Written by: Raji Unnikrishnan
Employment agencies illegally offering housemaids by the hour face a crackdown from authorities, despite a leading workers’ rights activist’s calls to legalise the practice. Responding to recent reports of agency cars driving around Manama advertising ‘housemaid services on hourly basis’, Labour Ministry Under-Secretary Sabah Al Dossary told the GDN that these businesses were circumventing the law by cutting deals with third-party cleaning companies. Continue reading
Category Archives: Gulf Daily News
Action sought against firms
Written by: Aniqa Haider
Diplomats are seeking action against two recruitment agencies that are allegedly bringing Indonesian housemaids to Bahrain illegally. The Indonesian Embassy has reported the agencies to the Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) for allegedly recruiting its citizens without the required permission or contracts. Continue reading
New multilingual hotline for workers
Dedicated hotlines to help migrant workers in Bahrain will soon be launched in up to five languages. The initiative, spearheaded by the Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA), will be up and running by mid-August and will be manned by trained volunteers. Continue reading
Sharp drop in maid abuse cases
There has been a drop in the number of foreign housemaids coming forward with allegations of abuse during Ramadan. In previous years, extended working hours and allegations of general mistreatment during the Muslim holy month were blamed for large numbers of domestic workers fleeing their employers and seeking shelter. Continue reading
‘Maid industry’ in spotlight
Oh I did have a smirk the other day reading the lament from the Bahrain Recruiters Society – a strange name suggestive of a football coven or squad for military dragoonery – as with unusual honesty, they called off a strike, “because it would ruin their business.” Continue reading
Teenage maids alert
Concerns that increasing numbers of foreign teenage girls are landing jobs as housemaids in Bahrain have prompted calls for tighter controls on manpower agencies. It has emerged that two of five female domestic workers housed by a shelter in Bahrain in the past six months were 16-year-olds from Ethiopia. Continue reading
Public Tender Notice
The Labour Market Regulatory Authority hereby invites quotations for the following Public Tender:
| Tender Title | Tender No. | Initial Bond | Tender fees | Closing Date | |||
| Day | Date | Time | |||||
| Providing Security Guard Services to LMRA Building | LMRA / 2014/05 | 1000/- | 25/- | Wednesday | 2nd July 2014 | 13:30 | |
Vendors are kindly requested to:
- Collect approperiate tender document from the Directorate of Finance & Administration of the Labour Market Regulatory Authority Seventh floor, office no. 703-Building no. 603, Road no. 1011, Sanabis- 410, after submission of nonrefundable fees specified above starting Monday 12th July 2014. Continue reading
Report illegal housemaids families urged
Authorities want people to report illegal housemaids or cleaners who are being hired out on an hourly basis.Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) chief executive Ausamah Al Absi said they were operating outside the law and were being pursued. Continue reading
Green light for healthcare bill
A strategy to provide health insurance for Bahrainis and expatriates working in both the public and private sectors has been approved. Plans to establish an executive committee for the National Health Insurance Programme, which were submitted by Minister of State for Defence Affairs and Supreme Council of Health chairman Lieutenant General Dr Shaikh Mohammed bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, were given the green light by the Cabinet yesterday. Continue reading
Expatriate job growth slides
Bahrain has witnessed a sharp decline in employment growth among foreigners, from eight per cent in the first quarter of 2013 to 2pc between January and March this year.
It means employment growth among Bahrainis has overtaken that of expatriates for the first time in almost two years. New figures show there were 153,525 Bahrainis in work at the end of the first quarter of this year, an increase of 3.9pc from the same quarter last year. Continue reading