Bangladeshi workers in Kuwait called off their strike after reaching a settlement with employers, said a Bangladesh Embassy official yesterday.
The settlement came after a Kuwaiti newspaper, Arab Times, yesterday reported that an estimated 6,000 workers of two cleaning companies had been on strike since Sunday.
Bangladesh Embassy Labour Counselor Shahriar Kader Siddiky told The Daily Star last evening that they held meetings with one company yesterday and the other on Monday and resolved the issues regarding salary.
These companies said they would need some time to implement the Kuwaiti government's decision of paying KD 40 monthly to the cleaning workers, Siddiky said, adding that the workers went back to work after the assurance of payment.
Thousands of Bangladeshi workers demonstrated in late July demanding pay hike and better working and living conditions prompting Kuwait to fix the minimum wage for foreign cleaning workers without any deductions from the salaries.
"Some companies, however, could not implement the government decision, saying they needed more time because they had to make banking arrangements," the labour counselor said.
Siddiky said many workers however are under the impression that they might be deported, but Kuwait's labour department assured that the country will not allow any victimisation of the innocent workers.
Abdul Hameed, a cleaner participated in the strike, said his company has not been paying salaries to workers for over two months and creating pressures to make them pay the insurance and residency fees, reported the Arab Times yesterday.
Quoting an official of the Bangladeshi Embassy, Arab Times said the residency permit of about 170 Bangladeshi workers of a cleaning company expired and the company refused to renew them.