'File 10/1 G BAPCO labour' [‎242r] (487/586)

CONFIDENTIAL.
P.A
Bapco employees strike was the main topic of the
week; this event formnd the subject of talk in the bazars,
majlises, coffee-sho^s, bookshops, street corners and^othe^
pulDlic places. People speak of various stories relating to
the cause of this strike and the way it was prepared and carried
out. Some of them say that the manager of the new B.r.P."Refiner
on finding employees here are paid very small wap :es, ^ p:ot^ in
touch with the manager of Bapco and discussed with him t e
possibility of increasing the wages of the employees of the ^
new "Refinery and that the manager of Bapco did not concur with
this p^opos^l as it would have a bad reaction on Banco employ —>
who will come forward with demands for similar increased wages.
That the manager of B. TT .P., thereupon, went and instir^tod
the employees of Bapco Refinery to open a strike. Others s->
that one of the Refinery employees was discharged from
service ^nd that 21 others objected to t o is ac ^ion and declared
a strike. As soon as the rest of the employees who were off
duty henrd of this they also declared a strike ; these -ere
followed by othe^. until their number exceeded 500 men(200
them are said to be coolies A term used to describe labourers from a number of Asian countries, now considered derogatory. and the rest gangpu^hers, gauffers
etc). A third storv says that this str-ike was decided upon
some time ago as the employees found it very difficult to^make
both ends meet at the present rate of wages they are getting
and thus planned to ^o on strike as they considered presenting
representations would not be fruitful. It is said that ail
concerned swore that their ■ -ord will be one and that they would
not tell who their ringleaders are so that they should not
be in trouble. A rumour prevails that one of the strikers
submitted a letter to the P.A.on Friday last(24 .12 .45)
containing their demands which are as follows:- "he daily
wages of a gan^pusher should be Rs,9 and a ganger Rs.- and a
coolie A term used to describe labourers from a number of Asian countries, now considered derogatory. Rs.3, that all employees are to be granted 1 month T s
leave after completing one year T s s Q rvice and that they should
be provided with free transnorts. It is rumoured too that
Awali Camp and B .r .P. employees will go on a strike.
The well-to-do strikers contributed between themselves a sum
of Rs .200 to be ffiven to their poorer comrades forjsheir
maintenance during the neriod they are on strike. It is said
that they will not go back to work unless they are given
definite promises that their demands will be granted and .hat
they do not consider the Alan issued by the Bahrain Government
as a sufficient guarantee that they demands will be granted.