“There will be talks very soon and we are positive that the Government will act on the workers’ appeal,” said Jamal Ateeq, member of the public sector workers committee in the GFBTU. He would not say however who will speak to them from the Government side but he confirmed that the talks are to take place anytime next week.
“We had received assurances from the Government side that the issue is being taken seriously,” he said.
Thousands of Government workers in the lower income bracket, those within the Grade 1 to Grade 10 scale in the civil service, had affixed signatures to a petition addressed to the Government to raise their wages by as much as 25 per cent.
They had asked for an across-the-board percentage increase rather than a set minimum wage of BD200 which the Cabinet announced earlier.
Union heads said “thousands” of Government workers had signed the petition. They hope to have as much as 20,000 signatories to the petition.
