Bangladeshi workers in Kuwait

Stringer /driknews

The recent torture on the poor Bangladeshi workers by the Kuwaiti government is outrageous. Reports say that hundreds of Bangladeshi workers were tortured and sent back home, within this week, with no pay while they were demanding an increase in payment. We have also seen the video footage of how the Kuwaiti police were torturing these workers who went to this foreign land to make a few dollars to support their family back home. Some sources say that these workers are getting about $30 a month. Wow! Only one dollar per day for 8 to 10 hours of hard work. It is hard to believe what this oil producing nation of the Middle East is doing to the people from the poor nations. As the citizens of the world, we condemn both the physical abuse and the unfortunate low payment to these workers, and we demand an increase in their salary.
Please read the following and send your condemnation to the nearest Kuwaiti consulate:
"South Asian workers in Kuwait, including hundreds of Bangladeshis, staged demonstrations and went on strike Saturday demanding better working standards and pay.”
Newspapers in the Gulf kingdom reported that some workers were paid as little as 8 Kuwaiti Dinars ($30 or Tk 2000) a month. Since the incidents of unrest, the Kuwait government has said it would increase the minimum wage of foreign workers to 40 Dinars ($151 or Tk 10,300).
However, The Kuwaiti authorities also announced that they would examine video footage and photographs of protesting workers to find out those responsible for damaging vehicles and attacking police, and deport them.
Kuwait police arrested at least 800 Bangladeshi workers during the demonstrations, of whom 300 were later released as no charges could be substantiated against them.
The Kuwaiti government has assured Bangladesh mission officials that all "innocent" workers will be spared after investigation.
Meanwhile, two top trade union leaders of the country have urged the Kuwaiti trade union movement to extend a helping hand to Bangladeshi workers facing repression in Kuwait and deportation by the authorities.
In a joint letter sent by email, Jatiyatabadi Sramik Dal president Nazrul Islam Khan and Jatiya Sramik League general secretary Roy Ramesh Chandra made the appeal to the president and general secretary of Kuwait Trade Union Federation.

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In a recent case of rare protests against the various cleaning companies in the State of Kuwait, a group of mainly Bangladeshi protestors became violent. I personally believe that violence can never produce any fruitful result, but the deportation of protesting workers is not the solution.
At the end of the month some are lucky enough to receive a salary of KD8.000 (approximately about 2000 taka), in a country where a basic decent meal can cost about KD 0.50 to KD 1.00. The thing that confounds me is that to maintain a decent life with Tk. 2000 per month is quite difficult in Bangladesh, let alone Kuwait. Whereas there are many others who don't even get their salaries for months. There are some who are known not to have been paid for the past nine months. I do not understand why the Kuwait authorities neglected the issue .
These people turned violent during the protests because they were severely frustrated and driven to their very limits of sanity. After all, these people are our brothers and when they suffer we should try to help them.
Asaduzzaman Mohammad, On e-mail