'File 10/1 G BAPCO labour' [‎237r] (477/586)

IvC^ j cy A H:Xi AT -Jm 'GiiNCY. CM 24Lh 1943
Th« Adviser, 'Shaikh VI i bin ^hmcid of "Ran'nnd I met
this morning to discuss tho position.
Mr. V /ard Anderson informed me on the telaohone that
about 450 men were now absent from work. The only area
affected so far is the Refinery. ITr. Anderson further stated
that they were carrying on with difficulty but he hooed that
they w-ii-1 be able to continue to do so.
_ 4 UZZlox An~o ^ ^
/ One of the strikers ^ynrn/th,^ n linr^ o^titiion ^copy of
which hr^b'ion given to the Adviser and, as I (irXzjp learnt/,
(fajL. AACIA*-
to Mr. 'inderson). "ffi; stri.ed that the strikers had sworn on
the Koran that they would not return to their work
until their pot 1 had been "1 n^r ri M,i ■."! to their satis
faction. I told him to advise the striker - to return to
their work and assured hir that their grievances would be
fully investigated. T also told hir- that he should return
to his friends and advise them to neet sax. t^/lO o'clock
...Arabic ) i\rit.h me vi'^^l i be the Adviser, Shaikh Ali who
after the last labour troubles had been nominated to repre-
sent the grievances t/^ot the local labour eninlrjMi*"]* 1 hy t]-
Bahrain Petroleum CompanVmight havcyy He left to convey
4/#
our message to his fellow-workers. » r We discussed the matter
at length and Shaikh Ali made it clear that he had known
nothing whatever about the strike until mid-day yesterday.
He, in our presence acid vihi In th.n m n on t -i f 1" 11,—if n- n] ^
XatC
^ftnn "hn f ^ p r ^ j V. ^ r .n^-V. re p re »
sentative of the strikers why none of them, approached him
£4
and the man^replied that he had been unable to satisfy certaii
_ - -
of their grievances in the past i i* they did not anti
cipate that he would be any more successful now. V ]Both the
Adviser and Shaikh Ali were very doubtful whether anyone
would appear in the evening to meet us.
^r. At 10 o'clock Arabic Shaikh \li 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. He said that they had refused to meet us. I told
f/L
him again that I advise them to return to their work and
assured him that their grievances would be fairly heard,