US raises workers’ rights issues with Bahrain

http://www.ft.com/

High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0cbf2b0a-b7ef-11e2-bd62-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz2SjFPmoZN The US said Bahrain may have violated labour provisions in their trade agreement when unionists and political opponents were sacked after protests and a general strike in 2011. The office of the US trade representative (USTR) and the US labour department issued a joint statement on Tuesday saying they were asking for “consultations” with Bahrain over actions it took in response to civil unrest during the Arab uprising that “appear to be inconsistent with the labour chapter of the FTA [free trade agreement]”.High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. “Ensuring that workers in Bahrain, and in other countries, can exercise their fundamental labour rights is a top priority for the Obama administration,” said Demetrios Marantis, the acting USTR. “We expect that the action we are taking today will produce a collaborative discussion and positive resolution.” The forthright US decision will complicate its relationship with Bahrain, a strategic ally that hosts the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet. Bilateral relations with Manama have become strained since the Arab uprising, with many government defenders saying the US has not taken seriously Bahrain’s claims that their common enemy, Iran, is stoking the unrest. Just last week, John Kerry, US secretary of state, met Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mohammed al-Khalifa, Bahrain’s foreign minister, with the aim of “ bolstering and developing co-operation in various political, defence and economic fields” – according to the website of Bahrain’s embassy in Washington. The Bahraini embassy did not respond to comment on the US request for consultations on the trade deal. Bahraini workers launched a 10-day general strike more than two years ago, in the midst of the Arab uprising inspired by pro-democracy demonstrations that ended with a brutal Saudi-backed crackdown. The majority Shia organised protests, which are still continuing, against the minority Sunni-led government, calling for more representation and an end to discrimination. Killings, torture and arrests during the following months were accompanied by the sacking of about 4,600 workers accused of taking part in the demonstrations. Amid pressure from its allies, Bahrain launched a human rights inquiry, which criticised the authorities for excessive use of force and the mass sackings. In response to the findings, King Hamad bin Issa al-Khalifa called for judicial and security reforms, as well as the reinstatement of dismissed employees. High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0cbf2b0a-b7ef-11e2-bd62-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz2SjFdiXGp The country’s main trade union said most of the 4,600 dismissed workers have returned to work but about 600, mainly from the private sector, remain unemployed. “This intervention has to come soon as the movement on dismissals is very slow,” said Karim Radhi, assistant secretary-general for the private sector at the General Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions. “When the dismissals started, they were sectarian and political in nature. And the ongoing refusal by some to reinstate workers is still political and sectarian.” He blamed the delays in reinstatement on pockets of hardline resistance in the public and private sectors. “Despite strong directives [for reinstatement] from the king, hardliners are implementing a sectarian agenda and refusing these directives,” Mr Radhi said. The AFL-CIO, America’s biggest trade union group, had urged Washington to take a tougher stance towards Bahrain on labour rights, particularly given the bilateral trade pact, which took effect in 2006. Democrats in Congress were pleased with the Obama administration’s move. “As an FTA partner, Manama is subject to certain labour standards that must be upheld, especially in times of domestic unrest,” said Jim McDermott, a Democrat from Washington on the House ways and means committee, which has jurisdiction over trade. “I hope the consultations are productive, particularly as they relate to discrimination of workers and trade unionists based on religion or political views,” he added. The US labour department – which responded to the AFL-CIO’s pressure by producing its own study of Bahrain’s labour practices in December – has called for a review of cases where people were jailed for union activity. “This clearly hasn’t happened,” said Brian Dooley of lobby group Human Rights First. He pointed to the case of Mahdi Abu Deeb, president of the teachers’ union, who has served two years of a five-year sentence after calling for a strike.