Kuwait has not yet paid the arrears of several hundred Bangladeshi workers who were arrested and deported following a protest there one and a half years ago against low wage and non-payment of salaries.
“The deported workers submitted their passports and legal documents of working in Kuwait. We have promised them to recover their arrears, but till date we did not receive the money from Kuwait,” said an official of Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET).
Many of the workers were hired for 50 Kuwaiti dinars per month, but later the contracts were changed. Their salary dropped at 40 dinars a month which was further reduced to 20 dinars, the BMET official told The Daily Star yesterday, adding that non-payment of salaries and low and irregular payments often prompted strikes by Asian workers there.
Some of the protesters vandalised several vehicles on street during a strike in July 2008.
Following the strike, Kuwait police arbitrarily arrested and deported over 1,100 Bangladeshi nationals, most of who were working in the cleaning sector.
After the incident, which drew the attention of the media worldwide and was censured by the human rights organisations, Kuwait set the minimum wage for cleaning workers at 40 KD (1 KD = Tk 258).
The country, hosting about 2.5 lakh Bangladeshis, stopped hiring workers from Bangladesh since late 2006 citing criminal activities by the workers and malpractice in the recruitment process.
However, Kuwaiti MPs criticised the government’s lack of control over the cleaning companies.
Kuwait lawmaker Saleh Ashoor told a local daily The Arab Times that demands put forth by the protesting labourers on July 29 were legal. He also slammed the employers’ inhumane practice of keeping the employees’ bankcards and paying them far less than they were actually contracted for.
Meanwhile, the workers also alleged brutal tortures on them at the detention camps. Many of them were found with bruises on their bodies when they arrived at Zia International Airport.
Leaving the blame game aside, Bangladesh embassy there talked with the Kuwaiti authorities about the arrears and belongings of the deported workers. The country’s labour department assured them of arranging the arrears for payment to the workers through Bangladesh embassy.
The BMET made a public announcement asking the workers to submit their passports and legal documents needed for working in Kuwait.
“After they submitted the documents, we sent those to the Bangladesh embassy in Kuwait, which approached the Kuwaiti authorities concerned. But till today no progress was made in this regard,” BMET Director Nurul Islam told The Daily Star yesterday.
As Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is visiting Kuwait, the issue has been included in her discussion agenda, he said.
Abu Shaker, brother of deportee Saiful, said his brother has an arrear of Tk 3 lakh.
“We have tried to get the money from the manpower bureau (BMET) several times but returned disappointed. Now we are struggling to pay the debt we took to send Saiful to Kuwait,” said Shaker.
Categories: Bangla, Bangladesh, Bangladesh Economy, Bangladesh News, Daily Bangladesh News, Economy, News
