Construction firm sacks 99 Bahraini employees

Manama : Cash-strapped G.P. Zachariades Civil Engineering & Contractors, popularly known as GPZ, has terminated 99 Bahraini employees. 

The construction company was in focus recently as a group of workers organised a public protest in Sanad last month, demanding pending salaries. 

“The company is facing a lot of difficulties in paying salaries for workers and dues for contractors. It’s mainly a cash flow problem. Nearly BD30 million dues has to be paid to the contractors,” Labour Ministry Assistant Undersecretary for Labour Affairs Dr Mohammed Ali Al Ansari told DT News.

“If the ministries release BD2 million for the projects they did for different ministries, the company could easily be able to make the payment for the workers,” he said.

“We do know about the issue and the company is now in a process of restructuring and downsizing. The company employs nearly1000 expatriate workers and 190 Bahraini workers,” he said.

“We are closely working with the company to transfer the workers to other organisations,” he said.

“In the coming weeks, we will visit the GPZ and meet the workers and help them transfer to other organisations. We urge workers to be patient as we are negotiating with other organisations to provide workers equivalent jobs and salaries,” he said.

“We are also requesting workers to quit who are approaching retirement age,” he said.

“All the pending salaries of the workers are now cleared and the Labour Ministry will do as much as it can to reduce the burden of the workers,” Al Ansari added.