Batelco insisted its services would not be affected after 85 workers were sacked for allegedly breaching their contracts.

The dismissals were made after an internal investigation, a spokesman told our sister newspaper Gulf Daily News (GDN).

'The action taken is consistent with the Bahrain's labour laws,' he said.

'The number of staff terminated is 85 and investigations are still ongoing.

'Business continuity will not be affected due to the dismissals and our customers can depend on our services round-the-clock as usual.'

Batelco union sources earlier said the action had been taken against workers who abstained from work following a strike called by the General Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions last month.

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 who were evicted from near the Bahrain Financial Harbour. It was called off on March 22.

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

Gulf Air also announced yesterday it had dismissed two more workers and suspended three others after investigations. This follows an earlier announcement on Sunday that 15 workers' services had been terminated.

Meanwhile, Bapco Trade Union sources confirmed all 15 board members had been served suspension orders.

'We have all been stopped from going to work,' said one board member.

'We are not aware of any other suspensions and dismissals as yet but fear many more might happen once investigations have been completed.'

Bapco officials could not be reached for comment yesterday.

The GDN earlier reported Bapco had started an investigation into absenteeism at the company in the last six weeks and promised to take its union to court for instigating workers to strike.

It also dismissed employees' union chairman Abdulghaffar Abdulhussain.

More than 200 workers at top Bahrain companies have already been dismissed from service for absenteeism.

They include an estimated 100 from Alba, 100 from APM Terminals and 50 from Bahrain Airport Services.

Bahrain University also said its investigation committees had taken action against staff and students allegedly involved in violence at its Sakhir campus on March 13.

Sources said several faculty members had been dismissed and final warnings issued to others for having been part of disruptive events.-TradeArabia News Service