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Discuss this article (0 Comments)Port workers threaten to strike in Kuwait
by This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it on Sunday, 01 March 2009
STRIKE ACTION: Workers at three ports in Kuwait are threatening to strike over pay. (Getty Images)
Workers at three ports in Kuwait have threatened to go on strike on Monday over a failure to agree new working conditions, it was reported on Sunday.
The labor union at the Ports' Authority said the strike was in protest at the government’s ongoing failure to approve a new salary scale (plus incentives) to agree on the nature of work performed and to stop the transfer of employees to contracted work, according to Kuwait daily Kuwait Times.
The union has been wrangling over the same issues for years with different ministries, and has decided strike action is the only way forward, it said in a statement.
Meetings with employees at the three ports Shuwaikh, Shuaiba and Doha had proved there was wide support for the strike, an unnamed union source told the newspaper.
"We did not wish to reach this stage, but the negligence shown to our demands has become intolerable. Therefore, we shall take the responsibility on the day of the strike to express the laborers' anger towards the authority," the union said in a satement.
However, Minister of Communication, Electricity and Water, Nabeel bin Salamah, said the strike was not democratic.
The union responded by saying that those who opposed union demands were responsible for the lockdown and should be held accountable over the losses the ports will incur.
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