A trade union group that has come under fire for its allegedly partisan approach is due to elect its new board at the end of the month. The General Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions (GFBTU), previously the only umbrella organisation for all Bahraini unions until a rival body was formed on July 18, has faced sharp criticism from MPs and unionists who claim it abused its power during last year's unrest. However, a GFBTU spokesman said it was going ahead with board elections for its next four-year term during the general assembly from September 29 to October 1 at the Crowne Plaza.
"This will be the main congress that is held every four years to elect representatives for 15 seats of the Federation," he said. He predicted hundreds of unionists would take part in the meeting and said representatives from the International Labour Organisation, Arab Labour Organisation and other groups had been invited to monitor the process. "We believe in transparency and have even sent out invitations to local non-government organisations and ministry officials to attend and oversee the process," added the spokesman. "There could also be international observers visiting Bahrain to take part in the general assembly."
The GFBTU has over 60 trade unions covering close to 15,000 members under its umbrella, but only trade union heads can nominate themselves to contest seats on the GFBTU board.
Sources told the GDN that current GFBTU secretary-general Salman Mahfoodh, along with other board members elected in 2008, would try to hold onto their posts.
News of the general assembly follows criticism last month by Al Asala Bloc MP Abdulhaleem Murad, who claimed the GFBTU was illegal since its board's four-year term actually ended in March.
Others including representatives of a rival trade union group formed in July, the Bahrain Labour Union Free Federation, have called for the GFBTU to be dissolved since it was behind nationwide strikes in February and March last year that targeted the economy. However, the GFBTU spokesman claimed such a move would be unjustified.
"There is no official complaint against the GFBTU board members or any tangible evidence that can prove the federation is illegal," he said. "There is criticism out there, but we have taken all steps without breaching the law and even international labour groups are aware of our transparent approach."
Some of Bahrain's biggest companies said they lost millions of dinars as a result of last year's strikes and earlier demanded the resignation of the GFBTU board. Meanwhile, the GDN revealed in July that a US Embassy cable released by WikiLeaks stated opposition groups - namely Al Wefaq National Islamic Society and the National Democratic Action Society (Wa'ad) - "colluded to fix" the GFBTU board elections in 2004.
A memo classified as "confidential" by embassy charge d'affaires Robert Ford in February, 2004, stated: "Opposition societies went to great lengths to rig the (GFBTU) board elections, ensuring they were neither free nor fair.
"National Democratic Action Society and Al Wefaq's resorting to non-democratic methods to gain control of Bahrain's union federation board raises serious questions about the societies' long-term commitment to democracy."
Under a section titled "Cooking The Elections", the cable says the majority of delegates invited to the GFBTU's first conference were affiliated with Al Wefaq and Wa'ad. "To ensure a predominance of opposition party delegates, Al Wefaq and (the) National Democratic Action Society requested that the Arab Workers (Labour) Union forgo the selection process of voting for conference delegates," it said.
"The union complied and invited delegates directly from union boards, the majority of whom has affiliation with the two opposition societies." aGFBTU members who want to take part in the general assembly should make sure their documentation is up to date at the organisation's headquarters, in Adliya, where they can also find out more about the board election and nominations process.
