Page 436 - Records of Bahrain (7) (ii)_Neat

826 Records of Bahrain

CONFIDENTIAL
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oub joot in the not too distant future•

When inopootion was first undertaken it booame very clear
almoBt at once that employed porBone woro almoot entirely
ignorant of their righto under the Labour Ordinances. With the
object of onouring that theoo peroono had a reasonable opportunity
of obtaining thio information, I drafted extracto of the throe
principal Ordinances, which would bo termed "Abotraoto" at home
in the United Kingdom* These were completed and translated into
Arabia in February last* I explained that the objoot of those
was to malco it oompuloory that every employer should display a
printed oopy of all three, which oould easily bo done by
Regulations. I have heard no more of these since then, although
oooaBional remindera have been givon.
A very interesting stage is now approaching in ray wox'k hero.
It will be a testing time when the Labour Department sooner or
later will be obliged^to show whether it is really determined to
v , administer and tfjrobabljfr enforce the Labour. Ordinances or be oon-
tent to |Sit back ah'drilve quietly with the Labour Laws existing
in theory and on paper only. Rooently, in one comparatively
small trade, matters have boon coming to a head. Most of the
largest and moot influential merchants aro concerned. The trado
is the retailing of petrol at the service stations. It was
found after very careful enquiries that at the ten stations in
Bahrain, with only one exooption, all the employed persons wero
working or on duty for exceptionally long hours, mostly seven days
n week without, in moot caBoo, any holidays at all. Furthermore,
the payment for these long hours was terribly small. There was
in faot littlo, if any, attempt to comply with the law which rauot
hovo been v/oll known by the employers. Oerious letters contain­
ing the hint of stronger action if these mattors wero not
rectified were sent in each case. As a result, one of the
employers has taken action and not only remedied tho faults but
mado just re-imbursement of back pay duo to his employees. To
date tho others have shown little or no inclination to follow suit.
Tho employees, living in Buoh a small community, have very
naturally exchanged experiences and talked amongst themselves of
thoir treatment. It seems to me short-sighted in tho extreme of
those recalcitrant employers to take thio attitude, particularly
in view of thoir avowed dread of anything Bavouring of trade
unionism or the bogy of strikes. Indeed, a very grave situation
oould arise if. as I wornod, tho Labour Department is not pre­
pared, if really necessary, to enforce compliance, Ironical and
tragic it may be if the very employers who would blame the onset
of labour disputes or unrest on the failure of tho Government to
enforce tho Ordinances were themselves guilty of not taking tho
simple stepB to comply with legal requirements whioh would have
averted suoh conditions. Many employers I have found have all
the trioks of the trade up their sleeves so as to "legalise"
their own bad practices and the slightest loophole in the law
is quickly found and utilised. Were the pioturo ull quite as
dark as it may seem from what I have just related, I do not think
I would have had enough oourage to press on. I have found
encouragement occasionally, whioh has given me enough grounds for
believing that some, if it is not a great deal, of good will
ultimately be gained. I am, nevertheless, apprehensive.
I think, before dosing this first record of my work in
Bahrain, I should mention the language problem, I have now been

working / o . . . .
CONFIDENTIAL