Bahrain worker sent home with no wages

Workers in Bahrain say they haven't been paid for several months by Handmade Interiors

A construction worker who ran away from his employer after not being paid for nearly four months says he will return to India on Sunday without his owed wages.

The worker contacted Construction Week last week to complain about his sponsor Ahmed Al Haddad of Handmade Interior Contracting Services, who was withholding his passport and refusing to pay his wages, he said.

On Tuesday the worker, who asked not to be named, lodged a formal complaint with Bahrain’s Labour Ministry which has arranged for his passport to be handed back.

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“If I give (the ministry) a letter of resignation and an open air ticket home I will get my passport back on Sunday, but I will not get any money,” he told CW through an interpreter.

“I feel cheated by the sponsor because even after you take away the cost of my visa I am still owed BHD 137 (US $363) plus the cost of my airfare.

“The Ministry said I can choose to go home now or take the issue to court which could take one year. It is easier for me to just leave.”

The worker, who only speaks Malayalam, said he had no interpreter with him at the Labour Ministry and found it difficult to communicate his problems to the officials.

The Ministry’s head of labour complaints Nadia Khalil Al Qaheri could not discuss the case due to confidentiality but said court action is the final option.

“If a worker makes a complaint then we ask the employer to come in and we try to find a solution which both parties are happy with,” she said.

“If the employer will not cooperate or the worker is not happy with the solution then we will refer the case to the courts. Unfortunately this can take between six months to one year to get a result.”

Meanwhile 45 men remain working for Handmade Interiors, several of whom told CW on Wednesday that they were owed three months' wages. The workers said they were too scared to make a formal complaint to the Labour Ministry.

Al Haddad has previously denied he owed any of his workers more than one month's wages.

Al Qaheri said the men could make an anonymous complaint to the Ministry’s labour inspection unit which can send inspectors to the labour accommodation.

The labour inspection unit can be contacted on 17870176. Alternatively it is recommended foreign workers contact their embassy for assistance.

 

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