'File 10/1 G BAPCO labour' [‎204r] (411/586)

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The Auviser, jhoikh -Mi bin Ahmed of "ifia'fa, and _ ,maz
this morning to diocuss the poGition.
Mr» Jard Lndevson informed me on the telephone that about
were now
45C men/absent from work. The only pvoe effected so far is the
Refinery. I'r. Anderson further stated that they were carrying on
with difficulty but he hoped that they would be able vO continue
to do so.
2. A petition was brought to me by one of the strikers (a copy
of which had been :iven to the Adviser and, as 1 learnt later to
lir# iknderson). i'he m<m stated thf t the stril ers had s 1 ^ orn on the
I oran that they would not return to their work until their demands \
had been ? : -reed to their satisfaction. 1 tol 1 him to advise the
strikers to return to their work and assured him that their griev
ances would be fully investigated. I also told him the* t he should
return to his friends and advise them to meet the Adviser, shaikh
Mi, who after the last labour troubles had been nominated to
represent the grievances of the local labour to the Bahrain petro
leum Company and myself at 10 o'clock Arabic. TT e left to convey
our message to his fellow-workers.
3. V/e discussed the matter at length and Jhaikh Ali made it
clear that he had known nothing whatever about the strike until
mid-day yesterday. He, in our presence had asked the representative
of the strikers why none of them had approached him and the man
had replied that as he had been unable to satisfy certain of their
grievances in the past they did not anticipate that he would be
any more successful now.
Both the Adviser and Shaikh Ali were very doubtful whether
anyone would appear in the evening to meet us.
4. At 10 otclcck Arabic ihaikh Ali came to the Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. and
shortly afterwards the representative of the strikers arrived alone.
Ke said that they had refused to meet us. I told him again that I
advised them to return to their work and assured him that their
grievances would be fairly heard, but that if they would not cone
/and