Kuwaiti regime banning oil workers’ unions

This video says about itself:

17 April 2016

More than 7,000 oil workers in Kuwait have begun an open-ended strike to protest government plans to cut wages and benefits. The strike threatening a slash in production comes during talks in Qatar discussing an output freeze to boost oil prices.

“The overall number of workers exceeds 13,000, and here we have 7,000 [taking part in the strike],” the oil workers union chief Saif al-Qahtani was quoted as saying by TASS. He added that the union is aiming to reach their goals by halting output. Hit by the sharp nosedive in world crude prices, the Kuwait government is considering a new payroll scheme for industry employees. If introduced, it will include the country’s 20,000 oil workers, meaning an automatic cut in their wages, benefits and incentives.

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“The strike will go ahead as planned,” union chief al-Qahtani told AFP, holding the industry and the oil minister responsible. In addition to cutting wages and benefits, the workers are also protesting plans to privatize parts of the industry.

The workers’ union boycotted negotiations called for Thursday by the Social Affairs and Labor Ministry. On Saturday, they also turned down an appeal from Kuwait‘s acting Oil Minister Anas al-Saleh to call off the strike. …

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Kuwait is OPEC’s third largest oil producer with deposits making up to eight percent of the world’s reserves. According to rough estimates, the country’s industry extracts around three million barrels per day.

From daily The Morning Star in Britain:

Government set to ban oil unions after walkout

Monday 18th April 2016

KUWAITI oil unions face a ban after members went on strike yesterday over government cuts to pay and other benefits.

Thousands of workers gathered for demonstrations at the start of the local working week in the town of Ahmadi, headquarters of the state-run Kuwait Oil Company.

Kuwait Oil Company Workers’ Union spokesman Adel al-Fadhel said workers opted to picket after government officials failed to meet the union’s demands to spare salaries and benefits from cuts.

The changes are seen as part of a broader attack on workers’ living standards amid the current slump in world oil prices.

“The government rejected our proposals and is adamant on decreasing employee salaries,” Mr Fadhel said. “This is not acceptable.”

But authorities have meanwhile taken steps to dissolve the oil-sector unions and have directed the prosecutor general to investigate their leaders.

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