MANAMA: Over 500 representatives from the commercial and industrial sectors protested yesterday a monthly labor fee levied by the Labor Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) calling it an additional economic burden in times of global recession.
The Bahrain Contractors Association (BCA) backed the protesters outside the LMRA headquarters in Sanabis where they announced a series of protests to press for a waiver of the monthly SR100 expatriate fee.
A senior BCA official said the LMRA sent invoices to over 55,000 companies and collected an estimated BD120 million in the past few months. He said the construction sector was the worst hit because of the global recession and shortage of materials such as steel and cement.
Public relations officials at the LMRA said senior officials met with the protesters and asked them to give hard facts rather than using the recession to back their cause.
“If they give us concrete information of how much loss they have incurred we would submit the details to our board of directors. By levying the monthly fee on employment of foreign workers, we are implementing a decision by the legislative authorities,” an LMRA official said.
The LMRA is a government body responsible for issuance of work visas, and regulating manpower licenses, recruiting agencies and business practices of self sponsored expatriates.
