Bahrain's Shi'ite workers are venting their fury on online forums over trade union bosses for their policies during the recent unrest.

Many of them are now demanding that the president and members of the general-secretariat of the General Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions resign, reports our sister paper Akhbar Al Khaleej.

In letters published on various Internet forums, they say they are now facing layoffs and pay cuts because of the federation's wrong policies during the unrest. Some of them have even voiced fears of being marginalised as a result.

The Akhbar Al Khaleej report says their call for resignations aims to protect the source of income for thousands of workers and prevent them from being sued and severely punished for following the federation's policies.

The federation first announced a nationwide strike on February 20, but called it off after the military withdrew from the GCC Roundabout.

It then announced an indefinite strike on March 13 in solidarity with protesters, which was called off on March 22.

Businesses and industries have warned of job cuts over large-scale absenteeism, prompting a government warning of a major crackdown unless workers get back to work.

The GDN reported on Thursday that the federation had appealed to His Majesty King Hamad to intervene and ensure that workers were not sacked from their jobs. Among the companies hit by absenteeism during the unrest were Bapco and Alba.-TradeArabia News Service