Reuters/Dubai
Bahrain’s main telecommunications firm yesterday said it would re-employ workers sacked after strikes connected to pro-democracy protests, the second company to do so in as many days.More than 2,000 mainly Shia workers were sacked from state-controlled companies last year for taking part in strikes and protests against perceived discrimination and the dominance of the ruling Sunni Muslim al-Khalifah family.Bahrain Telecommunications Co (Batelco) will take back axed workers “who agree to abide by Bahrain’s labour law and Batelco internal policies”, chairman Sheikh Hamad Bin Abdulla al-Khalifah said in a statement.Despite moves to ease tensions, unrest continues in the Gulf island state. Shias and police clash almost daily outside the capital, Manama.A Labour Ministry committee had put pressure on the company after a ministry review found that 102 of the 172 Batelco staff who lost their jobs had been illegally dismissed.Bahrain has also been under international pressure to reinstate Shia workers.A commission of international lawyers set up by King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifah to investigate the unrest said in November that many Bahrainis had been unfairly dismissed. The government promised to implement its recommendations.