini workers.  The social allowance is a 
customary provision given by some companies to its workers 
based on their marital status and family size. 
 
¶4.  (C) DynCorp site manager Tommy Almquist told PolOff July 
2 that the food allowance is included in the contracts of all 
expatriate workers because they do not have the benefit of 
families and residences in Bahrain.  The Ministry of Labor 
has taken the issue under consideration but has not rendered 
a government decision on the matter.  The union filed a suit 
against DynCorp on the food allowance and is awaiting a 
decision from the courts on whether the food allowance is 
discriminatory.  Almquist affirmed that DynCorp will abide by 
the decision of the court.  The Ministry of Labor has also 
considered the social allowance matter, stating that some 
companies do provide this allowance for their Bahraini 
employees, but noting that there is no legal compulsion to do 
so.  DynCorp has reinstated the 2.5 percent annual pay raise 
for all employees. 
 
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Threatened Strike Nearly Cripples Airport 
----------------------------------------- 
 
MANAMA 00001192  002 OF 003 
 
 
 
¶5.  (U) Bahrain Airport Services (BAS) Trade Union leadership 
presented a petition June 19 that was signed by more than 
1,000 members, over 90 percent of its membership, authorizing 
the union to call a strike.  Union demands included higher 
wages for the lowest paid workers, shift allowances for those 
working evening and night shifts, and worker inclusion in a 
company savings plan.  Union representatives discussed these 
issues with BAS management June 26 in the presence of 
officials from the Ministry of Labor and the General 
Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions.  BAS management announced 
June 28 that under an agreement with the union, employees 
would be enrolled in a company savings plan and evening and 
night shift workers would have their allowances increased by 
over 200 percent beginning in September.  This agreement 
brings all workers' monthly salaries above 200 Bahraini 
Dinars ($530), an amount that the government has targeted in 
recent months as a minimum salary for Bahraini workers. 
 
----------------------------------- 
Non-Union Expats Flex Their Muscles 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (U) Approximately 2,000 expatriate workers of 
Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC), a Bapco (Bahrain 
Petroleum Company) subcontractor, called a strike April 15 to 
support a fellow worker who was allegedly roughed up when he 
refused to sign an agreement to be shifted to the company's 
Qatar facilities.  The aim of the strike was to protest the 
forced move and to call attention to the substandard living 
and working conditions at both the Qatar and Bahrain 
operations.  The workers in Bahrain live in a labor camp, one 
of approximately 270 in Bahrain, consisting of small cabins 
housing 12 men each.  Common complaints centered on the poor 
quality of food and health care at the camp.  Workers pointed 
to a "fee" that the company imposed when a worker had 
completed his contract and wanted to return to his home 
country.  Another complaint stated that when workers 
appointed leaders to represent their wishes before the 
management, these representatives were dismissed and 
deported. 
 
¶7.  (U) The strike at CCC lasted five days, ending when 
management agreed to a five percent pay raise, improvements 
in living conditions, cessation of any return fees, and 
compensation to workers for the five days of the strike. 
Representatives of four embassies were involved in the 
discussions to assure that their citizens' rights were 
respected.  The Ministry of Labor declared the strike to be 
illegal because by law only unions have the right to declare 
a strike after a vote by their members. 
 
¶8.  (U) In another example of a spontaneous work stoppage, 
nearly 1,000 workers at Down Town Construction Company 
stopped working May 27 to protest living and working 
conditions.  Workers reported that the sewage in their labor 
camp was blocked and had formed a pool near their sleeping 
quarters and that drinking water for the camp was transported 
in the same tank as the camp's non-potable water.  Workers 
also complained about the camp's food market which reportedly 
sold products past their expiration date and charged 
exorbitant prices for vegetables.  According to the mostly 
Indian and Pakistani workers, they earn only between $120 and 
$330 monthly, but the company deducts monthly installments of 
more than $25 from many of the employees' salaries to pay for 
their visa fees.  On May 28, company director Shaikh Isa Bin 
Abdulla Al Khalifa agreed to end the deductions, provide 
clean drinking water, improve living conditions, provide 
medical insurance, and work to resolve the sewage problem. 
 
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Comment 
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¶9.  (C) Workers in Bahrain seem to have found their voices of 
late to speak out against abuses and collectively demand that 
their concerns be addressed.  These events have consisted 
both of unions speaking out on workers' behalf and 
spontaneous uprisings by non-union expat workers who are fed 
up with the status quo and have the advantage of numbers 
behind them.  Expatriate workers from the sub-continent may 
have been emboldened by what they saw happen in Dubai earlier 
in the year.  Although they have the right, expatriate 
workers seldom join unions in Bahrain for fear of retribution 
against them by management.  Newly passed legislation 
protects workers who are harassed or dismissed for union 
activity, but it will likely be quite some time before expat 
 
MANAMA 00001192  003 OF 003 
 
 
workers feel confident enough to take part in unions on a 
large scale.  In the meantime, expat workers will probably 
continue to rely upon unofficial labor actions until they 
feel confident enough that their rights will be protected by 
joining a union. 
 
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Visit Embassy Manama's Classified Website: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/manama/ 
********************************************* ******** 
MONROE