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15 Jun 2020

Bahrain: 700 workers at Fundament SPC allegedly facing 8 months of unpaid wages; incl. co. response

In June 2020, Migrant Rights reported on the case of 700 workers owed up to 8 months of wages by construction company Fundament SPC. They continue to work on projects. In May, Migrant Rights reported that nearly 100 workers from Fundament protested their unpaid wages at their labour camp.

150 of the workers who resigned between six and eight months ago are still awaiting their end-of-service benefits. They live, stranded, in a separate labour camp while they wait for the outcome of a labour complaint, lodged with the Ministry of Labour on 31 May. Their visas are expired and they struggle to survive without food and money.

Migrant Rights called on the Bahrain Govt. to use the billion dollar fund, established to pay Bahraini employees in the private sector during the COVID-19 pandemic, to pay the workers.

Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited Fundament SPC to respond to the allegations of unpaid wages. Fundament SPC denied the allegations in response to the Resource Centre; this can be read in full below.

In July, GDN Online reported that the 150 resigned workers came to an agreement with the company. The settlement agreement is less that what was owed to them (35%) and Migrant Rights warn that this is not the first time settlements are reached, only to be broken later. They added that two workers had been punished for filing complaints at the Labour Ministry. GDN Online also reported that workers had participated in a protest before being stopped by police, and that charities continued to provide essential food aid to workers in the camp.