Dr. Fakhro asserted GFBTU’s policies have become consistent with the escalatory agendas of some political associations and the defamatory campaigns staged against the kingdom, which, he said, is reflected in attempts to merge trade union issues with political and legal ones, hampering efforts to finalise the issue of dismissed workers through disseminating incorrect figures regarding the number of those reinstated so far.
He stressed that those fallacies lead to nor where, but disrupt tripartite dialogue and affect the kingdom’s reputation, and therefore distort the positive image of the country’s investment atmosphere and the private sector’s ability to create more jobs.
The BCCI Chairman called upon GFBTU to re-consider its methods and policies and learn from its mistakes as constructive social dialogue, he affirmed, cannot yield positive results only when there is mutual trust and effective partnership between the tree production sides.
He also urged GFBTU to recognize the landmark steps taken by the kingdom to address the issue of the dismissed workers, open up new horizons of cooperation, distance trade union work from political agendas and focus mainly on the interests of workers and the nation.
He also said GFBTU was behind the dismissal of workers in the private sector when it called for an “illegal” strike, mixing labour rights with political issues for the aim of earning gains that have nothing to do with workers’ interests, adding that that BCCI appealed to it to be rational and not adopt hasty decisions but it insisted on its irresponsible call for the strike.
Despite the losses suffered by business owners as a result of the strike, BCCI exerted tremendous efforts to reinstate the dismissed and promote national unity, tolerance and security, in line with the recommendations of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) and sound initiatives of the wise leadership to create positive conditions to restore social stability and cohesion.
He also confirmed that the efforts of BCCI and the Labour Ministry have led to the reinstatement of 98% of those dismissed, but GFBTU, he added, continues undermining those efforts through providing inaccurate figures, urging it to join efforts to close the issue once for all, not distort the kingdom’s reputation abroad and focus on ways to improve the work environment.