Kuwait Refinery Workers Threaten Strike Over Rights

By Fiona MacDonald

Oct. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Workers at Kuwait National Petroleum Co. are threatening to shut down the country's three refineries from Oct. 19 in a protest over equal rights.

``We issued a letter that we plan to strike on Sunday,'' Rashed al-Hajeri, a member of the KNPC Labor Syndicate, said in a phone interview today. ``We have been asking for promotions for almost one year now and have received nothing. Our colleagues with the same jobs in other companies under the umbrella of Kuwait Petroleum Corp. have higher positions than us. We should be equal.''

If their demands aren't met, the strike will start from 7 a.m. local time on Oct. 19, al-Hajeri said. The syndicate is calling on 3,000 workers to join the protest.

``This means the refineries will be totally shut down,'' according to al-Hajeri. ``Distillation and exports will be affected, along with local marketing and 40 KNPC gas stations.'' The strike will last until the workers' demands are met, he said.

Kuwait's three refineries, Mina Abdullah, Mina Al-Ahmadi and Shuaiba, have a total capacity of 936,000 barrels a day. Kuwait is the fourth-largest oil producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Kuwait Petroleum, the state-owned oil company, has asked to be given until March to study the workers' demands, according to an e-mailed statement from the syndicate. The management has ``procrastinated'' in meeting its demands, which would cost an annual 1.76 million dinars ($6.5 million) in benefits for the 2,000 employees who qualify for them, the statement said.

KNPC couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

To contact the reporter on this story: Fiona MacDonald in Kuwait FmacDonald4@bloomberg.net