Kuwait Airways union stages sit-in to demand rights
Passport stamping adds to fishermen’s woes: union
Kuwait Airways’ employees syndicate yesterday organized a sit-in outside KAC headquarters in Dajeej to demand the rights of pilots, engineers and other employees that it says have not been honored. MP Mohammed Al-Khodair took part in the demonstration and stressed that lawmakers will demand these rights as well. He noted that law number 6/2008 is very clear and the fact that it was not put into practice means the government is taking the parliament too lightly.
Kuwait Lawyers Society secretary Mohannad Talal Al-Sayer claimed Kuwait Airways and its subsidiary companies have been trying to shake out and get rid of Kuwaiti employees. He stressed the lawyers society fully supports Kuwait Airways employees and protection of their rights. Also speaking was the head of KAC retirees Ahmed Al-Randi, who said retired Kuwait Airways employees are standing side by side by those still in service. He added some retirees have also been deprived of some rights such as annual free tickets.
Fishermen union
Kuwait Fishermen Union held a seminar at its headquarters in Sharq, which was attended by Kuwait Coastguards’ marine formations assistant director Col Tareq Al-Wazeq, the Public Authority for Agricultural Affairs and Fish Resources’ marine control manager Marzouq Al-Habbi, the union’s lawyer Saleh Al-Harran and a number of board members.
Chairman Thaher Al-Sowayyan reviewed the problems fishermen faced during the season that ended in the beginning of January and stressed that the decision to transfer fishermen to Um Al-Maradem Island had negatively affected them and caused considerable losses because of the extra 60 miles they had to sail, leaving them less time for fishing. Sowayyan added that the decision to stamp fishermen’s passports in and out and having to leave the passports with fishermen made many of them flee, leaving sponsors to suffer unbearable losses because many of their boats stopped operating. Had added that the stamping also used up passport pages and fishermen will have to pay KD 50 to issue new ones. “Half of Kuwait’s fishing fleet will not work this coming season if the situation remains the same,” he warned. Wazeq stressed that passports had to be stamped for security reasons and added that the fact that some fishermen absconded was a matter amongst fishermen themselves.
Comprehensive healthcare
MP Dr Mohammed Al-Howailah recently filed a proposal to fully equip all polyclinics in Kuwait to act as comprehensive healthcare centers with the aim of lessening pressure on public hospitals. He also suggested having some of those centers work 24/7.