KUWAIT (Reuters)
The Kuwaiti government reached an agreement with Asian workers on Monday to end a three-day strike over pay and conditions, state news agency KUNA said.
Hundreds of mainly Bangladeshi workers had gone on strike in Kuwait, seeking better pay amid soaring prices and sparking calls by deputies to improve working conditions for thousands of expatriates.
Earlier, some workers had overturned cars and ransacked offices before being dispersed by police.
The strike in the oil exporting Gulf Arab state came against a backdrop of soaring inflation.
KUNA quoted cabinet Minister Faisal al-Hajji as saying the workers had agreed to return to work after the government said it would ensure their rights and that anyone participating in riots would be deported.
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Protesting exploitation More than 500 Asian cleaners and workers earlier staged street demonstrations until police dispersed them, residents and a security source said. A witness said police used tear gas and batons.
Newspapers carried pictures of cleaners demonstrating against their living conditions, demanding a salary rise. "How can we survive on 8 dinars ($30) a month, and suffer mistreatment on top of that," a worker told the Kuwait Times.
The paper quoted workers as saying they had been contracted for a monthly salary of 50 dinars, but were only being paid 20 dinars, from which their employers deducted 12 dinars every month for a visa residency charge.
Al-Watan newspaper carried a photograph of a laborer holding a list of demands which included raising salaries to 40 dinars a month and having a holiday every two years.
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Government response Labor Ministry inspectors are to meet workers' representatives to review their demands, KUNA quoted Acting Assistant Undersecretary Hamad al-Medhadi as saying.
Newspapers said the cabinet would discuss a recent string of strikes by foreign workers at its weekly meeting on Monday, while parliament deputies demanded action.
"We agreed in parliament ... to identify the problems those workers suffer from and to know rights they have been denied," Ali al-Omair, a member of parliament, told reporters.
KUNA said Kuwaiti officials met Bangladesh embassy officials on Sunday to discuss the workers' problems. Residents said a strike by cleaning workers had started on Saturday.
A string of strikes has sparked calls by parliament deputies to improve conditions for expatriates, mainly Asians and Arabs, who make up two thirds of Kuwait's 3.2 million population. Annual inflation hit 11.4 percent in April in the world's seventh largest oil exporter as high housing and food costs continued to spur price rises. |
