NATIONAL
Thursday, September 2, 2010
KUWAIT: A group of the drivers who are on strike. — Photos by Joseph Shagra
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KUWAIT: The drivers talking to the Kuwait Times reporter.
KPTC drivers on strike, paralyze the public transport system By Rawan Khalid KUWAIT: Some 1,850 drivers from the Kuwait Public Transport Company (KPTC) have been staging a strike for four days because, they claim, their employer deducted KD 50 from their salaries, are forced to work extra hours for free and sick leaves are not accepted. According to some of the drivers, for four days, no official or representative from the KPTC has questioned the reason behind their
absence from the job. The men on strike were sacked by the company, the drivers claim. They feel that during Ramadan, works hours should be reduced to six but drivers sit behind the wheel for over 10 hours a day. The ordinary work days, according to the Labor Law, should stretch to eight hours for drivers. This sometimes translates to 12 hours. These and other woes have forced them to walk out of the job and to seek support from the public. Talking to the Kuwait Times yesterday, Ibrahim Atia Ahmed, an Egyptian driver who has been working with KPTC since 2003 explained the modus operandi of the company. “In June last year, we were brought new contracts at 2 am and
‘We have had enough’
sick leave form from the hospital so that I could rest in my room for at least two days, and the doctor refused it.” Ayman Farouq, a 27-year-old Egyptian who works as a driver was fired just like the rest of his friends. He claims that some of his colleagues are in jail, “Here are our demands: We want them back; we want the fired people to join work; we want the KD 50. If our demands are met we will go back to work.” Sandro, a 37-year-old Indian who has been working with KPTC for one year said that his salary was KD 140. “Food alone costs me KD 40 and we need minimum KD 50 more to live,” he said. He explained that the accommodation provided by the company is shab-
traffic ticket fee paper is written in Arabic so I can’t even verify if I have committed a violation or not. I think we are oppressed,” he said. Egyptian Zahran Abd Al-Azeem also pleaded for help. He has been working with KPTC for four years and says they forced him to sign the contract. “If I had refused they could have let me go.” He said, “Even if we are drivers we should be treated like humans, not animals. We lost our rights a year and three months ago.”
KUWAIT: The drivers outside the residence. Abel Mohammad
Ibrahim Atiya Ahmad
Al-Sayed Farahat
were asked to sign them immediately accepting a KD 50 cut from our salaries. We were given the option to leave the place in the morning,” Ahmed said. He explained that his salary was KD 140 initially but the increase of salaries in the country has given public employees a KD 50 pay rise. After a year, the company introduced a new contract. “We had to sign it by force. Those who refused to sign the contract were forced to leave. But we have loans taken from the company and we have to pay them. KPTC
KUWAIT DIGEST
A smooth route By Fahad Al-Handal
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lot of talk has been made about the potential of the development plan, for which billions of dinars have been allocated. This plan is a challenge to Kuwait’s financial stability and is a very dangerous risk with serious consequences should the plan fail. Kuwait could suffer the same catastrophe as major cities around the world because of unsuccessful financial exploits. Placing the country’s financial and investment future - which uses oil as its single source of income - on the line with the development plan makes it necessary that we take a closer look at the local market. Since the plan concerns local development we need to guarantee that the plan goes forward with as little error as possible. Citizens need their country to provide them with equal opportunities to participate in the development process. Patriotism and equality need to be an important part of the development process for it to be a success. One question that I keep coming back to is how come the topic of how to finance the plan was never brought up when Parliament was discussing the development plan or the state budget? Shouldn’t this topic have been discussed before the budget, the privatization law or other topics? The next few days will reveal whether the path of the development plan will be a smooth one or not. — Al-Rai
in the news Diplomatic positions shuffled KUWAIT: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs shuffled the positions of those with diplomatic missions abroad, reported Al-Jarida. They also created new missions in a number of areas in order to expand Kuwait’s diplomatic activities. Official sources said that the reappointments were part of the ministry’s plan to expand diplomatic missions to the different countries of the world and market Kuwaiti politics there. The source said that the appointments were made after the periodic evaluation the ministry makes every year. The sources pointed out that the added diplomatic missions are in line with the state’s policy to turn Kuwait into a regional financial and economic center. Project financing meeting KUWAIT: The State’s Deputy Premier for Economic Affairs Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah will provide the Cabinet with a detailed review of the work undertaken so far, and the amount of expenditure incurred by ministries’ budgets for the fiscal year 2010/2011 on major projects. These topics will be discussed during an extraordinary Cabinet meeting that will be held today and chaired by His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser AlMohammad Al-Sabah.
recruited us from our home countries. Now I will wait till my rights are granted, he said. “Then I plan to leave the country and go back home,” Ahmed said. Al-Sayed Farahat, a 36-year-old driver who has been working with KPTC since May 2007 had a similar story to share. He signed a contract for KD 140 before arriving in Kuwait. After he worked with KPTC for one year, his salary was increased with KD 50 when the public sector was given a pay rise. “My salary was then KD 190 so I started to buy things in installments,” he said. However, the situation turned around in an instant. In June 2009, they sent me a letter stating that they do not want to renew my contract. I pay monthly installments of KD 50. I also pay back a loan I took from KPTC and now I have KD
33 monthly to return. Overtime used to be paid in KPTC, the drivers say, but after the signing of the new contracts the extra hours were simply ignored and left unpaid. The drivers claim that they worked at least two hours extra on a daily basis. The one extra hour used to be paid with KD 1. “At the end of the day, I want all my rights. Then, let them fire me but I want to be satisfied before leaving the country,” he said. “I will not search for any other job because I had enough in these two years,” Farahat said. Adel Mohammad, an Egyptian who has been part of KPTC for nine years shared a similar claim. He signed a contract on 5 December 2001 with a validity of two years. “After these two years were complete, the contract used to be renewed automatically.
“My salary was KD 160 and later risen to KD 210.” The condition turned for the worse on the night when they were asked to sign new contracts with reduced salaries. “I could not say no and not sign the contract because I took a loan from the company amounting to KD 500. I don’t have this amount of money to pay them. We are tired of what they have been doing because other people sit in offices that are cooled by air conditioning, but we are driving all day long in the streets in this bad weather,” Mohammad said. Ismail Hamed Sundae, has been part of the drivers’ fleet at KPTC for over 18 months. He has been paid KD 140 since he signed a contract. He said, “We are oppressed in this company.” Sundae has a problem with the doctors in the company. “I brought a
Sandro
Ismail Hamed by. The bathroom facilities are bad and also there is no health insurance, he said. In Sandro’s words there are hazards on the roads in Kuwait and not having an insurance can be tricky, “When we drive children start throwing stones at our windows and we get injured. The company said it was not their responsibility. Even if damages occur during an accident, expenses are cut from their salaries without any prior notice. Traffic tickets are also a burden on the drivers’ pockets. “The
Zahran Abd Al-Azeem