Employment Practice Unions at ASU
The University Council (UC) at the University has a crucial role in promoting SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth, particularly in the area of employment practices. The UC is responsible for making recommendations related to changing policies of the university, including issues related to quality of teaching, learning, research, and community service. This includes policies and procedures for assessment of students’ achievement and relevant exams, curriculum content, academic standards, approval, and review of courses, granting academic qualifications, granting honorary titles, and dismissal of students for academic reasons. Additionally, the UC is responsible for decisions concerning academic promotions and any other issues related to human resources, such as the approval of sending academic staff, lecturers, technicians, and academics on scientific assignments and training programs. The UC also provides recommendations to the Board of Trustees relating to the development, integration, and cancellation of colleges, departments, academic programs, centers, offices, and units.
Furthermore, the UC is responsible for assessing the progress of academic and educational achievements in the university, discussing and consolidating study plans and research, considering academic and other issues proposed by the President of the university, and developing and consolidating strategic plans, including strategies of teaching, learning, scientific research, community service, and training. The UC membership includes an elected member of the academic staff, who represents the interests of the academic staff members. This provides a platform for the academic staff to voice their concerns and ensure that their interests are taken into account in decision-making processes. The UC also includes the President of the Student Council, which provides a voice for the student body. The UC at the university plays a crucial role in ensuring that the university’s employment practices are fair, transparent, and in line with SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth. The UC provides a platform for all stakeholders to voice their concerns and ensures that decisions related to human resources are made in a transparent and inclusive manner. Additionally, the UC’s role in developing and consolidating strategic plans ensures that the university’s employment practices are aligned with its overall vision and mission.
Chapter 16: Conciliation and Arbitration in Collective Labour Disputes
https://www.gulftalent.com/repository/ext/Bahrain-Labour-Law.pdf
Article 133
If any dispute arises between an employer and all his workers, or any category thereof, concerning employment or the conditions of employment and the parties thereto fail to settle such dispute, it shall be settled by conciliation and arbitration upon a written application lodged by any of the two parties with the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. Whenever such application is lodged by an employer it shall be signed by him personally or by his duly authorized representative. Alternatively, whenever such application is lodged by the workers, the application shall be lodged by the majority of them or by the majority of the workers of the section concerned with the dispute in the establishment. The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs may, whenever it apprehends the existence of a labour dispute, endeavour to settle the matters in dispute by conciliation and arbitration without prior application being lodged by either of the parties thereto.
Article 134
A mediator appointed by the Minister for Labour and Social Affairs shall convene a meeting urgently of representatives of the two parties and endeavour to settle the dispute amicably in the light of the statements made by them. A mediator may institute any inquiries which he considers necessary to his efforts of conciliation and may seek the assistance of any person. He shall record in writing a procès-verbal of his proceedings and the result of his mediation.
Article 135
If the mediator succeeds in settling the dispute, in whole or in part, he shall record in writing three copies of a formal statement of such agreement reached which shall be signed by him and by the representatives of the two parties thereto. One copy thereof shall be handed to each of the two parties concerned and the third copy shall be retained by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.
The said process-verbal formal statement shall acquire the executory force of final judgement upon an executory clause being endorsed therein by the Clerk’s Section of the Senior Civil Court. In the event that the mediator fails to settle the dispute entirely within a period of fifteen days of receipt of the application for conciliation by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, he shall record in writing a statement of the outcome of the conciliation proceedings and the reasons for the failure thereof. The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs shall transmit all the documents relating to the dispute to the Ministry of Justice and Islamic Affairs for submission to an Arbitration Board.
Article 136
An Arbitration Board shall be appointed as follows:
- three judges of the Senior Civil Court nominated by the Minister for Justice and Islamic Affairs at the commencement of each judicial year.
- a representative of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs nominated by the Minister concerned from amongst senior officers of that Ministry.
- a representative of the Ministry or Commerce and Agriculture nominated by the Minister concerned from amongst the senior officers of that Ministry.
- a representative on behalf of the workers nominated by them from amongst workers who are not directly related to such dispute; if the workers concerned fail to nominate their representative within the time fixed by the chairman of the Arbitration Board, he shall himself nominate such representative on their behalf;
- a representative on behalf of the employer concerned, nominated by him, from amongst employers who are not directly related to such dispute.
The most senior judge shall act as chairman of the Arbitration Board.
Members of the Arbitration Board, other than the judges, shall participate in its deliberations without being empowered to offer any opinion upon its decisions. The Arbitration Board shall convene its meetings in the Ministry of Justice and Islamic Affairs. The meetings of the Arbitration Board shall be valid notwithstanding the absence therefrom of both or either the representatives of the workers or of the employer concerned. The parties to the dispute shall bring their representatives on the day fixed for the examination of such dispute.
Article 137
The Chairman of an Arbitration Board shall convene a meeting to examine the dispute within a period of not more than fifteen days from the date of receipt of the documents relating thereto. The date of such meeting shall be communicated to the members thereof and to the two parties concerned at least three days prior to the date arranged for the meeting. A meeting of the Arbitration Board shall be attended in person by the two parties concerned or by lawyers duly authorized by them to act on their behalf before the Arbitration Board. An Arbitration Board shall deliver its award upon a dispute within a period not exceeding one month from the commencement of the hearing thereof. An Arbitration Board may decide to hear witnesses, delegate persons having expertise, inspect factories and work places, examine all documents and books of accounts relating to the dispute and take all measures to effect a settlement of the dispute. The said Arbitration Board may impose the penalties prescribed by the existing laws upon any person who fails to lodge the documents and notes required in support of his claim or upon any witness who fails or who refuses to attend before the Board without reasonable cause or who refuses to tender the oath or to answer questions provided that the provisions of the Code of Civil and Commercial Procedure shall be observed in respect of proof by submission of evidence.
Article 138
An Arbitration Board shall apply the statutory laws in force, and general and regulatory Orders, and may take due account of custom and the principles of equity to accord with the economic and social circumstances of the State. The award of an Arbitration Board shall be passed by a majority vote of the judges who are members of the Board and shall state the reasons for such award. Whenever an award is made differing from the opinion held by any of the other members of the Board, such dissenting opinion shall be recorded in the award together with the reasons for its exclusion therefrom.
An award shall be deemed to be a final judgement made by the Senior Civil Court upon an executory clause being endorsed therein by the Clerk’s Section of such Court. Either of the two parties to the dispute shall be entitled to submit the dispute again to an Arbitration Board after the elapse of at least one year from the date of implementation of the award provided that substantial changes justifying such action have occurred in the terms and conditions of work. The Ministry of Justice and Islamic Affairs shall, within three days from the date of making an award, transmit a copy thereof to the two parties to the dispute. The said Ministry of Justice and Islamic Affairs shall transmit the file of the dispute concerned, after having notified the two parties thereto, to the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs which shall record the award in a special register and maintain the file in its archives, and extracts thereof shall be made available to those persons concerned in accordance with the Orders regulating such matters made by the Minister for Labour and Social Affairs.
Article 139
The provision relating to the rectification or interpretation of court judgements prescribed in statutory laws shall be applicable to the awards made by an Arbitration Board. The provisions of statutory laws relating to the recusation of judges shall be applicable to members of the Arbitration Board other than the judges.
Article 140
When an application for conciliation is submitted, the workers concerned are prohibited from abstaining from work either totally or partially; similarly an employer is forbidden to stop the work either wholly or partially but subject to the following Article of this Law.
Article 141
The Minister for Labour and Social Affairs shall make an Order establishing a committee which shall consider applications submitted by establishments requesting permission to stop work either totally or partially. The said Order shall determine the functions of the committee, the procedures thereof and the Ministries to be represented therein.
ASU Human Resources Policy
ASU recognizes labor rights for all workers through a Human Resources (HR) policy that guarantees decent job.
The purpose of this policy is to establish a framework for the support of the Department of Human Resources (HR) at the Applied Sciences university to staff and students to supervise the work of the members of the faculty and the administration and works under the supervision from the Vice President of Administrative Affairs, who follows the department’s work on all things administrative systems and employee-related policies, as shown below:
- Studying the functional needs of the different departments in the university on the basis of approved scientific bases and based on the plans of the university and make appropriate recommendations in this regard.
- 2. Directing and developing the mechanism of recruitment, selection, recruitment and contracting with all employees of the university.
- 3. Renewal of work contracts for faculty members and administration and grant them annual increases according to the system.
- Contribute to the preparation of the estimated budget of the Human Resources Department in relation to the salaries of employees currently and expected to be appointed.
- Issuing certificates of experience and proof of work for faculty and administrative staff both from the resigners or those who are still at their jobs, in addition to issuing the documents needed by the employees after returning to their files.
- Calculation of the entitlements of employees to those who finish their services at the university.
- Supervise the follow-up of the implementation of the system of salaries and bonuses, incentives, and rewards of employees in a transparent and linked with performance and career expectations.
- Supervise the evaluation of performance of all employees of the university before the renewal of contracts based on the job description of each job using special models are updated as needed.
- 9. Studying the training and development needs of the employees in the various departments in the University and coordinating with the concerned authorities to meet these needs.
- Supervise the preparation of statistics on the employees of the university and distribute them to the persons concerned.
- Supervise the preparation of documents related to labor disputes and follow up with the concerned authorities.
- Follow up the employees’ time and record leave to preserve their rights and rights of the institution.
- Performing any administrative work assigned to him by the President and the Vice President for Administrative Affairs Furthermore, ASU guaranteeing equivalent rights of workers or of its outsourcing activities to third parties according to with the Bahraini Labour Law.
Inclusive Labor Organization
The purpose of the participation Law is to offer people with occupational disabilities the opportunity to carry out regular work. As employers with a public task towards inclusive economic growth, the university of applied science considers itself socially responsible to do everything possible to make the labor organization as inclusive as possible. Unions and employers take this joint responsibility seriously and will include provisions in the collective agreement that will enhance the objectives of the Participation Act. The parties to the collective agreement agree that people with occupational disabilities will be paid in accordance with scale 1 of the collective agreement of the universities of applied sciences.
Inclusive Economic Growth
ASU recognizes labor rights for all workers, in this case it provides people with disabilities with opportunities, offering them jobs, preparing them to be entrepreneurs. ASU has succeeded in showing the community and the world that people with disabilities are very creative and can be very productive if their potential is harnessed. With this, they are achieving the eighth SDG, which consists of promoting inclusive, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full employment and productive employment and a decent job for all.
Leave and Holidays
https://www.asu.edu.bh/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Staff-Handbook-Eng-Final.pdf
Based on labor laws of employment for female personnel, ASU has an employment policy regarding vacations and leave where it mentions that workers have the right to pregnancy and maternity leave in relation to the birth of their children.
University Syndicate
ASU has a workers’ union which watches over the rights of its colleagues and has the voice of all for complaints or claims that arise during working hours. The main spokesperson is Faisal Al-Saeed an Assistant professor of ASU. The union was created at the end of 2020 with the purpose of giving workers the ability to debate internal issues of working hours and generate spaces that promote a better work environment.
Figure 6. University Syndicate, take from [5]
The President delivered a lecture at a conference organized by the Bahrain Free Labour Unions Federation and held under the patronage of H.E the Minister for Education. The President addressed in his presentation the challenges facing the Higher Education sector in Bahrain and the Arab Region along with the employees’ rights.
In line with the kingdom of Bahrain labour union laws and labour laws, the university guarantees its employees’ rights through a set of policies and bylaws that are published for all staff, in addition, the staff handbook stipulates the steps in which an employee can submit a grievance against a decision and a grievance form is available in the university intranet for all staff regardless of gender, religion or race.
Council Elections
https://www.asu.edu.bh/student/student-affairs/students-council/conditions-council-elections/
There are several elections to represent university staff and represent the students that take place in the university every year, the procedure to nominate students in the student council (students union)
Staff handbook Purpose
https://www.asu.edu.bh/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Staff-Handbook-Eng-Final.pdf
Applied Science University has a staff handbook, and the purpose of this staff handbook is made to:
- Clearly communicate the rules and regulations that are applicable to staff, enabling them to perform their roles and responsibilities in line with the policies and procedures of the University.
- Provide employees with a working guide to making them aware of the day-to-day operational and administrative requirements.
- Foster transparency in employee communications, and ensure all employees are aware of their rights and entitlements.
ASU Organizational Chart
https://www.asu.edu.bh/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/ASU-Organizational-Chart-English.pdf
The university has a representative from the academic members of staff and the administrative members of staff and a student to attend in the various committees across the university and attend the university council meetings, all the representing members mentioned are elected through an election campaign to and they participate in the decision-making process.
