KUWAIT CITY, Jan 20: The Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor has reportedly prepared a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to protect the rights of expatriate workers, reports Al-Nahar daily quoting sources.
Revealing the MoU will be distributed soon to the embassies of countries which send workers to Kuwait, sources said the MoU stipulates the need to provide safe accommodation and job security to the expatriate workers.  Sources affirmed the ministry took this step to curb the rising number of marginal workers in the country and balance the population. 
Sources added the ministry has prepared a MoU with the Indian Embassy concerning the recruitment of professionals, fixing percentage of workers, wages and other employment privileges. 
Sources stressed this is part of the ministry’s commitment to stop the recruitment of marginal workers and polish procedures for the issuance of work permits. 

Sources confirmed the MoU includes classification of professions and academic qualifications, as well as balancing professions, according to the labor market needs and fixing minimum wages in the private and public sectors.
“We shall ensure that workers are able to transfer from one sponsor to another after completing one year with the first sponsor, while the submission of police clearance certificates should be mandatory and workers must take legal procedures, instead of organizing protests every time their rights are abused,” sources added.
The new private sector labor law includes a number of stipulations that violate the international agreements, reports Al-Watan Arabic daily quoting Secretary-General of the National Union of Kuwaiti Employees and Chairman of the Workers Syndicate at the Civil Service Commission (CSC) Anwar Al-Dahoum.

Al-Dahoum disclosed these violations have led to the suspension of Kuwait’s membership in Geneva and reflect its lack of commitment in protecting the rights of workers. He opined the new labor law is an embarrassment to the legislative authority, which should have familiarized itself with the stipulations of the international agreements before issuing its decision in this regard.
He said the flaws uncovered in the new law imply that some authorities have misled the legislature by submitting inaccurate interpretations of the international agreements. He pointed out Articles 24, 46, 98, 100, 104, 106 and 124 are illegal and unconstitutional as they contradict the international agreements. He added Article 106 of the new law is against Article 5 of international agreement number 87.
 Meanwhile, Al-Sabah daily has quoted National Assembly Speaker Jassem Al-Khorafi as saying that the disputed articles in the new labor law will be revised soon. He confirmed an investigative committee has been formed to look into the alleged errors, which he attributed to the series of modifications made on the law. He stated MP Hamad Saadoun has informed the Secretariat-General of the Parliament about the mistakes in two or more articles.

 On the other hand, State Minister for National Assembly Affairs and Minister of Communications Mohammad Al-Baseeri clarified the bylaw stipulates a period of one month for the issuance of the law through a decree. He urged the Parliament to finalize the issue as the specified period for the issuance of the law will end on Feb 2. He warned that failure to meet this deadline will lead to the withdrawal of the law.
 Moreover, Secretary of Health Affairs Committee MP Dr Aseel Al-Awadhi asserted the panel is not responsible for the alleged mistakes as the issue is under the jurisdiction of the Secretariat-General, which misinterpreted the minutes of the session due to the excessive noise during discussion of the law.