Jobs protest outside ministry

FIVE unemployed young men are staging a demonstration outside the Ministry of Municipality Affairs and Agriculture in Budaiya in a bid to secure jobs.

Every morning from 6am they gather on the side of Budaiya Highway and stay until late in the afternoon protesting against unemployment in the kingdom.

They have erected a small tent to provide shelter from the elements that is surrounded by placards in Arabic and English that read 'for how long must we suffer from unemployment?'

"My friends and I can't get jobs," explained Aziz Adnan Al Musawe, 22, from Bani Jamrah. "I have never had one. I have to survive on money that my father gives me and I am a burden on my family. We are angry and frustrated so we decided to organise a peaceful protest."

However, official sources believe protests of this kind are often an orchestrated and co-ordinated political gesture aimed at embarrassing the government.

Only last week it was announced that more than 7,000 Bahrainis would start receiving unemployment benefits from next month as a "safety net" for job-seekers.

Labour Minister Dr Majeed Al Alawi said beneficiaries would be obliged to join training programmes to qualify them for future jobs.

A national industrial training unit will open next year too to provide vocational training in industry and construction to allow young Bahrainis to benefit from the growing industrial and construction sector which is losing many expat workers because of the building boom in India.

The jobs protest, however, continued into its 10th day and the group remained organised and disciplined.

They are aware of the public gathering law which forbids more than five people gathering in public protest and do not wish to break it.

All but one of them are from Bani Jamrah and said they have been unemployed for more than two years. They claim their unemployment is caused by migrant workers willing to accept much lower wages, the naturalisation of other nationalities who take civil defence and security positions and sectarian discrimination.

Ahmed Ali Jassim, 19, said: "I studied at the University of Bahrain but I didn't have enough money to complete my education and since then I haven't been able to get a job. My family feels bad for me and worry about my future."

Hussein Abaas, 20, explained that he would like a job as a mechanic and to eventually become an engineer but that he been unable to find any sort of position.

Ali Aqeel Yusuf, 20, is the only one in the group to have secured a full-time job. "I have a driving job but I want a job that represents my skills," he explained. "I have an IT qualification but I haven't been able to get a job in that field. My friends have no transport and no jobs so in that sense I am lucky. Many of my friends are jobless and it makes me feel upset."

Mehdi Abdulla Fatell, 23, said: "We cannot even consider getting married and having our own families when we are a burden on our parents. We'll never marry unless we have jobs that pay the minimum wage."

The group said they would like jobs within the public sector that pay competitive salaries but believe that they are prevented from obtaining positions within ministries because of their lack of influence or connections.

While no one from the government has yet met with them to address their concerns, they said that some members of the public have offered their support.

At the time of going to press the Labour Market Regulatory Authority has been unable to comment. A government source, however, told GulfWeekly, that it was a sign of Bahrain's budding democracy that such protests were allowed and could be reported on.