Four major firms blacklisted in wages row

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Labour ministry received complaints of non-payment of salaries against more than 100 companies in Bahrain FOUR major firms in Bahrain have been blacklisted by the government over non-payment of wages, it has emerged.

The firms include two construction companies, a hospital and a heavy equipment supplier.

A senior labour official confirmed the blacklisting to the GDN, but did not reveal the names.

“There are four companies blacklisted in Bahrain, which means they cannot hire or renew their contracts,” said Labour and Social Development Ministry labour inspections manager and trade union director Ahmed Al Hayki.

“We don’t want to name them as we are always willing to support these firms if they genuinely wish to come back to the market.

“Negative publicity will harm the company that is struggling to come back, which we believe is not good for the company or the country’s image abroad.

“But this action of blacklisting shows that we at the ministry will not tolerate violation of law and non-payment for long periods is totally unacceptable, for any reason.

“We are dealing with the four companies and their employees – whoever has approached us.”

He revealed legal action was also being taken against the companies in question.

“Most of the cases are in court and many employees have quit and joined other jobs,” he added.

“One company is definitely genuinely trying to help their employees, which we are sure of, whereas the other three firms unfortunately are not.”

Mr Al Hayki revealed that this year the ministry had received complaints of non-payment of salaries against more than 100 companies in Bahrain.

“We received and solved cases of non-payment of salaries from many employees, from over 100 companies in Bahrain, this year,” he said.

“It is good that employees trust the ministry and decided to come to us with their problems.

“We are here to serve them and the ministry will not tolerate anyone trying to exploit employees by not paying their wages or by any other means.”

As such he urged anyone who was not being paid to file a complaint.

“We want employees to help us in helping them, by reaching out to us,” he added.

“Unless they come to us, we cannot help them.

“The law is strict about non-payment of wages and we want employees to report it to us, even if it is only for a month (of non-payment).”

Mr Al Hayki explained that the sooner complaints were registered, the better.

“By delaying a complaint, we are complicating the situation,” he said.

“There are ways that we can solve it – in some cases the company might be facing financial hitches and this could be resolved quickly with the ministry’s intervention and they pay their workers.

“In some other cases, it is a deliberate exploitation of employees by businesses, who are cheating the system.

“Such cases have to be taken to court, but we as a ministry cannot do that – it has to come from the employees.

“Most of the time we find employees yielding to some promises from their bosses and they end up waiting months without pay.”

He warned that delays in reporting non-paying firms could have dire consequences.

“It is sad to see people coming to us saying they have severe health issues and are unable to go to a hospital,” said Mr Al Hayki.

“In many cases we have extended support to them, also with food and other amenities.

“There are situations where people even commit crimes because of their terrible situation.”

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