Bahrain: Indians among workers sacked

Two hundred workers, most of them Indian, have lost their jobs after a garment factory in

Bahrain closed down.

Twenty garment factories have closed down in the last four years, leaving only eight operational, the Gulf DailyNews on Tuesday quoted a labour ministry official as saying.

The latest to close down -- Update Apparel Factory in Salmabad - employed 183 expatriate workers with the rest being Bahrain nationals, Labour Relations Director Shaikh Ali bin Abdulrahman Al Khalifa said.

"The majority of them were from India and have since been repatriated. Some of them have been able to find jobs elsewhere," the daily quoted him as saying.

A large number of factories have been doing sub-contract jobs for factories in other Gulf countries, he said, adding that international buyers had started looking at other Asian countries where garments are produced for them at cheaper rates.

Meanwhile, the labour ministry has introduced new regulations for companies that want to close their operations.

"Every effort will be made to force the company to repatriate the expatriate workers after paying their dues," Ali said.