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20 October, 2008
A planned strike yesterday, 19 October, by ICEM Kuwaiti affiliate KNPC Labour Syndicate was postponed after the company, Kuwait National Petroleum Co. (KNPC), met workers’ demands for better pay and staff promotions.
The union said the strike, planned at Kuwait’s three refineries and other oil installations, would be postponed for eight weeks in order to allow KNPC to implement an agreement reached before the weekend. On Wednesday, 15 October, the KNPC Labour Syndicate’s board of directors issued a statement urging “all employees and workers to stage a total strike in all sectors and be present in the headquarters of the syndicate” on Sunday morning, 19 September.
The strike call came two days after all three of KNPC’s refineries were closed due to a power blackout. Although the 13 October outage did not cause any health or safety incidents, KNPC’s refineries do have a serious recent history of safety mishaps. On 11 August, one maintenance contractor was killed and another badly injured when a fire erupted during the shutdown of a hydro-cracking unit at the Shuabia refinery.
And in late June, several workers were injured in another fire at the Mina Abdullah refinery, KNPC’s largest. A September fire at KNPC’s third refinery, Mina al-Ahmedi, did not cause any injuries.
The national oil company is mired in political controversy as it tries to construct the 615,000-barrel-per-day Al-Zour refinery, due now to go on-line in 2012. Currently, KNPC’s three refineries produce petroleum products amounting to 930,000 barrels-per-day.