Trade Union Federation Warns of Wider Poverty

TDT | Manama | Email : online@newsofbahrain.com 

Bahrain’s main trade union federation marked May Day by warning that workers face shrinking job security, weaker trade union representation, rising poverty and a widening gap between rich and poor.

The General Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions, in a statement for International Workers’ Day 2026, said 1 May should be a day when workers see the gains they fought for in pay, rights and workplace conditions. Instead, it said, the labour force was facing mounting strains that ran against those hopes.

‘It is a day on which workers expect their gains to be felt,’ the federation said. ‘It is the day when they hope to reap the fruits of their struggle, and to see the better working lives they have long sought. Yet it returns this year while the workforce faces grave challenges that run against its hopes and wishes.’

The statement, issued under the slogan ‘Towards Social Justice for All’, said globalisation had tied countries together through energy, raw materials, food, transport and communications. But it said the market had also reached into nearly every part of life and changed the world of work.

Technology had created new kinds of jobs, the federation said, while older ones had vanished. Work was no longer bound to one place, with some jobs shifting to online platforms and remote settings.

Low-paid workers and poorer households had borne much of the strain, it said.

‘Worse still, globalisation has deepened class differences, making the rich richer and the poor poorer, raising fears over the future of the middle class, which has begun to fade and shrink in many societies across the world,’ it said.

The federation also warned of growing uncertainty in the labour market, breaches of workers’ rights, weaker trade union work, poorer talks between employers, workers and the government, widening pay gaps, higher unemployment, rising poverty, and the spread of informal, unprotected work.

It said these pressures had fed calls from labour groups for a fairer form of globalisation. It cited the International Labour Organisation’s June 2008 Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalisation, saying it called for jobs for all who seek work, social cohesion, the fight against poverty and inequality, wider social security, stronger social protection, fairer wages, and working hours and conditions that give workers a fair share of economic gains

The federation cited the Gulf as an example of how closely supply chains are now tied together, saying the region had faced economic strain after the closure of the Strait of Hormuz halted shipping, disrupted imports and exports, and led to lower output at many factories and industrial plants.

It praised the directives of HM King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, the efforts of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, and government measures in Bahrain to limit the damage from the crisis.

The federation said the world was now at a perilous turning point.

‘The world today stands at a dangerous turning point, in which a new world order is taking shape,’ it said. ‘The workers of the world want it to be fair and more just towards the vulnerable and the deprived.’

The federation ended by urging Bahrainis to stand together, saying national unity and the public interest should guide employers, workers and the government as they face the strains ahead.