LMRA well-organised

THIS is with regard to frequent appeals by the Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) urging expatriates to legalise their stay in Bahrain.

I went to register on June 11; I preferred the Bahrain International Exhibition Centre (BIEC) and was there at a very busy time – 6.30pm. In fact, Friday’s GDN confirmed that that Wednesday’s turnout was the highest – 6,999.

Continue reading

LMRA extends festival deadline

LMRA extends festival deadline

LMRA extends festival deadline

THE Labour Market Regulatory Authority’s (LMRA) enrolment festival is being extended until June 29, it was announced yesterday. The festival, at the Bahrain International Exhibition Centre, was scheduled to end tomorrow.

However, the LMRA has decided to give one more week to people who have not been able to register so far, said e-services and public relations manager Waheed Al Balushi. Continue reading

High Gulf inflation pushing foreign workers home

DUBAI: Lured by tax-free jobs and cheap living, foreign workers have long gravitated to wealthy Gulf states to earn a better living, but rising costs are now forcing many to go home. Inflation has soared to record or near-record levels across the Gulf region, where migrants ranging from high-paid Western executives to low-wage Asian labourers have formed the backbone of oil-fuelled development since the 1970s.

Already pinched by rising rents and salaries, firms are finding it increasingly hard to recruit staff to countries like the UAE, where wages paid in the dollar-pegged dirham have eroded the value of remittances.

Continue reading

Workers win pay promise

MANAMA

WORKERS who claim they missed out on pay rises under a government shake-up won a minister’s backing yesterday. The promise came as scores of low-ranking Municipalities and Agriculture Affairs Ministry workers demonstrated outside the ministry complex in Manama.

The minister, Mansoor bin Rajab, went out into the heat to meet them, then invited them into the cool for talks.

Continue reading

HANDS OFF PASSPORTS!

HANDS OFF PASSPORTS!

HANDS OFF PASSPORTS!

MANAMA: Bahrain’s bosses were yesterday warned against withholding their expatriate workers’ passports. “Violators will face tough action if they encroach on foreigners’ human and legal inalienable rights,” said Labour Minister Dr Majeed Al Alawi yesterday.

Bahrain’s labour laws and International Labour Organisation conventions also ban such a practice, he added.

The increasing number of complaints by expatriate workers has prompted the warning.

“A passport is an official document issued by the country of origin and concerns its holder solely,” he said.