U.S. Seeks Action from Bahrain on Firings of Trade Unionists
 

This morning, acting Secretary of Labor Seth D. Harris and acting U.S. Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis announced that the United States had finally requested consultations with the Government of the Kingdom of Bahrain under the Labor Chapter of the United States–Bahrain Free Trade Agreement.

As we have reported before, the AFL-CIO’s complaint stemmed from events in April 2011, when thousands of Bahraini workers were dismissed for taking part in trade union activities in support of the peaceful calls for greater democracy and reform—the events now known worldwide as the “Arab Spring.” More than 2,700 union members and half of the leaders of the General Federation of Bahraini Trade Unions (GFBTU) were also dismissed from their jobs in this all-out attack against workers.

Since the initial filing, some workers have able to return to their jobs; others have not. In March 2013, a Bahrain appeals court reversed the conviction of 21 health professionals arrested during the pro-democracy protests. Yet more than two dozen other medics remained in prison.

The AFL-CIO is not alone in its criticism: In 2012, the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry found that Bahrain officials had grossly exaggerated, if not manufactured, many claims brought against thousands of ordinary people who had been caught up in the 2011 protests, including hundreds of education professionals. And of course, the Department of Labor’s International Labor Affairs Bureau issued its report in December, concluding that “important components of the government’s response to the unrest that began in February 2011 appear[ed] to be inconsistent with Bahrain’s labor commitments under the FTA related to freedom of association and non-discrimination.” The report also found a “deterioration in the labor rights environment in Bahrain, marked by restrictions on trade union freedoms and political and sectarian-based discrimination against Shia workers.”

The report called for Consultations—and we noted at the time that the absence of meaningful consultations would “underscore a belief in the Middle East that America’s geopolitical interests far outweigh those of human rights and social justice.” Since December, the Government of Bahrain has not made significant improvements. It has continued to support GFBTU’s rival, a government-influenced labor federation, not ironically called BLUFF.

The GFBTU, which is struggling to survive in the face what the president of the Bahrain Nursing Society calls a “hatred campaign,” is non-sectarian. It has called for social dialogue, the right of all Bahrainis to be represented in the halls of government and the right to peacefully demonstrate to express those aspirations. These are the rights we all want, no matter where we live or where we work. They are universal human rights, universally recognized. It is now up to the U.S. government to do its utmost to bring the Government of Bahrain into compliance with its responsibilities to all its workers as well as its commitments in the United States-Bahrain Free Trade Agreement. Even though the agreement, in Article 15.1, only required Bahrain to promise to “strive to ensure” that its laws protect” internationally recognized labor rights” and the commitments of the ILO Declaration, it has failed to meet even this very low bar.

The AFL-CIO is hopeful that both countries will engage in consultations in good faith and with a view to protecting and promoting worker rights. If the U.S. government does not live up to its commitments and hold Bahrain accountable to the trade agreement’s labor chapter, then why should we expect other trading partners to bother? Successful consultations are critical to workers everywhere: Leaving Bahraini workers behind will only encourage more labor repression by other trading partners. The old union motto that “an injury to one is an injury to all” really is true.

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