KUWAIT CITY, Feb 16: Head of the volunteering team for workers in the oil sector, Salem Al-Ajmi, announced that the team is the legitimate representative of the workers in the private oil sector in the absence of a union and its board of directors to defend their rights and demands, reports Al-Anba daily. In a press statement, Al-Ajmi called on the government to intervene urgently and defuse the crisis before the start of a new phase of escalation in order to provide all the rights of workers in the private oil sector.

He stressed that their number exceeds 14,000 citizens who work without proper rights under the labor laws of the private sector. Al-Ajmi insisted that they must be subject to labor laws in the oil sector, according to law No. 28/1969, which grants all rights to private oil workers, and equated them with workers in the government oil sector, adding, “It is unfortunate that this law is not applied on the ground.”

He said the volunteer team will not allow the rights of the Kuwaiti employees of the private oil sector to be lost in vain despite the presence of final judicial rulings. Al-Ajmi called on members of the National Assembly to intervene to grant the citizens in the private oil sector their just rights “before things escalate”. He concluded by saying, “A new phase of escalation will begin soon, reaching a sit-in, which is something we do not seek, but we will never abandon our just rights.”