DUBAI - Hundreds of workers in Bahrain have stepped up a campaign for better rights and welfare, threatening to protest at the opening of the Khalifa bin Salman Port on Nov. 11 if their demands are not met, the local Gulf Daily News reported on Wednesday.More than 400 Marine Port Union members, all employees of port operators APM Terminal and Svitzer, are calling for improved benefits such as transportation allowance and health insurance, the newspaper reported.
The union claims the companies have refused to negotiate with workers over their demands for the past two years, the paper reported.
Union members have started wearing red ribbons instead of blue ribbons to signify their readiness to take industrial action, the paper said, adding that workers will wear the red ribbons until the end of the week.
Separately, Bahrain’s Gulf Industrial Investment Co (GIIC) has agreed to worker demands to reinstate a transportation service after more than 200 workers at an iron-ore plant downed tools for half an hour on Sunday and threatened similar action every day this week.