Workers in Bahrain are being urged to ignore anonymous calls for a nationwide strike.

Messages asking people to stay at home until the demands of Pearl Roundabout protesters are met have been circulating via e-mails and the BlackBerry messenger service.

But the General Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions (GFBTU) yesterday distanced itself from the calls.

'There are anonymous calls for general strike urging people not to report to work,' said secretary-general Salman Mahfoodh.

'The federation has no role to play in such misleading statements,' he said.

Mahfoodh said the organisation made it a point to release statements to the media and post information on social networking websites of any communication it issues.

'We have met with trade union heads of Alba, Bapco and other companies and have conveyed that all calls for general strike should come directly from the federation,' he said.

Mahfoodh said some unionists maybe calling for strikes but he said this 'was in their own individual capacity, without representing their trade union or the federation.'

The union leader urged public not to spread such messages which could cause panic.

He said any strike would only be a last resort if talks between government and opposition groups collapse.

'Trade unions should inform their company and the federation before going on any flash strike,' he said.

The GFBTU initially organised a national strike on February 20, before calling it off at the last minute.

However, several workers still failed to show up at work and instead joined protesters at Pearl Roundabout.

GFBTU is associated with the national dialogue process initiated by His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander, which is backed by six political societies.

Members say their demands are similar to that of protesters and opposition societies to dissolve the government and political and social reforms.

The federation is associated with about 70 trade unions with more than 20,000 members.-TradeArabia News Service