The General Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions is now formally affiliated as a member of the Brussels-based International Confederation of Free Trade Unions. The international membership status is moving GFBTU to work for a more aggressive campaign for workers' rights while gearing up to play a new role to promote unions in the international and regional arena.
Affiliation of the GFBTU in ICFTU makes Bahrain the first country from the Gulf to have a full-blown independent trade-union movement recognised by the confederation. "The affiliation status gives international recognition and legitimacy to the work of the federation," federation chairman Abdulghaffar Abdulhussain said.
The formal granting of affiliation status was handed to Bahrain at the last international convention of ICFTU heads in Japan last month. GFBTU in Bahrain is now listed on the official confederation website. The federation now joins at least 233 members in the free trade-union movement of the confederation which has a membership roster in some 150 countries with over 150 million worker members.
Abdulhussain said the GFBTU bid to become an affiliate member was widely supported by international union movements, notably those from the Middle East region. The federation has currently around 40 trade unions under its umbrella with more than 10,000 members.
ICFTU has affiliated trade unions in some Arab countries such as Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Yemen, Tunisia and Algeria. A confederation official who visited Bahrain in December had said the GFBTU's application for membership was positively considered because of the level of autonomy it has attained over the last year.
GFBTU was activated superseding the defunct General Committee for Bahrain Workers following the enactment of the trade union law. The granting of affiliation status for the federation will also open the possibility of making Bahrain a base for expanding and promoting trade-union movements around the gulf region.
Apart from Bahrain, a trade-union movement in Kuwait has also sought membership status from the ICFTU but no word has yet been announced by the international body on the status of the application from Kuwait. The confederation has been in existence for over 50 years and is recognised by the international community as the main agency working and promoting trade unions. The confederation works closely with the International Labour Organisation.
It has regional organisations for Asia, Africa and Europe. With its membership in ICFTU, the local federation is committed to further working on vital priorities which, apart from workers' welfare, include joining international combat against forced and child labour, promotion of gender equality in work and promotion of young workers' movements.
Last year, GFBTU undertook projects with foreign trade-union movements such as from Norwegian trade unions which provided training programmes for local union leaders. The federation continues to receive applications from local unions and requests for assistance from some companies and workers' groups to form trade unions. At least four of the 40 unions affiliated with the federation are composed of public sector workers.
© Bahrain Tribune 2005
