20 February 2008
Manama: Days after Bahraini contractors said they would look for an alternative to employing Indian labourers two manpower supply companies yesterday said that they had signed deals with 200 Vietnamese to work in Bahrain starting next week.
An announcement by India's ambassador to Bahrain Balkrishna Shetty that the minimum wage for unskilled Indian workers on fresh contracts in March would be BD100 (Dh975) prompted contractors to look for other countries to import labour.
"We have completed the visa procedures for 50 Vietnamese who will be in Bahrain next week. The labour markets should now get ready to accommodate the Vietnamese," Mohammad Al Kooheji, from Al Kooheji Contractors, said.
Ali Al Shoala, head of Al Shoala Public Relations, said that his company had signed deals with 150 Vietnamese who will be in Bahrain next week.
"We have selected the Vietnamese labourers because of their intelligence and loyalty and because the procedures to bring them to Bahrain are easy. The fees are also low. An Indian builder for example takes a monthly salary of BD150 (Dh1463) while the Vietnamese takes only BD90. An Indian labourer takes BD100, but a Vietnamese gets BD70," Al Shoala said in a press statement.
The labourers will come mainly from Vietnam's coasts and mountains.
"We will avoid Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh because they are industrial centres," he said.
They will be employed mainly in the fields of mechanical engineering, construction and food-processing industries.
A decision last October by New Delhi to set a minimum wage for Indian maids has sparked warnings by Bahrain's contractors that overdependence on India as a labour export country could lead to the imposition of its own working conditions.
Around 270,000 of the 500,000 foreigners in Bahrain are Indians.
By Habib Toumi
Gulf News 2008. All rights reserved.
