MANAMA, Bahrain: Some 300 employees at Bahrain’s state-owned Gulf Air staged an hour-long sit-in on Thursday, in a rare labor action to protest job cuts and improve their position in the loss-making carrier’s restructuring program. Protesters said they were demonstrating against lay-offs and large salary inequalities.
Union head Mustafa al-Tooq told Reuters that workers wanted to meet management next week and would proceed with strike preparations if management were not more responsive to union demands.
Unions have said Gulf Air plans to lay off 272 employees by the end of the year, with management saying it only planned to cut positions through natural attrition.
Any escalation in the conflict between management and unions could hit the restructuring process being carried out under the new chief executive Samer Majali.
Labor action is rare in the Gulf Arab region, where the workforce largely consists of poorly paid Asian workers who are at the whim of their employers. – Reuters
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