Al Hamad to slash salaries

Al Hamad workers were involved in strikes over unpaid wages last year.

Six hundred employees working for the Bahrain-based Al Hamad Contracting will be forced to accept a pay cut, or face going back to their home countries, Construction Week has learned.

The members of staff, including civil engineers, site engineers, project engineers, project managers and project directors, have been asked to agree to a wage deduction of up to 20%.

“Employees earning BD300-500 per month (US $795-$1326) will have wages cut by 10%, while recruits earning BD500 will get a 15% [cut],” said a project engineer at the company, who preferred not to be named.

“Those who earn BD1000 will see a 20% deduction.”

Bahrain’s Ministry of Labour condemned the move in a statement e-mailed to CW: “The Ministry of Labour hereby confirms its standpoint and denunciation [of] the mentioned company [for] considering lowering its employee’s wages - let alone attempting to actually do [it] - as stipulated by Article 153 of the Labour Law in the Private Sector.

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FEATURED COMMENT Al Hamad company stinks, and its always like this.   15 Comments Read more comments »

Salman Mahfoodh, General Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions secretary-general also reacted to the news: “We are aware of this situation with Al Hamad Contracting and we are investigating the matter. For now, we cannot comment any further.”

February salaries will be slashed and staff members have been asked to sign a piece of paper to accept this deduction, according to a civil engineer at the company.

“At present nobody is on strike but they are hesitant to sign any papers, which don’t even have a letter head. Staff members are not allowed to take a copy of their signatures either,” he said.

However, the project engineer informed CW that Bahraini nationals in management positions have largely been exempted from this pay-cut.

“We are supposed to receive our deducted wage on March 12th, but now they [Al Hamad] are saying we will be paid on March 15th and I just don’t know when we will be paid.”

In a statement, Al Hamad Contracting area manager for Bahrain Khalid Mukatash, responded: “Salaries are being adjusted from allowances, which were granted to the employees during the boom of construction. Even after this adjustment, the salaries of AHC employees will probably be much higher than other companies in the region.”

“None of the employee has been asked or forced to sign on any blank sheet. A Memorandum of Understanding between the company and the employee is prepared as per Bahrain Law and the adjustment in salary will be effective only after the consent of the employee has been given. Salaries are released during the first week of every month and March 2010’s salary will be released in the same manner.”

In November, more than 2000 construction workers for the company went on strike due to the late payment of their wages.

The labourers, who earn around BD70 per month, said they were owed one month’s salary.

Comment from Al Hamad was added to this story on Sunday, 28 Feb.