Manama - Unemployed Bahrainis marched through the streets of
Manama Friday renewing a demand for the removal of the labour
minister and expressing opposition to recently-imposed 1 per cent
income tax.
The call to remove minister Majid Bin Muhsin al-Alawi came from
the Committee for the Unemployed and Low-Wage (CULW) that organized
the march - the second of its kind this month.
The CULW blames al-Alawi for failure of the country's National
Employment Project (NEP) to address unemployment issues and for
recent comments he made in which he accused the unemployed of being
lazy and seeking only comfortable government jobs.
The protesters also expressed opposition to the new 1 per cent
income tax that the government began to implement this month as part
of a scheme to financially support the unemployed.
'We support having a programme to assist the unemployed, but
unemployment is a problem that the government needs to address - not
one which the people who are already underpaid have to pay for,' CULW
board member Nader al-Salatna told Deutsche presse-Agentur dpa.
A CULW statement issued after the march called on the government
to ensure that the jobs offered to the unemployed meet the minimum
monthly wage of 350 dinar (dollars), at a time where the government
sees a minimum wage of 100 to 150 dinars.
According to figures issued by the Bahraini government
unemployment stands at 3 to 4 per cent, but the opposition claims
that unemployment surpasses 12 per cent and that those living below
the minimum wage surpass 40 per cent.
Some 100,000 workers, including more than 65,000 employed in the
private sector and some 35,000 in the public sector, had the 1 per
cent tax deducted from their salaries.
Trade unions rejected as unfair the implementation of the
deduction, under which military personnel and elected officials in
parliament and municipal councils are exempt.
Assistant undersecretary for Labour Affairs Jamil Humaidan
claimed in late May that the scheme will put Bahrain on a par with
advanced countries in terms of social insurance for its citizens.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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