Bahraini employers of Indian laborers forced to pay 950 BD in insurance fees

I read an article this morning in al-Ayam newspaper, which announced that the Indian Embassy in Bahrain will charge Bahraini employers of Indian laborers 950 BD (more than $2000) in insurance fees, to be deposited in an Indian bank. As expected, Bahraini employers of South-Asian laborers were infuriated by the decision. These employers are already dissatisfied with the decision of the Labor Market Regulatory Authority’s (LMRA) decision to charge them a monthly fee of 10 BD (A little more than $20) for each laborer. According to the employers, these fees are hurting their business.

I’m glad that the Indian government is expecting these employers to dish out a fairly high sum of money. Asian laborers are often expected to work in places that lack the simplest of safety regulations, where they often are involved in accidents. If a worker harms himself in a way that would render him useless to his employer, the 950 BD insurance fee will be very helpful to him when he returns to his family. It goes without saying that if the worker is involved in any sort of incapacitating accident, the employer will terminate the sponsorship agreement and replace the worker ASAP, without offering any compensation or severance pay.

Waheed al-Dossari, of Bahrain’s Fishermen’s Society, has announced that the fishermen, along with their hired South-Asian laborers, plan to stage a demonstration in front of the Indian embassy to decry its government’s decision, which he considers to be damaging to their profitability. Sadly, Bahrain’s business owners and laborer-hirers, such as Mr. al-Dossari, don’t understand the implications behind these decisions.

Firstly, the Indian embassy is simply looking after its subjects and seeking to improve their living and working conditions in the Arab Gulf. Workers are often underpaid and treated inhumanely, which has caused them to riot in Dubai, Kuwait and Bahrain in the past couple of years. The Indian government recognized the urgency of the matter and took matters into its own hands, following a sluggish response by Gulf governments. Secondly, Bahrain’s LMRA’s decision to charge employers a fee for workers in not intended to harm the employer or business owner, but to improve the job market for Bahraini workers and end our addiction to cheap South-Asian labor.

My message to the employers is to remember that you have an obligation to the safety and general wellbeing of your South-Asian laborers. Additionally, and most importantly, you have an obligation to your countrymen. Not only do you have an obligation to integrate low-skilled Bahraini workers into the job market, but your reliance on South-Asian laborers offers you no incentive to improve performance or increase wages.