Cheated, Abused in Libya
Workers finally return to work
The Bangladeshi workers in Libya finally went back to work for the company yesterday, which they had left a week ago protesting abuse and non-payment of salaries.
“The workers joined work on Wednesday morning,” Ahsan Kibria Siddiqui, first secretary of Bangladesh Embassy in Libya, told The Daily Star last evening.
The Libyan labour ministry and the Immigration Department gave assurance of resolving the issues as the workers gathered on the premises of Bangladesh embassy in Tripoli on Tuesday.
At least 197 Bangladeshis, along with 28 Indians had left their camp on August 30 and had been living in an open field near a police station of Borak Al Shafi which is 1000 kilometres from the Libyan capital.
Earlier, the construction company, Al Rayed had pledged to address the grievances, after Bangladesh embassy intervened on September 5. However, the workers refused to go back to work in fear of reprisal which led the embassy to decide on transfering them to other jobs after the Eid vacation.
“As the workers gathered here I called the Libyan officials and asked the workers to return to their jobs at Al Rayed after reassuring them that the officials would sincerely tackle their problems in future,” said Kibria.
The company agreed to permit all to join work except for the ten who had provoked and prevented others from joining work when they had earlier assured the workers of addressing their problems.
“We assured the workers that we would closely monitor their status in the company and take necessary measures in case of any irregularities,” Kibria said.
The workers had earlier left their jobs for substandard living conditions and abusive behaviour towards them by the managers who beat them up for petty reasons. Besides, the company did not pay them for the last three months.
