Page 323 - Records of Bahrain (5) (ii)_Neat

Employment issues at BAPCO 643
-2-

pucca houaea. The. Company have, aa the minutes show, schemes
oh A bachelor basis
on hand for meeting this demancj/. Of course, the majority of
the Refinery coolieo live in viLlages in the vicinity, in Rafa1
and Sitra.
(ii) Drinking water

I am satisfied from personal observation that Bahrainis
in the Company's employ get far better water than they would
in their own housed Personally I believe the main cause for
complaint in regard to water is that it has not been cool
enough. As shown in the minutes adequate steps are being
taken to meet this*
(iii) Comparative pay of foreigners and Bahrainis
The plain fact here is that the Bahrainis are on the

whole not worth even one half of the pay drawn by Indians.
This point is very fully brought out in the attached memorandum*
Obviously the local managers cannot ignore the need for satis-
a
fying Directors and Shareholders, for it is after all Commercial
concernj and I consider it would be unreasonable to press the

Company to increase the rates of wages drawn by semi-skilled
Bahrainis. As for cooly rates, it is a matter for much satis­
faction that the ten anna- wage for casual labour has disappeared*
That wage i6 common, and I think adequate, in Manam&h itself,
but the objection to it as a Company rate of wage lay in the
fact that most of the casual labour on this rate came from
the towns, and an undue proportion of it went in meeting the
cost of transport, The Company cannot be expected to provide
free transport for its whole force between Manamah and the
Field or the Refinery, partly on account of cost, and partly
because they cannot specifically encourage labour to live at

a distance from the scene of operations.
(iv)/-