Not many private companies are encouraging the workers to form unions in the Kingdom

When it comes to unionising, it is a sorry situation as only a few companies in the private sector have unions, according to the General Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions. More companies, at least the major companies, need to have trade unions for the welfare of the employees and the smooth running of the companies, said General Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions (GFBTU), Assistant Secretary for international relations Karim Radhi. According to him, only a few companies in Bahrain are unionised with only two companies in the construction sector and one company in the telecommunications sector having a strong union. Many of the disputes between the management and employees would have been avoided if there were a trade union in the company, he noted. “Some of the major companies have unions, but there are more companies that do not. If you look at the telecommunication sector, there are major players here but I only know of one company that is properly unionised. In the construction sector only two companies have good unions.”

“Many of the issues of waged disputes and protests emerge because of the disconnect between management and labourers and basically they arise due to not having unions. When companies are unionised, both parties can sit together and discuss the problems and try to find a way out of it,” he observed.