KUWAIT CITY, Sept 24: The salary increment approved recently for the oil sector workers will not have a negative impact on the government’s budget because 95 percent of the national income comes from this sector, reports Al-Rai daily quoting Head of the Petroleum and Petrochemical Indus-tries Workers Union Abdulaziz Al-Sharthan.
Al-Sharthan explained the increment is the outcome of a 10-year strategy laid down by the petroleum corporation and the union. He said this came after completion of a survey on the salaries of oil sector workers in the Gulf. He pointed out this increment is just one of the steps being taken to develop human resources.
Clarifying the increment is different from the demands of workers in other ministries and government departments, Al-Sharthan asserted the increment for the oil sector workers was approved only after conducting a thorough study, especially since some companies encourage the skilled Kuwaiti labor force to transfer to other establishments in and outside the country.
Al-Sharthan said the increment approved by the Civil Service Commission (CSC) was presented at random without studying the pros and cons. He vehemently denied speculations that the union has cancelled its plan to carry out a massive protest action, indicating that they merely postponed it until the payment of the increment. He warned the union will take harsher measures in case the government continues to ignore the workers’ demands.
In another development, there are indications that the civilian employees in the Ministry of Interior will be granted the same pay scales as their colleagues in the police force, reports Al-Rai daily.
Deputy Premier and Minister of Interior Sheikh Ahmad Al-Humoud met with members of the civilian employees union in the ministry and gave orders to form a committee, headed by the acting Undersecretary Lt General Sulaiman Al-Fahad, to review their demands. Informed sources said the committee will study demands to include jobs in the departments of technical inspection, criminal evidence and prisons in the ‘hard jobs’ category. There are also demands for granting civilian employees increments for administrative and supervisory works.
The ministry will soon pay out in arrears a KD 100 increment to employees whose pay scales were not revised due to their receiving of other allowances, sources added.