VZCZCXRO4854
PP RUEHDE
DE RUEHKU #0972/01 0790924
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 200924Z MAR 06
FM AMEMBASSY KUWAIT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3578
INFO RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KUWAIT 000972 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR NEA/ARP, INL/HSTC AND G/TIP 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB PHUM KU TIP
SUBJECT: FREEDOM AGENDA: THE PROPOSED NEW LABOR LAW: 
CRITIQUES, CONTENT, AND PROSPECTS 
 
REF: A. KUWAIT 804 
     ¶B. KUWAIT 768 
 
¶1. (U)  Summary: The Government has identified passing a new 
Labor Law as one of its legislative priorities, though Post 
contacts doubt its passage in the short term.  The Kuwait Bar 
Association held March 13 a seminar to debate the benefits of 
a proposed new Labor Law.  The participants, representing 
most of the major sectors concerned with the labor law, 
criticized the new law sharply, especially for not adequately 
addressing expatriate labor issues and for not encouraging 
the modernizing of private sector and domestic (i.e. 
household) labor.  The proposed law, like the current labor 
law, would not apply to domestic laborers, who would remain 
under the administrative responsibility of the Ministry of 
Interior.  Despite the failings of the new law, it does 
contain TIP and human-rights-related provisions, such as 
criminalizing the exploitation of foreign workers through 
visa trading and charging workers fees to remain in the 
country.   End Summary. 
 
Prospects for the Labor Law's Passage 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (U)  The new Government has called for greater political 
and economic reform, and included the Labor Law as one of its 
top priorities.  Assistant Undersecretary for Labor Affairs 
at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor (MOSAL), Abdullah 
Hamad Al-Me'dhadi, told LES Political Specialist that the 
Council of Ministers has approved the law.  It is now 
awaiting Amiri approval, after which it will be transferred 
to the relevant committee at the National Assembly.  Absent a 
formal Government letter asking that it be moved to the top 
of the agenda, it could stay in the committee indefinitely. 
Dr. Salih Al-Shaykh, who is filling in for Al-Me'dhadi while 
he is on medical leave, further cast doubt on how soon the 
law would be passed when he told guests at a seminar on the 
Labor Law (see below) that there is still time to make 
changes. 
 
Press Law Sets a Precedent? 
--------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  Like the recently passed Press and Publications 
Law, the proposed Labor Law would update legislation that 
passed over 40 years ago.  After years of discussion and 
delays, the Press Law was quickly whisked through the 
National Assembly.  In the end, however, that law represented 
an incremental change, at best.  The same can be expected of 
the Labor Law: it is unlikely that the Kuwaiti parliament 
will make the kind of significant changes that liberals and 
international observers would like.  Whereas most liberals 
wanted to pass the Press and Publications Law and then refine 
it through amendments, liberals at the Labor Law meeting took 
a harder line, insisting that it should not be passed in its 
current form.  Post contacts, including two members of the 
committee in the National Assembly that handles the law, gave 
the impression that the law has little momentum and probably 
will not come up for serious discussion until after elections 
and the convening of the next National Assembly in October 
¶2007.  It is worth noting, however, that the Press and 
Publications Law passed faster than expected.  End Comment. 
 
 
Labor Law Seminar Presents Critiques of the Law 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶4.  (U)  The Kuwait Bar Association convened a seminar on 
March 13 to discuss the proposed new Labor Law, which would 
replace the 1964 Private Sector Labor Law.  The seminar -- 
titled "The Proposed New Labor Law: Positives, Negatives and 
Aspirations"  -- brought together a Member of Parliament 
(Ahmad Al-Mulaifi), the ILO Representative in Kuwait (Thabet 
Al-Haroun), an official from the Ministry of Social Affairs 
and Labor (MOSAL) (Salih Al-Shaykh), a representative of the 
Kuwait Chamber of Commerce (Yousef Al-Ali), a legal advisor 
to the Kuwaiti Courts (Abdul-Hadi Al-Jafeen), and a professor 
from Kuwait University (Jamal Al-Nakkas).  With the exception 
of some positive remarks from the Chamber of Commerce and 
MOSAL representatives, the participants criticized the law 
sharply for not aggressively addressing the key labor issues 
in Kuwait. 
 
¶5.  (SBU)  MP Al-Mulaifi criticized the law for not 
addressing the issue of residence permit ("Iqama") trading, 
attracting Kuwaitis to the private sector, and protecting 
foreign workers.  He floated the idea of creating one or 
several publicly traded companies that would provide laborers 
to employers in Kuwait.  This would wipe out the thousands of 
 
KUWAIT 00000972  002 OF 003 
 
 
smaller employment agencies, many of whom engage in Iqama 
trading.  He said that MOSAL officials had rejected laws 
proposing this type of arrangement in the past because, as he 
told LES Political Assistant, they are "complicit" in visa 
trading and such a law would threaten their profits. 
 
¶6.  (U)  ILO Representative Al-Haroun said the Government had 
failed to consult independent and international experts, and 
thus had come up with a law that does not meet modern labor 
standards.  MOSAL's Al-Shaykh responded that they had 
consulted the relevant Kuwaiti institutions in preparing the 
law. 
 
¶7.  (U)  Al-Jafeen criticized the law for failing to 
establish a set of courts for adjudicating labor issues. 
Al-Nakkas noted that there were benefits in the law, such as 
making accommodations for working women, but that the 
negatives outweighed the positives and the law needed to be 
restudied.  For instance, the law does not mandate insurance 
for all workers, it allows the courts to dissolve labor 
unions, and it allows for "collective contracts" rather than 
"collective agreements."  Dr. Al-Ali added that there are 
tens of articles that contain vague language and depend on 
the Minister to issue a decree with implementation details. 
He went on to say, however, that no law will be perfect, and 
that this law will prevent Kuwait from coming under 
international condemnation. 
 
 
Domestic Labor 
-------------- 
 
¶8.  (U)  The proposed law explicitly excludes domestic 
laborers (who, according to the General Manager of the 
Immigration Department at the Ministry of Interior, number 
520,000 in Kuwait), as does the current Labor Law.  In a 
December meeting with PolOff, Al-Haroun said the ILO wanted 
the law to include domestic laborers, but that there was no 
realistic chance that it would do so because Kuwaiti society 
would not support the idea.  Al-Shaykh confirmed in a March 
19 meeting with PolOff and LES Political Assistant that there 
was no thought of including domestic laborers in the Labor 
Law. 
 
 
TIP and Human Rights Aspects of the Proposed Labor Law 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
 
¶9.  (U)  The most recent version of the draft law contains 
important provisions related to the State Department's 
Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report and Country Reports on 
Human Rights Practices. 
 
--  Article 132 imposes a prison sentence of up to 3 years 
and/or a fine of 1,000 - 5,000 Dinars (3,430 USD - 17,150 
USD) for visa trading.  Note: the law does not label it as 
visa trading, but rather says the following:  "It is not 
permitted for a business owner to hire workers from outside 
the country or to use workers from inside the country then 
proceed to not offer them work with him or if it becomes 
clear that he does not really need them." (Article 10, par 2) 
 End Note.) 
 
--  Article 131 imposes a fine of up to 500 Dinars (1715 USD) 
for failing to declare accurately on an annual basis the 
number of foreign workers needed and actually employed.  The 
same penalty applies for failure to prominently display a 
listing of pre-approved (by MOSAL) work rules and punishments 
for infractions of those rules.  The fine will be doubled if 
it is repeated within three years. 
 
--  Article 133 imposes a fine of up to 5000 Dinars (17,150 
USD) and closure of the business for 3 - 6 months for 
recruitment agencies that charge any fees to workers for the 
privilege of finding them work or allowing them to stay in 
the country. 
 
--  Article 16 mandates that apprentices and trainees be paid. 
 
--  Article 18 bans children under 15 from working. Articles 
19 and 20 limit the hours and industries in which children 
aged 15 - 20 can work, and mandates that they be given 
medical exams at least every six months. 
 
--  Article 30 forbids a worker from being subjected to a 
probation period of more than 100 days, and from undergoing 
more than one probation period with the same employer. 
 
--  Article 31 stipulates that subcontracted workers receive 
 
KUWAIT 00000972  003 OF 003 
 
 
treatment equal to regular employees of the subcontractor. 
 
--  Article 32 mandates that free housing (or a housing 
stipend) and transport be provided for projects in outlying 
areas and that the housing be according to minimum standards 
set by MOSAL.  (Note:  Poor housing conditions are a major 
complaint of Bangladeshi and other low-skilled workers in 
Kuwait.  End Note.) 
 
--  Article 35 forbids the employer from pinning a violation 
on a worker without hearing and investigating the worker's 
defense.  The violation and punishment must be provided to 
the worker in writing. 
 
--  Article 36 forbids the employer from docking more than 
five days pay out of any month for a violation.  If the 
punishment sum is greater than five-days' pay, it must be 
taken out of future months' pay. 
 
--  Article 44 forbids the firing of a worker without cause 
or because of his union involvement or demanding his rights 
according to this law. 
 
--  Article 46 lays out conditions when a worker can quit 
without notice and claim a severance payment, such as if the 
employer subjects the employee to harassment, if the employer 
does not provide a safe work environment, if the employer 
falsely accuses the worker, if the employer committed fraud 
in signing the contract, or if the employer violates the 
terms of the contract 
 
--  Chapters II and III (Articles 61 - 76) lay out expanded 
rest periods and vacations. 
 
--  Chapter IV (Articles 77 - 94) mandates occupational 
safety and health. 
 
--  Chapter V (Articles 95-116) sets out rules for 
unionization and collective contracts.  The Ministry controls 
the licensing and policing of unions, which can then sign 
collective contracts.  (Note:  Whereas the current labor law 
explicitly states that foreigners cannot elect or be elected 
to leadership positions, the proposed law says all Kuwaitis 
have this right.  It leaves ambiguity as to whether foreign 
workers can vote or be elected.  In a conversation with 
PolOff, a lawyer from MOSAL gave PolOff opposing 
interpretations of this law: that it will be up to the 
Minister to issue instructions on non-Kuwaiti membership; and 
that it will be up to the union to decide whether to allow 
non-Kuwaitis to join as full members.  The lack of an 
explicit grant of this right to foreigners probably means 
that they will not get it.  End Note.) 
 
********************************************* * 
For more reporting from Embassy Kuwait, visit: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/?cable s 
 
Visit Kuwait's Classified Website: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/ 
********************************************* * 
LEBARON