Dhaka, Tuesday, July 29, 2008 - 12:34am Hundreds of mainly Bangladeshi workers have gone on strike in Kuwait, seeking better pay amid soaring prices and sparking calls by deputies to improve working conditions for thousands of expatriates.
The state news agency Kuna said Kuwaiti officials met Bangladesh embassy officials yesterday to discuss the workers’ problems. Residents said a strike by cleaning workers had started on Saturday.
Newspapers carried pictures of cleaners demonstrating against their living conditions, demanding a salary rise. “How can we survive on 8 dinars ($30.12) a month, and suffer mistreatment on top of that,” a worker told Kuwait Times.
The paper quoted workers as saying they had been contracted for a monthly salary of 50 dinars, but were only being paid 20 dinars, from which their employers deducted 12 dinars every month for a visa residency charge.
Al Watan newspaper carried a photograph of a labourer holding a list of demands which included raising salaries to 40 dinars a month and having a holiday every two years.
Labour ministry inspectors are to meet workers’ representatives to review their demands, Kuna quoted acting assistant undersecretary Hamad al-Medhadi as saying.
Newspapers said the cabinet would discuss a recent string of strikes by foreign workers at its weekly meeting today, while parliament deputies demanded action.
“We agreed in parliament ... to identify the problems those workers suffer from and to know rights they have been denied,” Ali al-Omair, a member of parliament, told reporters.
Deputy Abdullah al-Roumi said he would present a draft law to scrap Kuwait’s sponsorship system, under which expatriates must be sponsored by a local employer to get a work permit.
Expatriates, comprised mainly of Asians and Arabs, account for around two thirds of Kuwait’s 3.2mn population.
--Reuters, Kuwait
Comments
Bangladeshi workers
It is true that Bangladesh embassy is not a recruiting agency but has much to play in forceing the recruting agencies to recruit the professionals with minimum financial charge.
Besides our embassy staff is not that smart and capable like the Indian and Philipno embassies to make an effect to the present situation.
In the Kingdom, Philipinos are most liked by companies because they all can speak english.
Next is Indian known as regional power in Asia next to China.
Bangladesh is known as source of cheap labours for municipality trash pot cleaning, prone to flood and sidr.
One of my assistant engineers asked me if I am truely from Bangladesh. He did not believe me as Bangladeshi but Indian. I had to show him the paper cuttings of many prominent Bangladeshi like Dr. Fazlur Rahman, the architect of sears tower, the first tallest building in Chicago, USA, Nobel laureates, scientists for arsenic solution who won the highest prize, etc etc...
Bangladeshi workers in M.E
Bangladeshis are extermely helpless with no back up support for employment here from home as well as locally because all the chiefs are Indians, Pakistanis and Philipinos. The recruiting agencies are also Indians and Philipinos who are much much smarter, very fluent in english then poorly educated Bangladeshi recruiting personnels. They know business and care for the customers then Bangladeshi agents.
The very strong reason for this set back is that the Bangladeshi manpower recruting agencies are not interested for the NATIONAL IMAGE but money WHICH they can very easily get from an unskilled labour but not from a technical person. It is 3 lac taka per one unskilled labour. Whereas Indian and Philipino engineer/Technicians do not pay even a dollar. The companies pay all their expenses because the companies are helpless with no alternative.
So this attitude of the recruiting agents slowly and slowly by years and years brought us to this situation. But still there is a window of oppurtunity for the Bangladeshis if the embassy will come forward to these multi billion $ companies to tell that Bengalis are also noble laureates and can do better or equall then other nationals at competitive salaries. Now It is like who will bell the cat.
App. 38 lakhs Bangladeshis working in Arabian countries
Ashraf,
App. 38 lakhs Bangladeshis are working in Arabian countries. You always find conspiracy in everything! With India, we got freedom from British at the same time, India gave education to their people, and we did not. China also became socialist at the same time. Simply, all our problems are rooted in lack of education and lack of quality education.
Thanks,
Thanks for eye opening
Hello,
I saw these terrible scenarios all over Arabian countries, in 110 degree Fahrenheit’s Bangladeshi workers are working, and all well paid jobs were taken by Indians, Sri Lankans, Philippines’ etc. First of all our universities are not building necessary skills, moreover they are producing engineers, technicians with more wrong political skills. Most of our graduates are lacking in technical knowledge, but rich in pseudo political knowledge, these people when given chances to work in foreign countries, start strike etc. like in Bangladesh; they never had skills to negotiate, they never learn the art of negotiations, but good at pseudo politics, always blaming others.
Most probably, your writing may go unnoticed by BUET, CUET, DU; because now they are salvaging the nation by giving statements to restore their “Netries”. It may go unnoticed by Labor advisor, ambassadors.
Also we need to give education to our people, build up skills, and train them how to behave in abroad. Please try to reach ministry of labor through emails etc.
Thanks,
what about the embassy
What the embassy is doing there. Is it not there job to handle those issues? Every body is talking about politicain- nobody is dicussing what our paid servant ( government officers) are doing. If they were efficent enough, probably today we did not have to see this condition.
Rahman Sb
here & there and all over
আমার পরিচিত রহমান সাহেব স্ত্রীসহবাসে তৃপ্তি না পেলে তত্ত্বাবধায়ক সরকার, ফকু আর হাসিনাকে দায়ী করে থাকেন। উনি দেখছি একা নন। কথা হচ্ছিল মধ্যপ্রাচ্য লাখ লাখ বাংলাদেশীদের করুন কাহিনী নিয়ে।
wonderful
অত্যন্ত বাস্তত কথা বলেছেন।
আমার ধারনা, মধ্য প্রাচ্যে বাংলাদেশীরা সাধারনত নিম্ন মানের কাজ করে থাকে (এতে আমি কোন সমস্যা দেখি না,) কিন্তু এই স বাংলাদেশীরা সাধারনত বাংলাদেশের স্কেলে অল্প শিক্ষিত। ফলে এদের ব্যবহারে যে ইমেজ তৈরী হয়, তাই বিদেশীদের কাছে বাংলাদেশের উপস্থাপন। কিতু এটা তো ভাই বহু আগে থেকেই হয়ে আসছে। এখন কেন এই মার্কেটটাও সরকার হাতছাড়া করছে...এটা সুদুর প্রসারী যড়যন্ত্র। আমাদের পিএইচডি ধারীরা সরকারে বসে শুধুই চামাচামী ব্যস্ত, সেখানে অল্প শিক্ষির নন-দক্ষ শ্রমিকদের দোষ দিয়ে লাভ নেই । মনে রাখবেন, তারা নন-দক্ষ শ্রমিক হয়েই মধ্য প্রাচ্যে যায় ।
আমাদের দেশের দক্ষ ইঙ্গিনিয়ার ছাত্ররা সাধারনত আমেরিকা, ইউরোপ, জাপান এবং বাংলাদেশের ইঞ্জিনিয়ারগুলো ঘুষে ডুবে থাকে। মদ্য প্রাচ্যে ইঙ্গিনিয়ারিং কাজের কথা বাংলাদেশের ছেলে মেয়েরা খুব একটা জানে না। আর তা ছাড়া বাংলাদেশে নন-দক্ষ শ্রমিকদের সংখ্যাই বেশী। তাই বিগত সরকারগুলো এই নন-দক্ষ শ্রমিকদের উপরেই জোর দিয়েছিলো (আমি তাই করা উচিত), কারন শিক্ষিত ছেলেমেয়েরা নিজেদের চেষ্টাই বাহিরে যেতে পারে।
তাই নন-দক্ষ শ্রমিকের সংখ্যা মধ্য প্রাচ্য কত আমারা জানা নেই। এদের সংখ্যা ৫ লাখ হলেও প্রায় ৫ লাখ পরিবারের আর্থিক অবস্থার উন্নতি ঘটে। এদের ছেলেমেয়েরা উন্নত শিক্ষার চেষ্টা করে থাকে, এটা একটা টেকসই ঊন্নয়নের পর্যায় ক্রমিক ধারা ।
বর্তমান সরকার এসে বিভিন্ন খারাপ কাজের সাথেও এই বাজার বাংলাদেশে স্বার্থে নষ্ট করে দিচ্ছে । আমি মনে করি এটা যড়যন্ত্র।
Bangladeshi workers in M-E
I am an electrical engineer working in one of the biggest petrochemical complex companies in Jubail, KSA for the last 12 years. There is one more Bangladeshi engineer who is also working for more then a decade in a liquification of gas plant. That's all two out of hundreds of expatriate engineers. My observation in last 12 years is this:
Bangladeshis are providing the lowest grade services with the lowest salary and honour in all these multi billion $ petrochemical plants as janitors, gardeners, tea boys and car cleaners.
All the engineering and tecnical jobs of very high salary are occupied by hundreds of Indians and Philipino engineers and technicians. Therefore there is naturally a confirmed perception that Bangladesh is a very poor country with no technically skilled persons. Therefore none of these companies apply for Bangladesh emplyment visas from their ministry. Even some one by joke asked me if there is electricity in Bangladesh.
Recently the bad incidents from Bangladeshi workers in Saudi Arabia has further down draded our already poor image much. Many local company owners have stopped employment of Bangladeshi workers as we have proved to be very ferocious, not trust worthy and much wrong doers. This is to be noted here that Bangladeshis have proven to be much more notorious then Indians. Now they are replacing Bangladeshis with Nepalis and Chinese workers. What a shame for us. However lets start to correct ourselves.
I wonder if ever the bad image of Bangladeshis will revert in this part of world. By the time we rectify ourselves, the whole labour market will be filled up by Nepalis and Chinese.