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| The right to strike is guaranteed for its citizens but foreign workers, who make up a major portion of Kuwait’s labor force, do not have the right to strike. Above, the Kuwaiti international airport. (AFP) |
Monday’s strike by Kuwaiti staff did not affect flights, officials said
The right
to strike is guaranteed for citizens in Kuwait, but such actions remain rare in
the Gulf country
KUWAIT
CITY: Hundreds of workers at Kuwait’s international airport held a one-hour
strike Monday to demand better working conditions, threatening to stage longer
walkouts in the coming days.
Ahmed
Mohammed Al-Kandari, a union representative, said workers were calling for
improved treatment and to be compensated for daily exposure to pollution and
noise.
Monday’s
strike by Kuwaiti staff did not affect flights, officials said.
The right
to strike is guaranteed for citizens in Kuwait, but such actions remain rare in
the Gulf country.
Foreign
workers do not have the right to strike.
“Airport
traffic is very normal,” Sheikh Salman Al-Hamoud Al-Sabah, head of the General
Directorate of Civil Aviation, said.
Another
official, Saleh Al-Fadaghi, the airport’s director of operations, also said
flights were not affected.
“During the
one-hour strike, 19 flights were operated as scheduled. There were five
departures and 14 arrivals,” he said.
Kandari
said the purpose of the strike was not to disrupt operations but “to make our
voices heard.”
He added
that Kuwaiti workers would hold a further two-hour strike on Wednesday and a
24-hour strike on Sunday if their demands are not met.
Of 4,500
civil aviation employees, 1,500 took part in Monday’s strike, he said.
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