Bahrain Mirror: In a videotaped meeting posted by the General Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions (GFBTU) on its official YouTube channel, conducted on the sidelines of the GFBTU general conference, Maria Andre, Director of the Bureau for Workers' Activities at International Labour Organization ILO, said: "It is a great pleasure to me to be able to join this third congress of the General Federation of Bahrain Trade Union Organizations. It is a great pleasure not just because you are a part of the democratic family of the trade unions in the world, but also because your internal operational system is one based on democracy, participation and transparency."

"I could see democracy, participation and transparency at your congress and I could see that you are not going to fail on the struggle for more democracy in this country, but also for more industrial democracy and social partnership and a development whose fruits are shared by everyone. This is the role of democratic, independent and strong trade union organization. I think you are on the right path," she added.

Andre also addressed her colleagues who are going to leave at this congress  in a final word, and said: "They deserve a word of thanks not only from the ILO because they have always been great partners with the International Labour Organization, but also because they have worked towards a better role of work in this country." She added that she would like to take this opportunity also to congratulate all those who are going to start a new life in the trade union organization, wishing them the best of luck.

She further recalled the two major labor events that took place in the country in 2012 and 2014 when it was possible to sign a tripartite agreement on the necessity to return a number of workers who had been dismissed unfairly.

She stressed that "the ILO was very much engaged in making sure that these agreements would be effective and would be implemented in the practice." Andre felt very sorry that over 50 of the dismissed workers have not been reinstated and said that this needs to change."  The ILO official also urged not only the trade union organizations but also the government and the employers to very quickly sit at the table and solve this problem, noting that "this is not serving the interests of the work organization in this country; this is not serving the interest of the need to promote good industrial relations and this is not serving the needs of having social justice and dignity at work."

Regarding the decent work country program promoted by the ILO, Maria announced that "the program is a very important instrument not just because it promotes the four pillars of the decent work agenda which has got to be based on high quality employment, high quality levels of social protection, high quality level of social dialogue which is fundamental in today's world, but also because they allow for the social partners, employers, workers organizations and the government to work together towards a joint strategy to the development of the world of work in each country."

She further stated that "Bahrain is not different from other countries in this respect and we expect that the implementation of the decent work country program is based on the true tripartite approach. It is based on true negotiations between the government, employers and workers."

"Every country that has been able to promote a qualitative social dialogue and a qualitative participatory system with employers, workers and government are countries which have been able to have the best levels of economic and social development and also more and more important in our days today also protection of the environment. Your country is not excused from that, quite the opposite. Bahrain has got good social partners to promote a good implementation of the decent work country program," Andre concluded

Arabic Version