KUWAIT CITY, Jan 15: The new private sector labor law will deprive millions of expatriate workers their right to certain benefits, reports Al-Qabas daily quoting a source. According to the source, application of the law will be in two ways. He explained its application to current private sector employees will not be retroactive, while the other aspect concerns workers recruited after implementation of the law. He said the law will lead to the issuance of ministerial decisions, after implementation of a decision allowing a certain group of expatriates to transfer their residence to another sponsor without approval from the current sponsor after three years in service.


The source added the Labor Sector at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor will change the mechanism for calculating needs and raise the ceiling for employees. He believes the establishment of a public authority for labor is the right solution, which will pave the way to the separation of the Need Calculation Unit from the Labor Department. He stressed the ministry has been considering the need to apply the new law retroactively as regards to the calculation of their entitlements and indemnity at the end of service. “Other aspects of the new law are not applicable to current employees, so law number 38/1964 will cover these aspects,” the source added.
In another development, Al-Wasat daily has reported that the ministry officially requested from the Central Tenders Committee (CTC) not to deal with Al-Abraj and Al-Maseela cleaning companies in the future.


Sources said the ministry forwarded this request because the two companies have violated item 29 of labor law number 38/1964. It has also asked the CTC not to award any bid by these two companies in the future, whether with the ministry or any other government departments.
Sources confirmed the CTC listened to the statements of Assistant Undersecretary for Labor Affairs Mansour Al-Mansour, Labor Inspection Department Chairperson Fahad Al-Nuwaiem, the Al-Abraj general manager, and that of Al-Maseela, Bader Al-Ajmi. After this, the committee reached a decision to approve the recommendation of the ministry to exclude the two companies from participation in its tenders for only three months, sources added.


In another story, the Public Department for Immigration Affairs at the Ministry of Interior is studying the possibility of preparing a working contract with a unified form to be specified for domestic workers in Kuwait, reports Awan daily.
The department intends to have all domestic workers’ offices and sponsors commit to the proposed contract. The idea of a unified working contract came during a meeting held in the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor recently to discuss updates in the labor sector, which was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Interior, Kuwait Chambers of Trade and Commerce, and the Indian Embassy. - Arab Times