[ALOCHONA] Kuwait papers report Dhaka's anger

Dear Alochoks

 

The two leading English dailies in Kuwait are actually reporting that Dhaka is actually angry with the labour situation in Kuwait! Perhaps the message is getting through. In any case, it is pleasing that Dhaka's `anger' is reported seriously – I am sure this is the first time that Dhaka has ever expressed any anger on anything regarding Kuwait.

 

Regards

 

Ezajur Rahman

Kuwait

 

 

 

Deportations anger Dhaka

Courtesy Kuwait Times Published Date: August 07, 2008

http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=MTcwMzcyMjQw

 

DHAKA: Bangladesh accused Kuwait yesterday of unjustly and cruelly deporting some of its expatriate workers after recent labor unrest in the state. Kuwait said at the weekend it had deported about 1,000 Bangladeshis following violent protests over pay and conditions. "It is in our common interest that such incidents do not recur," Bangladesh foreign minister Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury said in a letter to the Kuwaiti government. "For the faults of a few, many are being mercilessly deported empty-handed," he s
aid, urging an investigation.

The letter was sent as scores of workers deported from the kingdom told Bangladeshi television that they were tortured in police custody. Workers showed blood-stained shirts and injury marks on their bodies, and said they had not been paid the money promised by their Kuwaiti employers. Hundreds of Bangladeshi workers held demonstrations in Kuwait last week to demand better pay and living conditions.

The protests, some of which turned violent, lasted several days, with riot police using batons to break up one rally. Impoverished Bangladesh relies heavily on its expatriate workers, who in the past fiscal year sent back eight billion dollars, propping up the country's shaky balance of payments. About 200,000 Bangladeshis work in Kuwait, mostly as cleaners and in other low-paid jobs.

Thousands have gone on strike in recent months, complaining that their wages were not paid and that they had to endure inhuman working conditions. Kuwait has warned it will not tolerate violence, but said it was also determined to crack down on agents who recruit Asian labor and violate employment contracts once the workers are in country. - AFP

 

Dhaka angry … Strike at Chest Hospital but patients eat

Courtesy Arab Times 8/8/08

http://www.arabtimesonline.com/arabtimes/

 

KUWAIT : Despite the strike on Wednesday by some of the working staff at the Chest Diseases Hospital, the distribution of meals to patients went smoothly, after substitute staff were recruited for that purpose, says an official. Ibrahim al-Abdulhadi, assistant undersecretary for quality control at the ministry of health, told KUNA that the substitute staff were fortunately scrambled quickly after the hospital officials became aware of a strike by the original staff. On a differenet story, he said a patient in intensive care had to be wisked off to a quarantine room because it was discovered that he had contracted a contagious virus and required immediate isolation. The case, he assured, was fully under control, dismissing rumors about the spread of the disease to others, just because the hospital was evacuated immediately on the discovery of the case.

 

Meanwhile, Bangladesh accused Kuwait on Wednesday of unjustly and cruelly deporting some of its expatriate workers after the recent labour unrest. Kuwait said at the weekend it had deported about 1,000 Bangladeshis following violent protests over pay and conditions. "It is in our common interest that such incidents do not recur," Bangladesh Foreign Minister Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury said in a letter to the Kuwaiti government. "For the faults of a few, many are being mercilessly deported empty-handed," he said, urging an investigation. The letter was sent as scores of workers deported from the kingdom told Bangladeshi television that they were tortured in police custody. Workers showed blood-stained shirts and injury marks on their bodies, and said they had not been paid the money promised by their Kuwaiti employers.

 

Hundreds of Bangladeshi workers held demonstrations in Kuwait last week to demand better pay and living conditions. The protests, some of which turned violent, lasted several days, with riot police using batons to break up one rally. Impoverished Bangladesh relies heavily on its expatriate workers, who in the past fiscal year sent back eight billion dollars, propping up the country's shaky balance of payments. About 200,000 Bangladeshis work in Kuwait, mostly as cleaners and in other low-paid jobs. Thousands have gone on strike in recent months, complaining that their wages were not paid and that they had to endure inhuman working conditions. Kuwait has warned it will not tolerate violence, but said it was also determined to crack down on agents who recruit Asian labour and violate employment contracts once the workers are in the country.

 

In another development, Bangladeshi workers of some cleaning companies are being compelled to pay their health insurance fees, according to a Bangladeshi embassy official who has received complaints from these workers. Some unscrupulous companies are deliberately delaying stamping residencies of their workers, thus forcing workers to pay for their own health insurance, according to the workers' complaints. It may be recalled that the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour has set a minimum wage of KD 40 without any deduction for cleaners and KD 70 for civilian security guards, even as the Cabinet Minister, Faisal Al-Hajji warned that companies which fail to honour the new minimum wage rules will be prosecuted. 

 

"We have received complaints from Bangladeshi workers that the companies are delaying stamping their residencies and the workers are told to pay for the health insurance before their residencies are stamped. The workers are left with no choice but to pay the fees because if they delay, then they are afraid that their residencies may expire and as a result they will have to pay the fine," he explained.

Dwelling on other complaints of the workers, the official added that supervisors of some cleaning companies falsely implicated some innocent workers in the violent demonstrations and had them arrested.  The workers are also anticipating more arrests, even as cleaners of some companies have informed the embassy that their supervisors have drawn a list of workers to be deported, he added.

 

"In their complaint, the workers of a company said that about eight of their colleagues were arrested after their company informed the authorities they were involved in the labour unrest. The workers say their arrested colleagues have nothing to do with the incidents and as such they should be freed. They also said that some workers were picked up from their workplace."  The official reiterated that the embassy has already requested the authorities not to arrest any more workers and that "the authorities have assured the embassy no innocent worker will be deported." It was earlier reported that some 1,000 cleaners were arrested by the authorities for allegedly taking part in the labour unrest at Mahboula and Jleeb Al-Shyoukh and that about 300 workers were later released.

 

Referring to the workers of the three companies who had earlier threatened to go on strike, the official added that talks are in progress between the workers and the representatives of the companies and that the "workers have yet to be convinced by the solutions offered by their companies." Touching on some of the demands of the workers, the official added that some cleaners are demanding a KD 50 salary and that the company should allow them to take vacations every two years; they are also asking for at least three month's leave and a return plane ticket. To a question whether the workers had given their companies a deadline to resolve their problems, the official said "no deadline has been set but the workers have requested the embassy to settle their problems as soon as possible."

 

"We have also sought the assistance of the Labour Department to resolve the grievances of the workers. We want an amicable solution and we are exhausting all the means in this regard. Certain issues need time to be resolved." Quashing reports that a Bangladeshi worker arrested in connection with the unrest had died at the Deportation Center, the official affirmed that the embassy got a call from the relative of a worker saying that he had died in the jail, even as the embassy sent its representative to the deportation to check on the worker.  He added that the embassy found that the said worker was "fit and fine." "We don't know who is spreading such rumors but we have requested our workers not to fall prey to any false reports." The official added that the embassy will send its representatives to the labour camps in the next few days to ensure that the cleaning companies are complying with the latest decisions of the ministry.

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