Workers demand unpaid salaries

Manama : Employees of a contracting company pleaded for help at the Indian embassy here yesterday claiming that they were not paid for the past six months. 

The men informed the ‘open house’ programme of the embassy that they were desperately in need of cash as the company had not paid them. According to the duo, 50 workers at their company are not paid for the past six months and they did not have any more savings to meet their living expenses..  

The workers belong to a construction company in Sitra.

“Many are working without salaries and they are afraid to lodge any complaints. The managers at the company are not being helpful in getting us paid at all. They say the company does not have the funds.  Every month they give a different excuse, every day we are losing hope,” said Ashok, one of the workers. 

“We came to the embassy as a last resort. We wanted this issue to be resolved within the company without making any hassles. But we are left without a choice now. Recently, they asked us to stop coming to work. They expect us to forget about the pending salaries and join somewhere else. How can we just forget about our salaries. We worked for them for six months and we deserve to get paid for that,” he said.

“We have spoken to the ambassador and he has assured us that the embassy will do the needful,” he said, adding that they will be approaching the embassy again to get the issue resolved.