In Bahrain, the Solidarity Center supports trade union efforts to organize and educate a cadre of skilled labor educators and grassroots activists.
The Kingdom of Bahrain is a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a regional economic and trade alliance founded in 1981. The General Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions (GFBTU) is among the most active trade unions in the GCC. It represents a unified labor movement bridging the political, sectarian, and national differences among its membership. It is an organization committed to democratic elections, staunch defense of workers rights as human rights, and a progressive position on inclusion of migrant workers. Recently, it announced its intention to form its first sectoral union, in the construction sector, in partnership with Building and Wood Workers' International (BWI).
In 2002, the government of Bahrain adopted new legislation recognizing freedom of association. The Workers Trade Union Law allows private sector workers, workers subject to the provisions of the Maritime Code, and civil service workers to form and join trade unions. All unions in Bahrain are affiliated with the GFBTU, which comprises 60 company-based unions in the construction, industrial, textile, insurance, petroleum, aluminum, airport services, and other sectors. The 2008 membership of the GFBTU was approximately 22,000. As private sector membership continues to expand, GFBTU work is concentrated on education and training for new union leaders. Currently, 13 women are active on the executive councils of GFBTU affiliates.
Although government rulings disqualify unionization in governmental agencies and state-run corporations, the GFBTU continues to recruit and organize members in the public sector, establishing an internal unit to address the issues of the six existing public sector unions. The International Labor Organization (ILO) is also involved in the GFBTU’s on-going campaign to push the government to fully recognize the right to freely associate and to form unions.
The GFBTU is committed to the inclusion of non-Bahraini workers, and works actively to recruit migrant workers and represent them in negotiations. The GFBTU has taken the regional lead in the active recruitment of migrants, but even in Bahrain migrant membership remains a small fraction of total membership. The construction sector has been the primary recruitment target for organizing.
The Solidarity Center also works with the Migrant Workers Protection Society (MWPS) an NGO on Bahrain, in support of their efforts to provide assistance to domestic workers. The MWPS traveled to Sri Lanka in 2007 to advocate for the rights of Sri Lankan workers, who have no diplomatic representation in Bahrain.
Restricted freedom of association, gender- and nationality-based discrimination, and inadequate legal protections are cross-regional challenges affecting each of the GCC States. Recognizing this, GCC trade unionists are collaborating to advance cross-regional solutions. The Solidarity Center supports the work of the GFBTU and its affiliates at the national level and the regional level.
Women’s Regional Empowerment Network (WREN).This Solidarity Center program is training over 100 women in Algeria, Bahrain, and Jordan, as labor educators and activists in their unions and communities.
Solidarity Center Provides Worker Perspective at GCC Leadership Summit. Solidarity Center and AFL-CIO senior staff spoke to more than 50 policymakers, government officials, HR directors, senior managers and consultants, developers, suppliers, bankers, and global union leaders at a groundbreaking leadership summit on corporate social responsibility in the Gulf Coopeartion Council construction industry, held June 18, 2008 in Dubai, UAE.
Hope for Migrant Workers in Gulf States. The Solidarity Center is part of an effort that brings together union, employer, and government representatives to improve working conditions for migrants in the Gulf States.
Solidarity Center Organizes Groundbreaking Migrant Worker Rights Panel at ILO Meeting. A groundbreaking panel discussion on migrant worker issues, co-hosted by the Solidarity Center and the International Trade Union Confederation on June 13, 2007, during the International Labor Conference in Geneva, drew a standing-room-only crowd.
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