Kuwait to deploy national guard at oil facilities over strike: report

Kuwait City: Kuwait was to deploy national guard units Wednesday to run and protect some oil facilities after workers announced a major strike for this weekend, a newspaper said.

The units would start working at facilities in the Gulf state's oil-rich southern region, Al-Rai said, citing unnamed sources. The report could not be confirmed. Kuwait's oil workers' union decided to begin an open-ended strike from Sunday after a dispute with the government over proposed pay cuts.

Hit by the sharp drop in crude prices, Kuwait is introducing a new payroll scheme for all public employees and wants to include the country's 20,000 oil workers, which would mean an automatic cut in wages and incentives.

The union decision for the strike at all production units and other facilities was taken on Monday, a day after talks with acting oil minister Anas al-Saleh broke down.

Saleh told parliament Wednesday that negotiations with unions were still ongoing.

National oil conglomerate Kuwait Petroleum Corp. said it had accepted a request by the ministry of social affairs and labour for negotiations with the workers.

KPC spokesman Sheikh Talal Khaled al-Sabah said the ministry had scheduled negotiations with the oil workers for Thursday, and that the KPC would attend.

He urged oil employees to reject the strike.

A spokesman for the workers said that the union was meeting to study the ministry request and whether to attend new negotiations. Independent MP Mohammad Tana defended the employees' demands and rejected any plan to cut their pay, saying that "benefits and incentives of the oil workers should not be touched."

"We are faced with a strike that could paralyse the country and may result in huge losses," Tana told parliament.