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Ministry mandates cleaning worker salary increase |
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Saturday, 23 October 2010 01:54 |
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KUWAIT: The Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor (MSAL) contained a strike carried out by a group of Bangladeshi cleaning workers, reported Al-Qabas.
The workers agreed to return to their jobs as long as the ministry promises to address their demands. The protestors, who live in several buildings and work for five different companies, stopped working in protest of very low salaries and months worth of unpaid wages. Teams from the ministry's labor conflicts department and the Bangladeshi embassy were present at the scene of the strike. They were able to convince the workers to go back to their jobs by promising to get their employers to either provide them with their rights or terminate their contracts to allow them to return to their home countries. The Ministry's Undersecretary, Mohammad Al-Kandary, as well as Undersecretary Assistant for Labor Sector Affairs Mansour Al-Mansour, are closely following up on the matter," said the head of the labor conflicts department Hadi Al-Enizy. He revealed that the ministry will oblige companies to start increasing worker's minimum wages from KD 40 to KD 60 a month starting January. The recent wave of strikes urged ministries to meet with MSAL to come up with ways to address the concerns of cleaning workers, reported Al-Rai. They proposed imposing strict measures against violating companies, such as terminating cleaning companies' contracts with ministries or suspending their activities altogether. The report quoted official sources from the Ministry of Education (MoE), who indicated that a number of ministry officials participated in a meeting held by MSAL to address the labor strikes. During the meeting MSAL confirmed that they are willing to enforce the law fully against violating companies, even if they have to be shut down. During the meeting, the MSAL requested that the MoE inform companies employing laborers that work in schools to commit to all labor regulations. They also asked that the MoE tell contracted companies that their laborers rights must be met or else legal action will be taken against them. - Kuwait Times
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