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dissertation entitled

THE TRADE UNION MOVEMENT IN THE STATE
OF KUWAIT: A SOCIO-HISTORICAL AND
ANALYTICAL STUDY

presented by

Khalid Ahmad A1 -Shalal

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THE']

inI

THE TRADE UNION MOVEMENT IN THE STATE OF KUWAIT
A SOCIO-HISTORICAL AND ANALYTICAL STUDY

By

Khalid Ahmad Al-Shalal

A DISSERTATION

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Department of Sociology

1983

Copyright (c) 1983 Khalid Al-Shalal

tra
m0\

mei

n1

ABSTRACT

THE TRADE UNION MOVEMENT
IN THE STATE OF KUWAIT

By

Khalid A. Al—Shalal

This study was designed to investigate the
trade union movement in Kuwait as a part of the labor
movement in general. Studying any trade union move—
ment should be done within the context of the total
socioeconomic conditions and circumstances in which it
operates. In Kuwait, the economy is divided into two
eras, each with its own economic activities. The first
era is the era before the discovery of oil, the second
is the era after the discovery of oil. The first era
had no trade union movement at all, but in the second
era, especially after Kuwait had gained its independence,
a constitution including the "trade union codes" was
adopted and trade unions were formed.

The labor movement started in Kuwait after the
discovery of oil. The labor force is heterogeneous, as
much of the labor force are non—Kuwaitis. The develop—
ment of trade unions in Kuwait has resulted in three

kinds: government sector, oil sector, and private

SQCI

1964

The

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Khalid A. Al—Shalal

sector trade unions. The first trade unions started in
1964 (municipality and public health trade unions).
There can be no doubt that the trade union movement in
Kuwait is in its infancy but it has made great progress
during the last eighteen years. Trade unions are now
considered, even by employers, not merely an inevitable
response to the challenge of modern industrialization
but more as an essential tool for industrial peace.
Trade unions have earned legal and social status from
both employers and the state.

Findings of this study show that Kuwaiti trade
unions are mostly government dominated. The leadership
is from the members of the unions, not outsiders, as in
other developing countries. Full membership is for
Kuwaiti citizens only. Trade unions are organized
according to the ministries, not according to craft
or professions. In spite of this legal and social
importance, Kuwaiti trade unions still suffer from a
number of inherent defects which seriously retard
their progress. This progress depends on the unions
forming their own leadership by encouraging the rank
and file to lead the movement by the diffusion of
trade union activities, especially educational activ-
ities. Strong and healthy trade unionism can make a

substantial contribution to the economic development

 

Of thl

Kuwai
has p
proce
ing <
Affa
sent

unio

Khalid A. Al-Shalal

of the country.

There is very little literature published on
Kuwaiti trade unions. The paucity of statistical data
has proved a great obstacle to the whole research
process. The study is mostly descriptive, mainly depend-
ing on documents of trade unions, the Ministry of Social
Affairs and Work and some statistical data. It repre-
sents one step toward better understanding of the trade

union movement in Kuwait.

To my wife, Sara;
my daughter, Rasha;

and my son, Yousef.

iii

 

 

 

great e
have be
Study,

mittee

Ous eff
Supervi
sor Fat
It Was

my M.A

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their

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MI‘ _ ‘Ai'h‘

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This study would not have been possible without
great effort and support from many different people who
have been very supportive and encouraging during my
study. I wish to express my deep gratitude to my com—
mittee chairman, Professor William Faunce, for his gener—
ous effort and assistance, positive suggestions, and
supervision of this work. Throughout my study, Profes—
sor Faunce was a source of encouragement and knowledge.
It was an honor to have him as committee chairman in
my M.A. and Ph.D. program.

My special thanks and gratitude go to Professor
J. Allan Beegle, James McKee, and Harry Perlstadt for
their participation as members of my Ph.D. committee and
their valuable advice, guidance, knwoledge, and sug—
gestions.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank
Mr.A¢tanA1~gmar ,in the Kuwaiti Ministry of Social Affairs
and Labor, and also Mr. Ali Al-Kandari, Secretary of the
Trade Union Federation of Kuwaiti Workers, for their
valuable knowledge.

I thank Mr. Ahmad Al-Asbouhi for sharing his

knowledge and providing further assistance.

iv

 

who we
Also,
daught

supper

A special note of thanks goes to my parents,
who were so supportive and provided much encouragement.
Also, I give special thanks to my wife Sara, my

daughter Rasha, and my son Yousef, for their great

support.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter
1 The Research Problem . . . . . . 1
Background and Theory . . . . . 2
Research Questions and Methodology . . 19
The Importance of the Study . . . 23
2 Review of the Literature . . . . . 25
Trade Unionism in the West . . . . 29
Trade Unionism in the Developing
Countries . . . . . . . . 34
Trade Unionism in the Middle East . . 38
Conclusion . . . . . . . . 46
3 Population and Labor Force of Kuwait . . 50
Labor Force Structure in Kuwait . . 62
4' The History of the Development of
Trade Unions in Kuwait . . . . . . 80

Historical Evolution of Trade Unions

in the Arab World . . . . . . 83
Trade Union Development in Kuwait . . 84
Strikes . . . . . . . . 97
The Current State of Trade Unions in

Kuwait . . . . . . . . 104
General Trade Union Structure . . . 109
Trade Union Activities . . . . . 120

vi

 

 

 

 

 

Chapte

 

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Bit

Chapter
Trade Union Membership
Trade Union Organization
Summary
5 Union and Government
Introduction
Early Manpower Programs

The Development of Labor Law and Legis—
lation in Kuwait

Ratification of ILO Conventions
Summary
6 Summary and Conclusions

Appendix

Bibliography

vii

129
139
143
150
150

152

158
170
175

180

199

216

LIST OF TABLES

Topics and Sources of the Study

Kuwaiti and Non—Kuwaiti Population by
Sex, 1957-1980

Kuwaiti Population by Age
Non—Kuwaiti Population by Age

Natural Growth Rates of Kuwaiti and
Non-Kuwaiti Populations

Ratios of Kuwaitis and Non—Kuwaitis to the
Total Population

Labor Force by Sex and Nationality: Number
Total Labor Force by Nationality: Percent

Labor Classification by Economic Activity,
1975 (Percentages Based on Total Labor
Force) . . . . . .

Labor Classification by Economic Activity,
1975 (Percentages Based on Kuwaiti/Non-
Kuwaiti and Male-Female Totals)

Statement Showing Each Nationality of
Senior and Junior Staff and Labour
Employed by the Kuwait Oil Company Limited,
Kuwait, as It Was on the Blst March 1948

Statement of Each Nationality of Senior
Staff, Clerical, Foreman and Technical
Staff, and Labor Employed by the Kuwait

Oil Company, Limited as It Stood on the
Slst March, 1950 . . . . . . .
Federation Representation in the Oil Sector

Trade Union Membership in 1971 and 1980

viii

22

51
57

57

59

61

64

66

69

7O

98

101
119

132

Table

4.5 The Ratio of Employees Membership in Trade
Union in the Government Sector in 1980 . . 135

ix

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure

4.1 Trade Unions in Kuwait . . . . . 115

CHAPTER ONE

THE RESEARCH PROBLEM

This study has been designed to investigate
the trade union movement in Kuwait, as a part of its
labor relations in general, and to determine the role
of workers' organizations in the economic development
of Kuwait. How trade unions become effective, what
contributions they make toward the attainment of a
just socioeconomic order, and the restraints imposed
upon their activities under the particular conditions
of Kuwait are discussed. The problems that Kuwait's
trade union movement faces and the influence of state
policy on unions and working conditions set the Kuwaiti
trade unions apart from unions in the West and define
the role of the trade unions in relation to their own
members and workers in general. Special attention is
given to the educational and welfare activities of
Kuwaiti unions, as well as their political activities.

The research also focuses on trade union member—
ship, questions of leadership and the role of outsiders
in union leadership in Kuwait. The structure of the

trade unions and relations between the workers and the

2
trade unions are discussed, as are the financial aspects.
Trade union legislation and the trade unions' relations
with government are considered. Finally, an explanation
of the labor force structure in Kuwait is given, in
order to give the reader an idea about the context in

which the trade unions in Kuwait operate.

Background and Theory

 

The development in Kuwait of trade unions has
resulted in three kinds: government and oil sector (or
semi-government as they are sometimes called) and
private sector trade unions. Rapid development in every
aspect of Kuwaiti society began in the 19503, but
organized labor and the trade union movement did not e-
merge until the beginning of the 19605. More precisely,

they began in 1964.

Before the discovery of oil, in Kuwait, the mode
of production and the economy depended on the sea for
such activities as fishing, pearl diving, and boat
building.

Before the discovery of oil, the Kuwaiti

economy depended on fishing, pearl—diving,

seafaring, boat-building, herding and

trade. These were the pillars of the

Kuwaiti economy, from its establishment

in the 16705 until the outbreak of the

Second World War. (Al-Sabah, 1980, p. 12)
These activities, as Al-Sabah says, provided the most
important occupations for the lower class in Kuwait.

After the discovery of oil which stimulated development

3
of the country's infrastructure, new occupations
emerged.

At the end of World War II Kuwait was a

poor, traditional kingdom whose people

earned their living from fishing, pearl-

ing, and trading with Arabian Gulf neigh-

bors. By the 1970's Kuwait boasted the

world's highest per capita income and a

system of social services--including

public education, free medical care, gov—

ernment housing, and pensions—~that placed

it among the most advanced welfare states

in the world. (Nyrop, 1977, p. 121)

After 1945, there was an influx of immigration
from different countries, especially the surrounding
countries. Surveys made in 1957, for example, when
immigrants constituted 45 percent of the population,
indicated that less than one-eighth had come to Kuwait
before 1947; about one—half had arrived within the pre-
ceding three years. Between 1948 and 1956, however, a
series of laws were passed that sharply differentiated
citizens from immigrant "Kuwaitis" and "non-Kuwaitis."
Non-Kuwaitis have provided services vital to the economy;
they fill professional, technical, managerial, and
clerical posts--for which there are not enough qualified
Kuwaitis. In 1970, the number of workers employed was
234,360 of whom 174,720 were foreigners.

Kuwaiti nationals, by Kuwait policy, must be
given preference for employment in the government and the
government has continued a policy of replacing non-Kuwaitis

'whenever possible. This has created a Kuwaiti working

class in the oil industry and the government sector. The

4
workers' belief that they should have an organization
to protect their jobs led to the emergence of trade
unionism in Kuwait.

Trade unionism arises with the industrialization
of a given country; there is almost no society that has
industrialization and capitalism but no labor organiza—
tion. Labor organizations in general take care of
demands regarding wages, hours, and conditions of work.
Trade union ideology and organization differ from
country to country or from society to society, but the
trade union movement in any country, if it is to succeed,
must be flexible enough to adapt planning to conceptions
of the welfare state, and to the new industrial processes
and techniques, including automation. Trade unions can—
not remain static.

The discussion of trade unionism first requires
a precise definition of the term "trade unionism," not
only because any scientific investigation reasons an
unambiguous definition of its object, but also the
reason of wide differences in the use of the term in
various countries. Thus in India, for example, the
term trade union, according to the Union Act of the
country refers to employers' associations as well as
employee organizations. In Britain, the Trade Union
Congress (TUC) recognizes associations of "white collar”
professional workers as trade unions. A number of such

:professional associations as the Medical Practitioner‘s

 

Unit
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195
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5

Union, Musician‘s Union, and the Variety Artists‘ Feder—
ation are affiliated with the union movement (TUC Report,
1953, pp. 57—68). According to Sidney and Beatrice Webb,
however: ”A trade union is a continuous association of
wage-earners for the purpose of maintaining or improving
the conditions of their working lives." (Webb, 1920, p.
1) Since employers and self-employed professionals, like
medical practitioners, are not wage-earners, their asso-
ciations cannot be regarded as trade unions. J. Cunnison
also refuses to recognize professional associations as
trade unions, the main object of the former being to
improve the training and education of their members
(1930, p. 10). However, if any particular professional
association consists only of people who are employees
of others, for example the hospital doctors' association
or the school teachers' association, they may be described
as trade unions, as they are wholly unions of employees.

In this study of the trade union in Kuwait, it is
recognized that, like most other Asian countries,
Kuwait is a developing country. In most of the developing
nations, political and economic modernization are pro-
ceeding side by side. The trade union movement tends to
root itself and develop under particular political or
social systems; to this extent it is influenced by the
socioeconomic structure in which it operates. A study
of trade unionism apart from the socioeconomic framework

in which it operates would, therefore, be incomplete and

even misleading.

Ronald D'Acosta writes that:

In the Asian countries, for historical

reasons, the socioeconomic patterns have

deveIOped certain peculiar character—

istics. The formation of unions is

encouraged by public authorities and it

is generally accepted that all expedients

for the maintenance of harmonious indus-

trial relations be explored. (D'Acosta,

1953, p. 30)

The emergence of a labor movement, the state of
its development, and the level of its strength are import-
ant indications of the general advance of a country. This
is particularly true of a newly independent state pro-
gressing toward modern development. The organization of
labor unions, which reflects the consciousness of the
workers of their role and the importance of their collec-
tive strength, indicates a state of industrialization in
which sectors of the population depend exclusively for
their existence on hiring themselves out as wage
laborers. The measures adopted by government to regulate
labor and the labor unions, on the other hand, indicate
the importance of labor to the economy and social develop—
ment of the state.

Although the labor movement in Kuwait is still in
its infancy, the following factors are important and
should be kept in mind: (1) the number of non-union
workers; (2) the relative youth of the movement; (3) the

slow growth of domestic industries; and (4) the general

illiteracy of the workers. Under the circumstances, the

unions could hardly be expected to show substantial
progress, even though the Kuwaiti labor code outlines

in its preamble technical definitions concerning the
formation, management and organization of trade unions,
and encourages the formation of federations and affil-
iates of such unions. Kuwaiti trade unions are formed
and organized along the lines set by the government
Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor and not according
to trade or profession. Special bodies have been set up
to arbitrate individual and collective disputes arising
from employment contracts. The daily hours of work in
the various trades are fixed, holidays and sick leaves
are regulated. Industrial accidents and diseases are
defined and provisions made for the granting of compen-
sation to workmen injured in such accidents or contract-
ing diseases in the course of their employment.

The topic of the study at hand is the development
of trade unions in Kuwait. Reviewing literature of such
a topic is difficult because of the relative lack of
studies and written material on this topic in Kuwait.
Therefore, an effort has been made to trace the liter-
ature of trade unions or labor movements in nations and
states which are similar to Kuwait such as those in India,
the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia, which are also
held to be developing countries and have conditions and

situations similar to Kuwait.

8

In the literature dealing with the development of
trade unions there are three schools of trade union
theory: the Marxist school of trade unionism, the British
school symbolized by Sidney and Beatrice Webb and G. D. H.
Cole, and finally the American school, symbolized by
Robert Hoxie and Frank Tannenbaum. Starting with Marx,
he and Engels, together with laying a basis for the
general political program and perspective of the working
class, also developed the theoretical foundations of

trade unionism. Even in The Communist Manifesto, written

 

late in 1847, they gave a remarkably clear picture of the
role of trade unions in the workers' fight to defend them-
selves under capitalism and to battle their way toward
socialism. They traced the origins of trade unionism to
workers' historical necessity to overcome job competition
among themselves and to unite their forces against rapa-
cious employers. In Marx's dialectic model, unions could
do very little to alter the inevitable. Lenin updated
Marx, however, developing a context within which unions
could play a strategic role in the class struggle.

Marx's attitude toward trade unions grew naturally from
his analysis of the effects of capitalism (n1 workers.

A worker estranged from his labor is also torn away from
his existence as a member of the species. Lenin empha-
sized the necessity of education as a means of bringing
workers to understand their political oppression. Once

this is done, the economic struggle of workers gives them

9
a keen awareness of the government's role in their lives.
He felt that intellectuals must guide the economic strug—
gle of workers.

Sidney and Beatrice Webb focus on the origins of
trade unionism and expand their perspective to include
the different methods unions used to achieve their ends.
Trade unions according to them, did not evolve from the
old craft guilds. The rise of trade unions occurred in
the era following that of the guild system, as a result
of an economic revolution which accompanied the indus-
trial revolution. Unions play an essential role in a
democracy; this role involves both a narrow program of
collective bargaining and a larger political program
which marshalls the bulk of union members. G. D. H.
Cole, another member of the British school, felt that
under capitalism, class struggle is something "irrefut—
able” whether we like it or not. And, at the end, he
felt that the workers would take over the industries.
The main role of the trade union, according to Cole,
was to run only the industry and not the whole national
life.

Finally, Robert Hoxie, from the American school,
provided a psychological treatment of the origins of
trade unions. Hoxie refused to accept a single explana—
tion of the origin of the movement. The diversity in
the structure and in functions of trade unions convinced

him that

10

unionism has not a single genesis,
but has made its appearance time after time
independently wherever, in the modern in-
dustry era, a group of workers developed a
strong internal consciousness, a common
interest. (Hoxie, 1928, p. 34)

He added that trade unions responded to changes in con—
ditions, needs, and attitudes with the passage of time,
and that

. the union program, with all its

mutations and contradictions. comprehends

nothing less than all the various economic,

political, ethical, and social viewpoints

and modes of action of a vast and hetero-

geneous complex of working class groups

molded by diverse environments and actu—

ated by diverse motives; it expresses

nothing less than the ideals, the aspira-

tions, the hopes and the fears, the modes

of thinking and action of all those working

groups. In short, if you can think of

unionism as such, it must be one of the

most complex, heterogeneous and protean of

modern social phenomena. (Hoxie, 1928,

p. 35)

Another American, Frank Tannenbaum, found that
industry itself was responsible for the inevitable birth
of the trade union. Tannenbaum says that it is the fac-
tory, the mine and the industry which beget the trade
union and believes that the labor movement is the result
and the machine is the major cause. According to Frank
Tannenbaum, the worker is driven by a sense of alienation
from both job and society.

According to Marx and Engels, trade unions arose
from the challenge and competition under capitalism and
the inherent contradiction between the interests of

industrialists and workers in capitalistic society.

11
Marxist ideas on trade unions are intimately and inex-
tricably related to the general Marxist assumption and
conclusions on social institutions and the directions
of their development. In fact, Marx regarded labor
unions as only one, and by no means the most important,
weapon for waging the class war. He assumed the exist-
ence of an inherent tendency for the economy to drift
from its capitalist to socialist form. On the other
hand, the British school disagreed. To the Webbs, the
origins of trade unionism depended upon the separation
of the classes. They defined a trade union as "a
continuous association of wage earners for the purpose
of maintaining and improving the conditions of their
working life.” (Punekar, 1963)

The Webbs partially agree with Marx and Engels
on their analysis of trade unions as a response to
competition under capitalism. According to them the
workers' misery is fundamentally due to the "higgling"
of the market, i.e., the ruthless struggle for commercial
and industrial survival expressed through competition
(1919, p. 654).

The great bulk of the workers had ceased

to be independent producers, themselves

controlling the processes and owning the

materials and product of their labour,

and had passed into the conditions of

lifelong wage—earners, possessing neither

the instrument of production nor the

commodity in its finished state. (Ibid.,

p. 26)

Concerning the American school, it is apparent,

12

while the theories have something in common, that the
impact of the different American environment and the
psychological explanation that American workers are
"job conscious" and not "class conscious" have created
differences. That is to say, American unionism is
simple "business unionism" and, in spite of its emphasis
on legal sanctions, relies mainly on negotiation to achieve
its aims. It is dissociated from political parties.
According to Hoxie:

It aims chiefly at more, here and now,

for the organized workers . . . in terms

mainly of higher wages, shorter hours, and

better working conditions, regardless for

the most part of the welfare of the workers

outside the particular organic group, and

regardless in general of political and

social considerations, except insofar as

these bear directly upon its own economic

ends. (1928, p. 45)

However, this was not always so. In the histor-
ical context of the labor movement in the United States,

one can distinguish two types of associations and organi-

zations. As Groat described it in his book, The Study

 

of Organized Labor in America:

 

The nature of these associations makes it
possible to divide them into two quite
distinct classes. The earlier ones looked
more directly to political action as the
best means of accomplishing their pur-
poses. Later the political nature yielded
to the more limited policy of union activ-
ity through methods such as the strike and
the attendant activities of collective
bargaining. The fate of the earlier asso-
ciations was a lesson, and guided by this
experience they refrained from entering
upon political or party contests. The
democratic spirit and the optimistic atti-
tude toward the possibilities of the

13

ballot were followed by the sobering

effects of experience and the newer

policies were turned to quite uniform-

ly. (Groat, 1922, p. 31)

Ghosh described the emergence of job—conscious
unions in the U.S. as being due to an abundant supply of
natural resources and to the availability of a consider—
able amount of foreign capital. The trade—union movement
in the U.S. has been less militant than in the European
nations, in part because the internal strain of capital

accumulation in EurOpe was far more acute than in the

U.S. On the other hand, Perlman, in his Theory of the

 

Labor Movement, stated that it was the strong opposition

 

of the American capitalist class that forced the working
class in America to leave unchallenged the contemporary
social order and to develop a job-conscious unionism, not
a class—conscious unionism. J. R. Commons' explanation
for why the trade—union movement in the United States is
less militant than in other nations was based on the avail-
ability of free land in the West until the end of the
nineteenth century. Also, the influx of immigration
complicated and disrupted the organization of the unions
by introducing racial and national antagonism augmented
by language obstacles. Militant unionism requires a high
degree of solidarity and a feeling of community of
interests, and, due to the lack of these factors, the
American trade union movement had to build up a new bond

of interests. Job—conscious unionism helped to form this

14

bond by focusing the attention of the working class on
the protection and promotion of its job interests.
Robert Hoxie, in his theory of trade unionism in
the United States, indicated that there are four types
of trade unionism: (1) business unionism, (2) friendly
or uplift unionism, (3) revolutionary unionism, and
(4) predatory unionism. His theory is considered to be
a functional theory. Describing the situation of the
trade-union movement in the United States, he indicates
that,in the beginning, friendly or uplift unionism was
more common. He writes:

Uplift unionism, as its name indicates,
is characteristically idealistic in its
viewpoint. It may be trade conscious,
or broadly class conscious. . . . It
aspires chiefly to elevate the moral,
intellectual, and social life of the
workers. Uplift unionism varies greatly
in degree of inclusiveness, and in form
of government. In method, this type of
unionism employs collective bargaining,
but stresses mutual insurances, and drifts
easily into political action and the
advocacy of cobperative enterprises,
profit sharing, and other idealistic
plans for social regeneration. The
nearest approach in practice to uplift
unionism is perhaps to be found in the
program of the Knights of Labor.

(Hoxie, 1923, p. 47)

In the case of Kuwait and the Middle Eastern
countries, the emergence of the trade-union movement was
completely different and bears no close resemblance to
labor organization history in the United States or in

any Western country. This is generally true of all newly

15
developing countries. Their trade unions tend to have
different origins, purposes and objectives. George C.
Ledge summarizes the differences betwen the trade unions
in newly developed countries and the trade unions in
advanced countries.

In the first place, these unions were not
born in the industrial revolution as the
result of an urgent need of a congested mass
of factory workers for improved wages and
working conditions. Generally, labor unions
in the less developed parts of the world
were superimposed on a basically rural so—
ciety for political or ideological reasons.
These unions, however, were not the
result of worker initiative and could not
have been, given the economic and political
environment in which they emerged. They
did not spring from a mass movement.
Many union movements, particularly in Asia
and Africa, rose on a wave of nationalism,
becoming the spearhead of anti—colonial
movements toward political independence.
Others were impelled by humanitarian or
ideological forces, and some by the belief
that unions were important symbols of the
modern industrial age—-a requisite to ad-
mission as equal among the industrialized
nations. (p. 661)

In fact, the emergence of the labor movement in
the Middle Eastern countries was due to the entry of
European colonialism into the Middle East after World War
I and the invasion of European industries and businesses.
European capital was invested in developing and exploit—
ing the raw materials and natural resources found in the
Middle East. Infrastructure, such as railroads and
Innads, necessary to the efficient exploitation of these
resources, were also built. Businesses involved it: the

development of local markets for European goods, as well

16

as local goods, also emerged. These industries and
projects got the use of the cheap labor force available
in the area; labor conditions were considered by the
workers to be bad and insulting. From contact with other
countries and thus other labor movement experiences, native
workers began to realize that they needed to be unionized
to protect themselves from unfair and unacceptable work-
ing conditions. Some of the foreign companies brought
in European workers, who were paid higher wages than
local laborers, which increased the class conscious-
ness of native workers, who began to organize themselves
into unions.

In addition to low wages, such punishment as
the arbitrary firing of workers was possible because
there were no unions to protect local workers' inter—
ests. Under this pressure, there were some unorganized
strikes which ultimately failed. This led to the workers
unionizing themselves to resist the colonial powers and
push for national independence. In most of the Middle
Eastern countries the workers played a major role in the
struggle for national independence and the liberation of
their own country.

Trade unions in most of the newly developed
countries have developed their own special character-
istics. The trade union movements in newly developed

countries, particularly in Asia, should be seen in

17
relation to their particular politico—historical climate.
Comparisons between these countries and older industrial
countries, without taking these differences into consider—
ation, can yield no positive or valid conclusions. In
most emerging countries, there are two distinct periods
of history: a pre-independence period and a post-
independence period. In these periods trade unions
played different roles. In the first, the role of the
trade union was to fight for political independence and
to resist the colonial power. In the second, the trade
union's role has been a political and economic struggle
with business and government for economic and social
gains, in addition to welfare benefits and improving
worker conditions.

The Kuwaiti trade union movement arose from dif—
ferent origins than Western trade unions, so it is dif-
ficult to assign it to any of the three theoretical
orientations previously mentioned. Struggle was psycho-
logically, economically and class-related, but in the
beginning it was class-related due to the importation of
foreign workers for the better paying skilled jobs in
the emerging industries in Kuwait. The native workers
were treated as a lower class of unskilled workers; long
hours of work, low wages, unsanitary and filthy working
and living conditions were their main complaints. Early
efforts at trade union organization were mainly concerned

‘with redressing these matters, but employers generally

18
refused to discuss terms and conditions of employment
with the workers' representatives. The early organiza—
tions of workers relied heavily on arbitration and
adjudication as methods of labor-management relations
and drew their leaders from the educated classes.

As we have seen from the three schools of trade
unionism, there are two major activities that identify
different types of trade unions: business trade unions
and political trade unions, Concerning the Kuwaiti
trade unions, are they the business type or are they
involved somehow in political activities? At the end
of the research it is expected that the Kuwaiti trade
unions in the public sector and the general federation
trade unions will be found in the middle between the
business and politically-oriented types. They struggle
to improve the working conditions of the workers and, at
the same time, are affiliated with the Federation of Arab
Labor Unions (FALU), which had the blessing of the revo—
lutionary regime in Cairo, whose founding members rep-
resented the brand of militant Arab nationalism promoted
by President Nasser of Egypt. That is why most major
Arab countries were not represented at the founding meet—
ing of the FALU. At the present time, most unions in
Arab countries are members, except trade unions in the
private sector. In Kuwait there is only one trade union
'that can be considered to be a private trade union, the

Ihnion of Banks' Employees. This trade union is probably

19

a pure business type, concerned only with the workers'
problems and improving their conditions, with no affil-
iation with any national or international trade union or
federation of trade unions; not even the Federation of
Kuwaiti Trade Unions. They have a problem with the gen—
eral union of Kuwaiti workers, in terms of coordination,
which is discussed in detail in the study.

Many questions have been raised about the trade
union movement in Kuwait, such as the role of non-Kuwaiti
workers and the participation of women in trade union
activities. This research attempts to find answers for
these and the specific reasons for political involvement
and non-involvement, including the impact of government

domination in terms of control and leadership.

Research Questions and Methodology

 

The research objective, generally put, is to in-
vestigate the origin, evolution, and development of the
trade union movement in Kuwait. Special emphasis is put
on evolutionary changes in that movement, if any, since
the beginning of the oil era in Kuwait.

More specific questions for which the researcher
attempts to find answers are:

1. What are the structural (e.g., organization,
leadership and membership) similarities and
differences in the following types of
Kuwaiti trade unions?

a. Government trade unions

b. Semi-governmental or oil sector trade
unions

20

c. Private sector trade unions

2. What are the structural characteristics of
the Federation of Kuwaiti Trade Unions in
terms of:
a. Organization
b. Leadership
0. Membership

3. For each type of trade union in Kuwait exam-
ined in this study, which of the following
activities comprise their official and un-
official functions?
a. Collective bargaining

b. Legislative lobbying

0. Provision of social services to the
members:

(1) education
(2) medical services
(3) death benefits

4. What are the demographic characteristics of
trade union participation in Kuwait and how
do these characteristics compare to the demo-
graphic structure of the entire labor force
in Kuwait?

5. What influences from outside Kuwait affect
the development and operation of Kuwaiti
trade unions?

6. To what extent does the government in Kuwait
dominate the trade unions?

7. What relation, if any, exists between govern—

ment and unions because of the above domina-
tion?

The methodology for researching these questions
is documentary, descriptive research supplemented by
interviews with trade union members, leaders and some

officials in the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor.

21
Documentary research is primarily dependent on:
1. general literature concerning trade unionism.
2. trade union publications.

documents of trade unions in the Ministry of
Social Affairs and Labor.

00

constitutions of trade unions.
labor law and labor legislation in Kuwait.
the Constitution of the State of Kuwait.

census data (Ministry of Planning).

ooqoioitb

International Labor Organization (ILO)
publications.

In collecting the data, the researcher has vis—
ited various countries of concern in one way or another,
in the topic under investigation. A visit was made to
Geneva, Switzerland, where the main office for the Inter-
national Labor Organization (ILO) is located, to interview
Anna Juliette Donsimoni Pouyat, who is responsible for the
implementation of ILO Conventions that are ratified by
countries represented in the ILO. Her job is to monitor
the adherence of each country to the articles of any con-
vention ratified. The researcher also visited London
where the Public Record Office contains millions of
documents that trace labor history, ranging in dates
from the 11th Century to the present day. The focus of
this documentary investigation was documents that dealt
with workers in oil fields worldwide and how native

‘workers were treated; their ratios compared to imported

 

 

22

 

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23
or incoming migratory workers. The researcher also
visited Kuwait and interviewed labor union leaders in
various sectors, such as Ali al—Kandari, Secretary of
the Confederation of Kuwaiti Trade Unions and president
of the trade union in the Ministry of Social Affairs
and Labor. Other interviews were held with Ibrahaim a1—
Kotaimi, Ex-President of the Trade Union of Bank
Employees and with Ahmad al—Asbohi, president of the
Workers' Cultural Institute (interview schedules are
included in the Appendix). Because of the similarity in
the constitutions of each union in Kuwait, their
unified regulations and membership rules, structure and
activities, which are provided by the Ministry of Social
Affairs and Labor, interviews were limited to one or two
in each sector. The study deals mainly with the develop—
ment of trade unionism in Kuwait. Provision of background
information on Kuwait in terms of its socioeconomic system
helps to achieve the objectives, as does dividing the

history of Kuwait into two periods, before and after

the discovery of oil.

The Importance of the Study
Because Kuwait is a very young developing
country undergoing rapid changes (due to oil production),
tainajor problem is a shortage of studies such as this,
especially on topics which deal with workers and labor

'unions. In the Arab Gulf area, there are a few countries

24

with labor unions, but the majority do not have them.
So Kuwait is a special case compared with other states
in the region with similar circumstances and the same
background. This could be predictive of changes
toward trade unionism in other parts of the region, as
Kuwait tends to be an innovator in the area. Since
Kuwait is so similar to the other Arab Gulf oil states,
the results of the research at hand could have implica—
tions beyond the borders of the country. To accomodate
the dynamics of such rapid changes on one hand, and
maintain stability and continuity on the other, every
effort should be made to undertake extensive studies
into various aspects of these changes and the impact
that such changes may have on the circumstances con—
ditioning the lives of individuals and groups in the
area.

In the following chapter, the literature on
trade unionism in the West, in the deve10ping world, and

in the Middle East will be reviewed.

CHAPTER TWO

REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

Trade unionism has closely followed industrial-
ization in the underdeveloped, developing and developed
countries. There are hardly any societies around the
globe, which do not have trade unions to take care of
the workers' wages, hours and conditions of work espec-
ially under industrial-capitalist economies. Though
trade unionism is regarded generally as apolitical, it
has to function under different political orders. Con—
sequently, the ideology and the organization of the trade
union movements have to take cognizance of the political
systems in which they have to function. This is why the
trade union movements, in their ideology and organiza-
tion, are different in different countries. In order
to survive, succeed and develop, trade unions must be
flexible enough to adapt themselves to changes in the
political order, economic structure, concepts of the
welfare state, and emerging new industrial technology.

Ghosh modified the Webbs' definition to describe

a trade union as a

25

26

continuous association of employees
which are primarily interested in main—
taining or improving the conditions of
their members' lives, . . . but which
demand the right to be consulted in
production problems and workers' welfare
arrangements by the management, .
also a direct share in the management
itself. (1960, p. 12)

The concept of trade unions has thus expanded
from protectionist societies to organizations of workers
whose leaders see themselves in partnership with manage-
ment on behalf of the workers’ concerns. Ghosh finds
that even in the industrially advanced countries like
Germany, France and Belgium where the welfare rights of
workers are well protected by elaborate legislation, the
trade unions are fighting for a greater share in indus—
trial management. He therefore, concludes:

Thus it may be safely maintained that the
modern trade unions have transformed them-
selves as agencies which besides trying to
influence the working conditions and stand-
ard of living of their members, also attempt
to carry out activities to improve their
status and positions. From this point of
View, Webbs' definition, which was adequate
for the unions of their time, today needs
some definite modification as well as
extension. Thus in order to suit the
modern conditions and extended scope of
activities of the trade unions the defin-
ition should be trade union as a continuous
association of wage-earners or salaried
employees for maintaining and improving the
conditions of their working lives and aim-
ing at giving them a better status in the
industry as well as in the society. (1960,
p. 13)

This evolutionary concept of trade unions is use—

ful for'studying worker organization in countries where

27

the trade union movement may be at stages of development
that are more or less advanced, in keeping with the
general development of the society. The main focus of
this study is the evolution of the trade union movement
in Kuwait, a rapidly developing country which shares a
common political and economic experience with other
rapidly developing countries consequent upon their
efforts to modernize themselves industrially and econom-
ically. Yet differences in the individual political
systems and social orders differentiate the peculiar
character of one trade union from another in many vital
aspects.

The trade union movement is essentially rooted
in the socioeconomic system in most countries of the world;
in Kuwait, religious customs and traditions have some role
to play. However, the underlying assumption of this study
is that since trade unions are primarily economic institu—
tions, socioeconomic factors, in essence, determine most
of their growth. Therefore, the primary focus is the
socioeconomic framework within which the unions operate.
In Asian countries, for example, certain characteristics
differentiate trade unions from those in Europe and the
U.S. For historical reasons, the socioeconomic patterns
have developed certain anomalies. That is, the formation
of unions is encouraged by public authorities and it is
generally accepted that all expedients for the maintenance

of harmonious industrial relations be explored (Costa,

28
1963).

This, therefore, is the framework within which
the trade unionism is examined in this study. Because
of the extremely short life of the labor movement in
Kuwait, there is lack of literature available on its
various aspects; this study will be the first compre-
hensive examination of the movement. The literature on
trade unions and labor movements in countries, like
India, the Middle Eastern Arab States, African nations
and Latin American countries, whose trade union exper-
iences are similar to those Kuwait is going through,
add insight and depth to this study. A summary of
trade unionism in the Arab world has been prepared by

Curtis Hogan.

Modern day trade unionism had its origins
in the Arab world under the French and
English colonial regimes. More recently,
the petroleum trade union sector was in-
fluenced by the Americans. The English
and French influence brought in social—
ists, class conscious, strong, general
trade union concepts, while the Americans
influenced the development of strong local
unions and national federations and the
concept of a petroleum or industrial trade
union elite. . . . Unions in countries
like Egypt, Algeria, Aden and Tunisia were
at their founding free and democratic
organizations by Western union standards.
They became politicalized in becoming
involved in the drives for independence.
Some survived to maintain their freedom,
such as Jordan and Lebanon. Others, fol-
lowing the revolution, were immediately
crushed by the new national leaders such
as in Algeria and Aden and the leadership
was replaced by men subservient to state
political interest first, and trade union
interest second. Other unions, such as in

29
Egypt, made the transition in a sort of
tight wire rope act that has attempted to
maintain a measure of union freedom and
democracy, and at the same time, keep in

line with state political and economic
interests. (Hogan, 1975, pp. 4-5)

Hogan makes it clear that the trade union move-
ment in the major Arab countries did not grow in isola-
tion from those in the West. It should be noted that
disruptive events, like those in Egypt, Jordan and Alger—
ia had their repercussions in the whole of the Arab World,
particularly before oil wealth differentiated the oil rich
Arab states from their neighbors. Thus trade union move—
ments in Egypt, Jordan and Algeria had a strong influence
on countries like Kuwait, the Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
Before exploring Mid-East Trade Union development further,

a review of trade unionism in the West is in order.

Trade Unionism in the West

 

Trade unions in the West were formed in reaction
to, or as part of, the process of capitalist development.
Apart from the worker alienation from control over his
product, the industrial revolution separated the home from
the factory and destroyed the old guild system. The
worker then tried to find another collective form to
regain some control over his economic destiny.

The Webbs point out:

This fundamental condition of trade unionism
we discover in the economic revolution

through which certain industries were pass-
ing . . . the great bulk of the workers

ceased to be independent producers, themselves

30

controlling the processes, and owning
the materials and the product of their
labour, and had passed into the con-
dition of life-long wage earners,
possessing neither the instruments of
production nor the commodity in its
finished state . . . (Webb and Webb,
1894, p. 120)

Industrial development and the development of
the social and economic sectors in a society are the main
sources of trade union strength and power. This is what
has precisely happened in the West, particularly in
Great Britain and the United States to strength the
trade unions there.

It is interesting to note that, unlike the
American and British trade union movements, the European
labor movement started initially as a political movement,
which meant that the European labor unions sought polit—
ical means to redress the social and economic inequities
workers suffered under the capitalist system. The
British and American labor movements started as a struggle
for social and economic justice. The European trade
unions' emphasis on independent political action as
against the British and American emphases on social and
economic justice marks the essential differences between
the two movements. Typically, American political parties
are a coalition of several social groups. European
political parties, on the other hand, are organized along

class demarcations, typically and are social and economic

31
groupings (Sturmthal, 1953). Political unionism on the
European continent, in essence, implies that the trade
union organizations aim ultimately at a transformation
of society and a deliberate change of the social order.
In this regard,

The European labor movement presents
itself, in at least two or sometimes
three or four forms: the trade union
movement and the political party of the
working class are standard forms; con-
sumers' cooperatives--sometimes also
producers' cooperatives-—and mutual
insurance organizations are often other
kinds of workers' organizations. But
the main pillars of the movements were
the unions and the political party
variously labelled Social-Democratic,
Socialist or Labor Party. '(Sturmthal,
p. 38)

However, the British and American movements are
distinctly different from their European counterparts
in their search for economic justice rather than a polit-

ical solution.

British Trade Unionism

 

Membership in British trade unions is voluntary;
the trade unions rely largely upon their own strength and
sometimes have an organic relation with one political party
or another. Unlike its European counterpart, British
unionism has created its own political party, rather than
political parties creating their own trade unions. British
unions emerged in 1824 and the emphasis of the movement
from the first was on political objectives, particularly

the right to vote.

32

Unionists are, of course, strongly rep—
resented among the Labor Party members
of Parliament. Candidates are adopted
by the local Labor Parties but require
the endorsement of the Labour Party
executives. (Ibid., p. 43)

Financially the unions provide the bulk of support for
the Labour Party, in both national and local elections.
About 84 percent of the total income of the Labour Party
comes from the unions. In Britain, the Labour Party and
the trade unions share the same ideology. Regarding
collective bargaining in Britain, the Board of Trade
reported in 1910 to Parliament that:

The method of collective bargaining may

be said to prevail throughout the whole

of our manufacturing industries and to a

very considerable extend in regard to

the employment of dock and waterside

labor, and of labor employed in trans-

portation and sea fishing. (Ibid., p.
148)

American Trade Unionism

 

Compared to its European counterpart, trade
unionism in the United States is essentially apolitical
in character. It has no connection with any political
party as in Britain. It has its own distinctive form
and spirit. The main concern of the American trade union
is purely to protect the economic interests of its
members, which are higher wages, shorter hours, and bet—
ter working conditions, independent of how any political
party may view their actions. American trade unions rely

primarily on the collective agreement as a means of

33
establishing labor—management relations.
Theory and ideology had little influence
on American trade unionism. Although the
unions relied much upon legislation for
the regulation of labour-management rela—
tions they have never allied themselves with

either of the political parties in the
United States. (D'Costa, 1963, p. 29)

Pearlman (1979) refers to the basic differences
between American and European labor as three character—
istics: (1) the difference in the relative emphasis
given to political and economic means for the attainment
of labor's objectives; (2) the question of labor's inde-
pendent political action; and (3) the scope of the inter—
ests of labor.

The International Labour Office, when it visited
the United States,

was struck in its discussion with trade

union leaders by the almost total absence

of any questioning of the bases of the

American economic and social system.

Unlike labor movements in Europe and

elsewhere, the trade unions in the United

States do not appear even to consider,

still less to advocate any major change

in the system in which they operate. (ILO,
1960, p. 26)

D'Costa describes Unetrade unions in the United
States as being ”job—conscious," putting great emphasis
on economic activity and negotiations between the employ-
ers and the workers for the betterment of the terms and
conditions of employment. The heterogeneity of the United

States population makes the working class heterogeneous,

consequently, the membership does not share common social

34
or cultural goals. The interest of the American intel—
lectuals in trade unionism has been largely academic,
and they have had hardly any share in the influence on
the policy of the trade unions.

Trade Unionism in the
Developing Countries

 

 

India

 

In India, the first labor association was or-
ganized in 1890 in Bombay and was called the Millhand's
Association. After a few years the Amalgamated Society
of Railway Servants of India and Burma was formed (Bosha,
1897).

The period from 1918 to 1926 was the beginning
era of the organized trade union movement in India. In
1918 a political worker and journalist founded the first
modern trade union in Madras, but the legal recognition
of the union came with the passage of the Trade Unions
Act of 1926.

S. D. Punekar, in his Trade Unionism in India

 

writes:

Indian trade unionism is the product of a
number of factors--the class consciousness
and class solidarity, industrial unrest
due to the grave economic difficulties
created by the war, the profound influence
of the Swaraj Movement, and the Russian
Revolution and the establishment of the
International Labor Organization and the
All India Trade Union Congress. (Punekar,

1948, p. 3)

35

India at present has four central trade union
organizations. The total membership in the Indian Nation-
al Trade Union Congress (INTUC) is higher than the com—
bined membership of the four central All—India Industrial
Federations of Workers' Unions which are not officially
affiliated to any of these national trade union centers.

The predominant type of trade union in India is
the industrial union. From the very beginning the
leadership of the unions was in the hands of ”outsiders”
who belonged to the educated upper-class and whose inter-
est was the betterment of the conditions of the entire
working-class and not a particular group of workers. As

D'Costa writes in his book Trade Unions in Developing

 

Countries:

 

The trade union movement in India is
essentially an urban movement and has
not yet spread to the agricultural sec—
tor. As in most countries, agricultural
workers cannot be easily organized into
trade unions since they usually work on
semi-isolated farms scattered throughout
the country. In India the task is ren-
dered particularly difficult because of
the lack of adequate means of communica-
tion and the seasonal character of
agricultural employment. (1963, p. 92)

Shiv Ram estimated the extent of unionism in
India in 1939 as roughly 4 percent, while Punekar based
his calculations on the 1931 Census and put it at nearer
1.4 percent (Ibid., p. 91).

Very few women join trade unions, although the

percentage of women members is increasing each year. While

36
in India women members constituted only 8.4 percent of
the total trade union membership in 1953-54, in Britain
it was 18 percent and in Japan about 24 percent. The
India National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) established
in 1947 is today the most representative central workers'

organization in India.

Thailand

The labor movement in Thailand started earlier
than in most countries in the area. The first labor
union was organized among the tramway workers in Bangkok
in 1897—-only 14 years after the birth of the first union
in Japan. For a variety of political and socioeconomic
reasons, a strong trade union movement has failed to
develop in Thailand. The Thai movement is regarded as
the weakest movement in all of Southeast Asia. Though
the Thai Union was registered in 1897, the organized labor
movement in Thailand did not begin until after 1932,
when the tramway workers struck over the employer's
refusal to recognize the workers' association, followed
by strikes by taxi drivers, rice mill workers and rail-
road workers in 1924. The government was reported to
have responded to these strikes quite erratically.
However,

Out of the railroad strike came the

creation of a permanent committee to

deal with the labor problems under the

chairmanship of the Governor of
Bangkok. (Thompson, 1947, p. 241)

37

At present there are two central labor organi-
zations in Thailand. The older one of the two was
established in 1947, and is known as the Central Labour
Union (CLU) and is now believed to be largely Chinese
and Communist controlled. The other organization, the
Thai National Trade Union Congress (TNTUC) which is
officially sponsored by the government was established
in 1948.

The slow growth of the trade union movement in
Thailand is attributed to the migratory habits of the
workers. The government, owing to the fear of the extra-
territorial loyalties of the Chinese workers and the
spread of Communism, actively discourages the growth of
the movement among the Chinese workers (Ghosh, 1960,

pp. 40-41).

The Philippines

 

The Philippine trade union movement began in
1902, with the establishment of the Printers and Litho-
graphers' Trade Union. The second trade union was
established in 1908 and was the Cigar Workers Trade
Union, but the government of the Philippines adopted
repressive measures to kill it. The Congress Obrere De
Las Philippines was the first central organization of
the workers in the Philippines established in 1913. In
1919, Federation del Trabajo De Las Filipinas came into

being, followed by the National Labor union established

38

in 1929. In 1940, a year before the invasion of the
Philippines by Japan, the country had 391 registered
trade unions with a membership of 96,877. After the
Second World War the trade union movement began to
reconsolidate itself and in 1949 there were 860 regis-
tered labor unions with an aggregate membership of
about 140,000 workers (Ghosh, 1960, p. 43).

The trade union history of the Philip-

pines in the present years provides us

with a very interesting example of a

phenomenal growth of the movement

because of the favourable encouragement
given by legislation. (Ibid., p. 43)

Trade Unionism in the Middle East

 

Like any other former colonial dependency in
Asia or Africa, the Middle East is now undergoing revo—
lutionary change in socioeconomic structure, and polit—
ical awareness. But the Middle East differs from other
colonial areas in: (1) its geographic location, which
makes it one of the most strategic transit areas of the
world for air, land and maritime traffic; and (2) its
possession of three—fourths of the proven world reserves
of oil. 011 has played a major role in the development
of the middle eastern countries. Socially, it is at
once a progressive and culturally expansive factor;
economically, it holds the key to fiscal balance and
deveIOpment; politically, it creates an ever-increasing

interdependence between the West and the Middle East.

39
Kuwait is located in the Middle East and shares
with its other Gulf partners a rich oil wealth, which is
perhaps the sole reason for its development and import-

ance.

The Syrian labor movement is too young to have
attained predictability in worker attitudes and reactions
of the sort found in countries with a hundred years or
so of labor oragnization and traditions. As Aziz
Allouni describes the Syrian labor movement, the geo—
graphical distribution of the bulk of the industrial
labor force is to be found in Damascus, Aleppo, Horns,
Hama and Latakia (Allouni, 1959). The labor movement in
Syria has faced serious problems because modern industry
was established in Syria only in recent years and the
country's teachers have not yet had time to bring into
being a large body of workers trained in mechanical
skills. Aside from personnel shortcomings in the tech-
nical ranks, Syrian labor is experiencing changes in
the traditional relationship between employer and employee.

Although the achievement of independence gave
additional impetus to the incipient Syrian labor move—
ment, many thinking Syrians had for a long time under—
stood the motivation and aspirations of labor leaders in
the industrialized countries of Western Europe and the

United States. Allouni added that it is true that the

4O

industrial revolutions undergone in Britain, France and
Germany passed Syria by; the Ottoman Empire was moribund
and sluggish itself. Thus the origins of the Syrian
labor movement and similar movements in other Arab
countries may be traced, at the very earliest, to the
end of Ottoman rule in the Middle East. Prior to the
collapse of the Ottoman regime, labor in Syria was
organized on some sort of a guild system, in its essen-
tials not unlike that practiced in Europe in the later
Middle Ages. After 1918, this system started to dis-
integrate as the industrial age began. Mechanization
began to take place in some industries, notably that of
textiles, where the hand tools of the worker had pre—
viously sufficed. Small family shops, usually comprising
the master, his sons, sometimes a small assortment of
relations, were unable to compete for long with enter-
prises in which larger numbers of workers were employed,
and where mechanization reduced costs, and hours of
work. The number of larger businesses grew and, in
1925, the workers, feeling the need of some sort of pro-
tection mechanism to replace the now defunct guilds,
banded together into labor unions. The National Union
of Laborers of the Textile and Knitting Industries was
the pioneer group and was soon followed by the inaugura-
tion of a union for employees in the printing trades

(Allouni, 1959).

41

In 1935 the French authority in Syria issued
Decree No. 152 permitting the organization and formation
of trade unions. The Federation of Syrian Trade Unions
was organized in 1938. After independence in 1946, the
government issued Decree No. 279 which gave workers the
right to form organizations and trade unions. The Syrian
Labor Code provides for three types of union federations:
district federations, federations of several districts,
and general federation of all districts. Over half the
unions belong to a district or regional federation.
Slightly less than half are members of a general federa-
tion. The unions in Syria are controlled by a represen-
tative board elected annually to manage their day-to-day
operations, finances, and drafting of an annual general

report for the Ministry of National Economy.

Egypt

 

Egypt is predominantly an agricultural country;
agriculture provides an occupational outlet for 63 per—
cent of the population. The Egyptian labor movement is
as old as the history of Egypt. Urban workers were
organized according to what has been known as the guild
system, which was essentially an organization of master—
craftsmen for the regulation and government of a trade.
The impact of the industrial revolution, the French
invasion of the country in 1799, the westernization

policy of Mohamed Ali and his followers from 1805 onward,

and the birth of modern Egyptian industry, however, have

42
all contributed to the decline of the old guild system
and to the rise of modern trade unionism.

Egypt has the largest trade union movement in
the entire Arab and African world. Professional groups,
such as teachers, engineers, doctors, and lawyers, have
their own separate organizations. From about 1900,
small and scattered unions were formed and grew slowly
until 1953, when more than 900 unions were reported to
have about 270,000 members. After 1953, unions were
given more leverage but were controlled by the government
as a wing of the Arab Socialist Union. Membership grew
and unions united into general unions by industry.

Basic trade union legislation was extended in 1964 to
government workers; which led to further growth of
membership.

In the 1970's, under Sadat, unions became more
independent, especially after the Trade Union Law of
1976. The election of officers by the rank and file, as
provided in the 1976 law, resulted in new leadership of
many of the general unions. The Egyptian Federation of
Labor (EFL) has 21 affiliated general unions, with an
estimated membership of more than two million members.
The EFL was a key member of the International Confeder-
ation of Arab Trade Unions, but had to withdraw in 1978
as a result of inter-Arab disputes. The EFL, however,
retains its membership in the organization of African

Trade Union Unity. (Birks and Sinclair, 1979).

43

Saudi Arabia

 

The situation in Saudi Arabia is totally unlike
that in all other Arab countries. An estimated 75 per-
cent of the labor force there is engaged in agriculture
and animal husbandry. Those in animal husbandry account
for a substantial majority of the labor force and are
nomadic or semi—nomadic. Forty percent of the farmers
are believed to be individual landowners. The remainder
of the labor force includes craftsmen (weavers, gold-
smiths, and silversmiths), government workers, and work-
ers in the oil industry. The government is the largest
single employer, with the oil industry being the second
largest employer.

Although trade unions are prohibited in Saudi
Arabia, Royal Decree No. 26 of November 22, 1962 permitted
the establishment of cooperative societies. The first
such group to be formed was composed of mechanics and
garage employees in Jidda.

Wages and working conditions in labor contracts
are unilaterally determined by the employer, owing to the
absence of collective bargaining machinery. In the event
of a dispute, the following procedures are recommended
for the settlement of labor grievances: (1) informal
settlement; (2) barring settlement, complaint to the
local labor office; (3) an appeal to one of the regional

labor offices; (4) a further appeal to a provincial emir,

44
who may decide the case or refer it to a royal commission
for a rehearing; (5) a final appeal may be made to the
grievance board of the Council of Ministers, or to the
King. A strike in the oil industry in 1953 was sup-
pressed with force by the Government, and in 1956, work
stoppages were officially banned following another strike

in the oil industry (U.S. Department of Labor, 1963).

Lebanon

The Lebanese constitution of May 1926 guarantees
freedom of association. The labor code of 1946 elabor—
ates on this freedom and provides that, within each occu-
pational category, employers and employees may form
separate unions.

Organized labor did not develop to any appre—
ciable extent before 1941 but, since that time, the labor
movement has matured more rapidly in Lebanon than in any
other Arab state. During its growth, it has developed
certain characteristics which approximate phases of the
labor movement in the United States to an extent not
apparent in the rest of the Arab world. Assessment of
membership dues has become a pattern with a few unions
but is still far from becoming a general practice.

Unions were formed first among the chauffeurs, railway
and streetcar workers, hairdressers, commercial employ-
ees, hotel, restaurant and coffee house workers, and

printers. The first federation was formed in 1946 and

45
is called Jami'at (Labor League). It split into two
factions early in 1952 when several important member
unions withdrew and petitioned the Ministry of Social
Affairs for a license to establish a separate federa-
tion. Late in the year a charter was granted to the new
federation in the name of the United Unions of Employees

and Workers (U.S. Department of Labor, 1956).

.123
The labor union movement in Iraq started in the
19205, and a strike of workers in 1930 was the first sign
of the impact of a labor-versus-employer clash in the
nation. In 1936, Labor Law No. 72 was passed; it was
amended by Law No. 36 of 1942*. The main purposes of the
Labor Law were to regulate conditions and hours of work;
compensations for death, injury or disease; the formation
of associations such as labor unions; methods of stopping
child labor; the establishment of employment agencies; and
to set up a labor council for each factory, composed of
representatives from labor and government. In 1936, an
automobile drivers' union was formed, but it failed to
assemble sufficient support to survive. Presently chart-

ered unions are the electrical workers', automobile

 

*The Law of 1936 covered industrial workers but
ecxluded restaurant, hotel, coffee shop and construction
workers, and the entire agricultural forces.

46
drivers, mechanics, tailoring workers and construction
workers union, all located in Bagdad; carpenters in
Basrah and mechanics in Omarah. The unions of the port
of Basrah and of the Iraqi railways, both government
undertakings, were abolished after a series of strikes.
In the oil industry workers are forbidden to organize
and form trade unions. The Iraqi workers, however,
regard this right as vital and have made it one of the
major demands in every strike (al—Itabib, 1956, pp. 137-
143).

Conclusion

 

In this review of the literature, the researcher
has attempted to identify different areas of trade
unions. There is a lack of literature on Kuwait trade
unions due to the country's limited experience with
unions and the relative infancy of such organizations
in this area. Because of this disadvantage the researcher
has tried to trace the development of trade unions in
other areas, dividing them in terms of development,
underdevelopment and degree of industrialization. Some
developing countries share a common political and econom—
ic experience. Therefore, the literature on trade unions
and labor movements in countries like India, South Asia,
and the Middle Eastern Arab states indicates the exper-
ience of these countries to be somewhat similar. Trade
unionism in the industrialized, developed countries such

as British Trade Unionism and American Trade Unionism,

47

is different from the experience of the previously
named areas. All these labor movements and their origins
form the background against which this study defines and
relates the special features of trade unionism in Kuwait.

Admittedly, political, social, economic and
cultural variables are intricately involved in the evolu-
tion of trade union movements throughout the world. In
the developing countries, political factors play a major
role in the formation of trade unions. The political
impact may be divided into two periods: before inde—
pendence and after independence. Before independence,
most countries' trade unions play a major role in
rebelling against outside domination and throwing out
the colonial power. In Britain, the situation was
different in that the trade unions were not created or
founded by political parties and in the United States
trade unionism has no formal relationship with any of
the political parties. In the Asian trade union move-
ment, the factory system and the unions began almost
simultaneously. A5 D'Costa explained, the time-gap
that enabled the factory system to become firmly
established, before it confronted the trade union move-
ment in Europe, was almost totally lacking in Asia.
The working class did not have enough time to adopt
itself to the factory system. In this case they started
to complain, which led to strikes and confrontations be-

tween workers and employers. Another factor contributing

48
to the development of trade unionism in underdeveloped
countries was that the plantations and factories were
dependent on the advanced countries in the West. In
India, for example, the textile mills of Bombay were
subsidiaries of those in Manchester. In these countries,
a large proportion of the workers were unskilled, low-
paid laborers. (D'Costa, 1963)

Labor leaders are often active politicians and
command the loyalties of the membership for their polit-
ical parties. The trade union movement in the under—
develOped countries is voluntary in character. Workers
are not bound to join a union; nor are the employers
required by law to recognize the trade unions. Since in
these countries, the general level of education is low,
the trade unions are controlled by the educated upper—
class, whose interest in labor is either political or
socio-humanitarian, rather than the specific needs of
the rank and file members. (D'Costa, 1963)

American unionism has a different form from that
in Britain or the underdeveloped countries. American
unionism is a simple business organization and relies
mainly on negotiations to achieve its objective. It
has no link with any of the political parties. Political
ideology and the intellectuals have little influence
though American labor tends to vote Democratic more often

than Republican. In the Middle East, unionism has had

its origin under the English and the French influence.

49
The English and the French influence brought in social-
ist, class conscious, strong, general trade unions, while
America has influenced the development of strong local
unions and national federations. Unions in countries
like Egypt, Iraq and Syria were, at their founding,
free and democratic organizations by Western union
standards.

One of the major aims of this thesis is to pre—
sent a broad framework for the trade union movement in
Kuwait. To achieve this goal and the objectives of this
study, it was necessary to provide a broad picture of
similar countries, such as the Third World countries,
trade union development and the social and political
circumstances in which their trade union movements operate.
The economic situation in Kuwait is different than in
most other countries. Although the development of
trade unions in the advanced industrial countries and
their development in the developing countries of the
Third World has been completely different, it has been
the researcher's aim in mentioning these countries to
point out these differences and, at the same time,
indicate the origin and development of trade unions in
several types of societies and political conditions.

The following chapter will relate the demographic

makeup and trends of Kuwait to the labor force.

CHAPTER THREE

POPULATION AND LABOR FORCE OF KUWAIT

The state of Kuwait has maintained some of the
most up—to-date data on its population and the labor
force in the entire Middle Eastern region. It has taken
regular population censuses every five years since 1957.
The last was done in 1980, but its analyses and statistics
have yet to be published. In 1946 it was estimated that
the Kuwaiti population stood at 90,000 people, but this
estimated population rose to a staggering figure of
1,355,827 in 1980-—a 1,500 percent increase (Ministry of
Planning, 1980).

This phenomenal rise has largely been due to a
large immigrant population and the naturalization of a
substantial number of nomadic tribes from neighboring
Arab states. The figures in Table 3.1 indicate that
the non-Kuwaitis* easily outnumber the native population
by 1.4: 1.0. The unusual ratio of citizens to non-

citizens is due to the fact that following the discovery

 

*The term "non-Kuwaiti" is used in official
documents to refer to those documented residents who are
not yet naturalized. This term will be used in this
study to refer to non-naturalized documented residents.

50

51

 

 

 

 

 

 

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"H.m mamae

52

of oil in Kuwait, the country had to recruit a large
work force from abroad to meet the labor and technical
needs of the country's industrial and educational pro—
grams. If we take 1946 as the base year, when the pop-
ulation of the country consisted almost entirely of
native—born Kuwaitis, the increase in the citizenry
itself through 1980 stands at 6.25 times the original
estimated figure of 90,000. In the years from 1957 to
1980 for which official census figures are available,
the native population has increased nearly five times
(See Table 3.1). These statistics include the natural—
ized tribal populations. One analysis maintains that
the native Kuwaiti population of 113,622 individuals in
1957 would have risen to no more than 170,000 in 1970
at the current rate of population growth if large numbers
of neighboring tribal persons had not been naturalized
as Kuwaiti citizenry. The difference between the estimate
of 170,000 native-born Kuwaitis and the actual number of
347,396 Kuwaiti citizens in 1970 can be attributed to
the naturalization of the tribes people (Mear, 1975). It
is interesting to note that, based on the figures in
Table 3.1, the rate of increase in the total Kuwait pop-
ulation from 1957 to 1980 works out to 8.5 percent
annually--one of the highest rates in the world.

Other demographic facts that emerge out of the
published Kuwaiti statistics, laws and decrees are that

in 1957 the non-Kuwaitis constituted 45 percent of the

53
total population, 13 percent of which had immigrated
before 1947 and about 50 percent of which had settled
within the three years preceeding 1957 (Table 3.1).
The great majority of these non—Kuwaitis came from the
neighboring Arab countries, Iran, India and Pakistan.
Because of the absence of any natural barriers between
Kuwait and the neighboring Arab countries on three sides,
its pearling industry and its being a seaside resort,
Kuwait had always experienced significant immigration
from Egypt in the west and Yemen in the south. This
immigration was not perceived as a serious threat to the
local population until the late 1940's, when decrees regarding
immigration and naturalization began to emerge. Between
1948 and 1957 a series of laws and decrees were promul-
gated that sharply defined who was a native Kuwaiti
or citizen and who was an immigrant. Native Kuwaitis,
or simply Kuwaitis, were defined as those and their
descendants who had resided in Kuwait during or before
1920, and all those who could not prove their residence
in Kuwait at that time were designated non-Kuwaitis-—a
term descriptive of alien residents that is used
throughout official Kuwaiti documents.

The current laws of the country permit naturali—
zation of only fifty non—Kuwaitis a year, and then only
for those of Arab extraction who have had a continuous
residence of ten years. For those of non—Arab origins,

a residence of fifteen years is required. Despite these

54
laws, there is a great deal of uncertainty about the
criteria that qualify a non-Kuwaiti for citizenship.
The National Assembly Committee is studying plans to
rationalize the laws and resolve the problem of a long

list of applicants for Kuwaiti citizenship (Nyrop, 1977,
p. 126).

These strict immigration and naturalization
laws have, in large measures, prevented full integration
of the non—Kuwaiti population into the national life of
the country. In this regard, Al-Rayes (1979) adds:

The informal organization of the Kuwaitis
inside and outside the administration is
so strong that it has isolated the non-
Kuwaitis from all social activities of
the Kuwaitis, indeed, so much so that
separate traditional coffee shops have
been created for each group. The non-
Kuwaitis gather in special places for
each nationality, and the Kuwaitis have
their own places, either in coffee shops
or at home where they get together in a
special place called diwania. The diwan—
ia is a place in the family dwelling
where a group of Kuwaitis get together
regularly at night to discuss everyday
life or watch television. Most large
families have a diwania as a part of the
family tradition and reflects the social
status of the family. Non-Kuwaitis do
not participate in these daily meetings.
This kind of social isolation makes the
non-Kuwaitis create their own communities
without which the non—Kuwaitis would find
life frustrating. (p. 116)

In fact, this segregation has resulted in the
creation of two separate societies, largely due to the
official encouragement of segregated housing and to cul-

tural differences between the natives and the immigrants.

55

There are also differences in the population
distribution by sex. Table 3.1 shows that the ratio of
Kuwaiti men to Kuwaiti women has remained close to 98 to
100 overall the census periods, whereas the men-to-women
ratio among the non—Kuwaitis has varied from 100:60 in
1970, to 100:70 in 1975, and back to 100:60 in 1980.

Tables 3.2 and 3.3 show sharp differences in the
distribution of Kuwaitis and non—Kuwaitis by age. The
Kuwaiti population pyramid by age shows an almost perfect
distribution, whereas the non-Kuwaiti population is dis-
proportionately composed of young adults.

Taken together, Tables 3.2 and 3.3 indicate that
Kuwait is a society of the very young. Children in the
age group fifteen and under constituted 49.4 percent of
the total Kuwaiti population. The non—Kuwaiti popula-
tion of the same age group, on the other hand, has varied
from 15.3 percent in 1957 to 37.7 percent in 1975. This
comparison shows that the Kuwaitis are growing at a much
faster rate than the non-Kuwaitis.

The Kuwaitis in the age group 29-50 represented
23.7 percent in 1957, which role in 1975 to 26.4 percent
of the population. Non-Kuwaitis in the same group showed
a decline from 45 percent in 1957 to 27 percent in 1975.
Other significant facts that emerge out of the published
statistics (See Tables 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3) are that the

Kuwaitis in the age group 30-60 constituted 23.8 and 22.4

56

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TABLE 3.2: KUWAITI POPULATION BY AGE
Ages 1957 1961 1965 1970 1975
Less than 15 years 41.5 43.5 49.0 50.1 49.4
15-29 23.7 22.6 25.3 25.4 26.4
30-59 23.7 21.3 20.9 20.1 20.4
60 and more 5.8 5.4 4.8 4.4 3.8
Unknowns 5.3 7.2 -- -- --
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Source: Development Plan for Supply and Demand of Labor
Force, 1976-1981, p.15.
TABLE 3.3: NON-KUWAITI POPULATION BY AGE
Ages 1957 1961 1965 1970 1975
Less than 15 years 15.3 23.5 28.1 37.1 39.7
15-29 44.0 42.5 40.2 31.8 27.0
30-59 32.4 31.4 30.3 29.7 31.8
60 and more 1.5 1.5 1.3 1.4 1.5
Unknowns 6.8 1.1 0.1 -- --
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Source: The estimated supply and demands of the labor force

in the Development Plan, 1976-1981, p.15.

57
percent of their total population for 1957 and 1975
respectively, as against the 32.4 and 81.8 percentages
for the non-Kuwaiti population for the same age group
and years. The native Kuwaitis sixty and over formed
5.8 and 3.8 percent of the Kuwaiti population, respect—
ively, for 1957 and 1975, whereas the percentages for
non—Kuwaitis of that age group were 1.5 for both 1957 and
1975.

Table 3.4 shows the natural population growth
rate per thousand of Kuwaitis, as well as those of non-
Kuwaiti origins. The natural growth rate is defined as
the sum of the male and female populations, plus the
difference between immigration into and emigration out
of the country. The table clearly shows that through
all the years of 1957 through 1980, the growth of the
non-Kuwaiti population has been much greater than that
of the native Kuwaitis. The figures, however, appear to
be rather erratic. In the years 1957 to 1960 the natural
growth of the Kuwaiti population stood at 8.6, and
dropped to 3.5 during the years 1975-80. This fall in the
growth rate can be partially explained by the fact that
in the years 1957-60 liberal naturalization laws were
introduced, boosting the number of citizens. But during
the years 1975-80, the immigration and naturalization
laws were less restrictive and a large immigration pOp-
ulation was allowed into the country to man the develop-

ment projects that Kuwait had been initiating at a

58

 

 

 

 

TABLE 3.4: NATURAL GROWTH RATES OF KUWAITI AND NON-KUWAITI
POPULATIONS
Years of Annual Growth Rate Per Thousand
Census Sex Kuwaitis Non-Kuwaitis Total
Males 87 116 104
1957-1961 Females 86 201 121
Total 86 136 110
Males 76 108 95
1961-1965 Females 87 144 109
Total 81 118 100
Males 93 71 80
1965-1970 Females 98 148 120
Total 95 96 96
Males 62 47 53
1970-1975 Females 65 80 72
Total 63 59 61
Males 33 101 74
1975-1980 Females 37 66 51
Total 35 87 63

 

59
phenomenal rate.

Table 3.5 records the ratios of Kuwaitis and
non-Kuwaitis to the combined total of both. There are
some demographic facts that emerge out of Table 3.5.

The proportion of the non—Kuwaitis has been rising
steadily vis—a—Vis the native population, from 45

percent in 1957 to 58.6 percent in 1980. The gap between
the numbers of male and female native Kuwaiti has ranged
from 100 to 92 to near parity, while equivalent ratios
among non-Kuwaitis show as wide a gap as 27 percent in
1957 and nearly 60 percent in 1980. This big gap in the
proportion of females to males among the non-Kuwaiti was
due to the fact that in the initial stages of immigration,
only male aliens were allowed into the country and their
families were not allowed to join them, except in
exceptional circumstances. These restrictions regarding
the entry of a male immigrant's family were steadily
relaxed and the laws regarding the family reunification
became flexible, if the alien could demonstrate the
ability to support a family. If the immigration
authorities came to the conclusion that a landed immigrant
could not support his family on the basis of his earn-

ing in Kuwait, the request for the entry of the family
was usually denied.

In the early years of oil wealth, the government
of Kuwait launched a massive program of recruiting

technicians and labor from abroad, but by the eighties,

TABLE 3.5

POPULATION

60

RATIOS OF KUWAITIS AND NON-KUWAITIS TO THE TOTAL

 

 

 

 

Kuwaiti Ratig_ Non-Kuwaiti Ratio Totgl __
Year M F T M F T M F T
1957 28.6 26.4 55.0 35.3 9.7 45.0 63.9 36.1 100
1961 26.3 24.1 50.4 36.1 13.5 49.6 62.4 37.6 100
1965 24.1 23.0 47.1 37.2 15.7 52.9 61.6 48.7 100
1970 23.7 23.3 47.0 33.1 19.9 53.0 56.8 43.2 100
1975 23.8 23.7 47.5 30.9 21.6 52.5 54.7 45.3 100
1980 20.5 20.9 41.4 36.8 21.8 58.6 57.3 42.7 100

 

this immigration has dwindled to a trickle because,
most segments of the economy,
replacing the non—natives.
sponsored by a firm,

granted a resident status.

However,

a company,

In fact,

become a thriving business in Kuwait.

or a citizen,

A large number of

if an alien is

he is

in

sponsorship has

Kuwaitis sponsor foreigners and once they are in the

country,

by agreeing to pay a substantial annual fee,

the aliens buy themselves off the sponsorship

and the

sponsor signs a letter of release that gives the spon—

sored alien a right to work elsewhere in Kuwait.

Recently,

the Ministry of Social Affairs and

native Kuwaitis have started

Labor has toughened its policy toward these sponsorships.

Under the new regulations,

the sponsored alien is

61
classified by the kind of work he or she can perform in
Kuwait. If a sponsored alien is classified as a domestic,
he or she cannot engage in any gainful employment other
than as a domestic servant, and that only with the
original sponsor. Also, under the Kuwaiti law, an alien
resident is not allowed to engage in any private business
without the sponsorship of a citizen. Even though Kuwaiti
laws are highly discriminatory against the immigrants, a
large number of people from various countries still
enter Kuwait, not only for economic reasons but for the

reasons of political stability.

Labor Force Structure in Kuwait

 

With regard to the labor force and the popula-
tion, David Turnham (1971) states:

Size of the population is the first and

the most important to determine the size of

the labor force, but the relation between

population and labor force, the coefficient

known as the participation or activity

rate, can vary considerably in practice from
about one Quarter up to around one half.

(13. 11)

The discovery of oil in Kuwait not only
brought an unprecedented flow of wealth into the country
but was also a starting point for new economic activity
centered around industrialization. This has affected
the size of the population in Kuwait and is a direct
result of the economic activity that followed in the

flow of wealth from oil. The non-Kuwaiti population

62
grew to 58.6 percent of the total population in 1980,
as against 41.4 percent natives. As Table 3.6 indicates,
the bulk of the labor force consists of non-Kuwaitis.
Resident aliens occupy most segments of the economy and
constitute 70 percent of the work force in the country.
There are some sectors, such as banking and construction,
that have hardly any native Kuwaitis, though most of
these sectors are owned or managed at the top level by
Kuwaiti nationals. Of the total labor force of 304,582
in 1972, native Kuwaitis comprised only 91,844,a bare
30.15 percent of the total, but the non-Kuwaiti labor
force was 212,738 or 69.85 percent of the total (Sayigh,
1978).

The low percentage of the native population in
the work force can be attributed, in part, to the fol-
lowing causes: (1) in 1975, for example, 49.4 percent
of the native pOpulation was 15 years of age or under,
too young for the work force; (2) the population between
the ages of 15 and 59, those in their active working
yers, constituted only 46.8 percent of the native pop-
ulation in that year; and (3) rapid economic growth far
exceeded growth in the native population during the
years 1957—75. To fill the increasing demand for
technical, skilled, and non—skilled workers, Kuwait had
to import a huge labor force from abroad.

The growth of the labor force in Kuwait has, in

fact, been remarkable during the fifties and the early

63

 

 

 

 

 

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64
sixties, averaging about 9 percent annually from 1947
through 1957 and over 16 percent annually in the follow—
ing eight years, to reach a total of 184,298 people by
1965 (See Table 3.6).

The source of the analysis of the native labor
force is Table 3.6. The following facts are easily
discernible:

1. The labor force in Kuwait increased from

80,288 in 1957 to 304,582 in 1975-—an
increase of 380 percent.

2. Though the number of native Kuwaitis

participating in the labor force shows
a steady increase from 1957 to 1975 (See
Table 3.6), the percentage of their par-
ticipation shows a steady decline until

1965, when it begins to show a steady
rise.

Only 384 Kuwaiti women were reported to be in
the work force in 1957 constituting only 0.5 percent of
the total labor force (Table 3.6). This level of involve—
ment for Kuwaiti women remained static until 1965, when
it began to show a significant rise with 1,092 women in
the work force--0.6 percent of the total. In 1970 par—
ticipation of Kuwaiti women had reached 2,055-—a
percentage increase of 0.9 percent. In the ten years
since, Kuwaiti women's participation has risen slowly,
to 2.5 percent in 1975 and 2.6 percent in 1980.

There are some significant facts that emerge from
the analyses of Table 3.7 regarding the non-Kuwaiti

population. Their participation in the work force has

 

 

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66
been steadily increasing since 1957 because the growth
rate of the native population has not been able to keep
pace with the rapid rate of economic development in the
country. Immigration laws have been steadily relaxed
over the years to permit the reunification of the nuclear
families of the immigrants, with the results that the
ratio between the males and females among the non—
Kuwaitis has been rising. The number of non-Kuwaitis in
the labor force in 1957 was 55,686——69.4 percent of the
total labor force; in 1960, 78,845—-72.2 percent; in
1965, 141,279--76.7 percent of the total; in 1970, the
number rose to 212,736, but Umapercentage dropped to
69.9, and is projected to drop to 68.9 percent in 1980.
The steady decline of the percent of the non-Kuwaiti
labor force is consistent with the policies of the gov-
ernment and with the fact that an ever-increasing
number of Kuwaitis have been acquiring the necessary
expertise and skills in various areas of the economy.
On the other hand, the participation of women of non-
Kuwaiti origin has continued to increase over these
years. In 1957, the number was 1,693 (2.1 percent of
the total labor force); in 1960, 2,985 (2.7 percent);
in 1965, 7,676 (4.2 percent). In 1965 the Labor Code
and Legislation was finalized to allow the spouses of
legal immigrants to enter and engage in gainful employ-
ment. As a direct consequence of this liberalization of

the immigration laws, 1970 recorded the number of

67
non—Kuwaiti women employed in Kuwait to be 14,542 (6.0
percent) of the total labor force. Since then, 1975 has
recorded a rise in the non—Kuwaiti women employees to
27,729 (9.1 percent of the total). It is projected that
this will rise to 11.1 percent in 1980.

This steady rise in the number of non-Kuwaiti
women involved in the labor force, in contrast to cor—
responding but dissimilar figures for Kuwaiti women, is
due to causes associated with Kuwaiti customs, tradition,
and religion. Social and religious practices discourage
participation by native women in the work force. Another
reason for the discrepancy in the figures for Kuwaiti
and non—Kuwaiti women is that when immigrant women enter
Kuwait, they are already of working age, and almost all
are educated or trained to enter the employment market,
but the Kuwaiti women are more likely to be illiterate,
as the education of Kuwaiti women was initiated only very
recently.

The distribution of the labor force by economic
sectors is shown in Table 3.8. The figures show that
non—Kuwaitis easily outnumber Kuwaitis in almost all
sectors of the economy in Kuwait, with the exception of
agriculture and fishing industries. The total native
labor force engaged in fishing and agriculture amounted
to 3,983 people, as against their 3,531 non-Kuwaiti
counterparts, or 4.3 percent of the total labor force

against the non-Kuwaiti percentage of 2.5. In the

68

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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70
government sector, the ratio of Kuwaitis to non-Kuwaitis
is almost even.

The greatest difference between the native and
non-native labor forces was evident in the construction
industry. The industry had 30,500 people employed, con—
stituting 14.3 percent of the total labor force, of
which Kuwaitis formed only 1,756 or a mere 1.9 percent
of the total work force. In the wholesale and retail
trade, the respective shares of the non-Kuwaitis and
Kuwaitis were 13.8 percent and 6.9 percent or 33,232
and 6,327 people engaged in these industries.

Although in most industrial and business sectors,
the numbers of native Kuwaiti women are negligible, their
ratio to their male counterparts in the government and
social sectors was as high as 92 percent, compared to
90.8 percent for non-Kuwaiti women employees in those
sectors. In 1975 there were 6,879 Kuwaiti women employed
in these sectors; and 25,188 of their non—Kuwaiti counter-
parts in the same sectors. The other sectors in which
the employment of Kuwaiti women is significant are trans-
portation, storage, and communication. The number of
Kuwaiti women employed in these industries was 262, 3.5
percent of the Kuwaiti labor force. Despite the trad-
itional and cultural opposition to Kuwaiti women's
engaging in public occupations, the percentage of them
employed in the public and private sectors has risen

from 2.5 percent of the total Kuwaiti force in 1957 to

71

11 percent in 1975. The decline of Kuwaitis in the labor
force, from 40 percent of the total in the late 19605 to
a little over 30 percent in 1975, was largely attributed
to the fact that increasing numbers of the immediate
families of the non—Kuwaitis had begun to immigrate and
settle in Kuwait. This was also reflected in the increase
in non-Kuwaitis under the age of 15 in the total popula-
tion of immigrants, as well as the increase in female
non—Kuwaitis who constituted 40 and 41 percent respect-
ively in 1975 non-Kuwaiti population.

This massive immigration into Kuwait was part
of an influx of temporary Asian migrants that began
around 1973, not only into the Arabian Gulf States but
also into Saudi Arabia. The countries that contributed
most heavily to this influx were India, Pakistan, and
Iran. In this connection, Al-Moosa in his study, "Non—
Arab Immigration to Kuwait with Special Reference to
Asian Immigrants," points out that,

Indians, Iranians and Pakistanis are

overrepresented in 1970—1975 among the

main occupations, namely services and

production process workers. However, a

wide variation is observed in the degree

of concentration of each of these

national groups among the two occupa-

tions. For example, the Iranian are

extensively found in production proces-

ses and among unskilled labor; and the

proportion engaged in these two occupa-

tions amounted to 24,944 workers, rep-

resenting 72.5 percent out of a total of

33,596 workers in 1970. In 1980 the

proportion of Indians in the service

sector amounted to 3,950 service work—
ers, constituting 38 percent of the

72

total labor force in this sector. They
increased in 1975 to 50 percent, raising
the absolute number to 10,546 workers.
Unskilled workers increased from 1,884

in 1970 to 3,740 workers in 1975. The
proportion of Indians found in scien-
tific, technical, professional and admin-
istrative sectors exceeds that of both
the Iranians and Pakistanis. The propor-
tion of Pakistanis found as production
process and unskilled workers constitute
the majority of its labor force. In

this respect their proportion engaged in
this sector constituted 4,349 workers in
1970 representing 32.5 percent. They
increased to 7,256 in 1975. (Al—Moosa,
1981, pp. 290—91)

In recent years, immigration from the Philippines,
South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, and Japan into the oil
rich Arab states has substantially increased. The spec-
ial feature of the immigration from these countries is
that it does not result from individuals trickling in
on their own; they come into the host countries under
contract with firms engaged in developmental programs in
the Arab countries.

There are a few studies about the immigrant pop—
ulations from these countries, excepting a few stray

articles and lectures. A Middle East Economic Digest

 

(Meed article) in the March 1979 issue indicated that
the South Korean dominance of the Kuwaiti construction
industry is being challenged by India and Pakistan, by
the availability of cheap labor and by the Kuwait gov-
ernment's policy of replacing foreign labor with the
indigenous labor force. Because of the price compet-

ition, few Western firms win contracts, unless the work

73
to be bid happens to be in the area of their exclusive
expertise.

The impetus for the importation of South Korean
labor was provided by the world—wide inflation that made
Kuwait slow its development programs and search for
cheaper labor and expertise. Currently, of the 390
million Kuwaiti Dinar budget ($1,444,000,000), only KD 68
million ($251,800,000) is allocated for new projects, and
60 percent of the budget is devoted to the desalination
projects of the Ministry of Electricity and Water Power.
South Korean companies, despite heavy international com-
petition, have been able to win nearly half of the large
construction contracts awarded in the last three years
through their low competitive bids. Also, the policy of
the government is to grant the Korean contractors easy
credit, a 50 percent tax rebate on revenues and a five—
year tax exemption on the export of construction mater—
ials has helped Korean labor and expertise maintain its
competitive edge. Korean workers work around the clock
and are satisfied with living accomodations that are
below standard. It must, however, be pointed out that
the government of Kuwait requires the contractors to
provide adequate living accomodations to the labor that
is imported into the country. These factors help the
South Korean labor force to survive against the com—
petition from India and Pakistan. South Korean labor

has successfully filled shortages in the labor force

74
in Kuwait. As a result, the South Koreans share one—
third of the construction industry in Kuwait, and are
confident they will be able to maintain their share of
the pie, in spite of the competition from other Asian
countries.

Kuwait also has a sizeable labor force from the
Philippines. The Phillipinos are employed largely by
U.S. companies, who operate a billion dollar liquefied
petroleum gas (LPG) plant at Mina Al—Ahmadi. The
Philippine worker is considered less efficient than his
Korean counterpart, but his low efficiency is compensated
for by his willingness to accept lower wages.

It is not difficult to see that the complexity of
imported labor in Arab countries, including Kuwait, has
given rise to human, national and international political
and economic problems. In the past, several national
and international conferences were convened to address
problems arising out of the immigration of labor into
the Gulf States. The most recent one was convened by the
Arab Planning Institute of Kuwait and was held from Janu-
ary 15 to 18, 1983. The ideas that have emerged from
these conferences are as varied as the character and
composition of the conferences. Some have regarded this
massive migration of alien labor to the Arab world as a
colony of an underpriveleged labor force, while some
others have treated this migration as a result of the

circulation of Western capital in the Third World

75

countries. One of the highly nationalist Arab confer-
ences maintained that economic development in Kuwait,
the Gulf States and Saudi Arabia has been made possible
by a labor force drawn mainly from neighboring Arab
countries, and these Arab neighbors should be given
priority in the recruitment and importation of labor.
This View was prevalent until the end of the sixties.

In the seventies, however, changes in the
economic and political positions of the Arab countries
and in the international economic and political climate
made the oil rich countries of the Arabian peninsula look
beyond their adjacent borders for labor and expertise.
Politically, the Arab world was no longer one cohesive
force in the seventies. Western firms engaged in the
developmental programs in the area insisted on the
importation of cheap manageable labor from wherever
they could find it. The Arab governments feared that
if the importation of neighboring Arab labor continued
at the sixties rate and if this massive alien Arab
labor mixed with the local labor force because of the
linguistic affinity, discontent, strikes, and trade
unionism would be spread among the local labor force
which would be detrimental to development.

The policy of the Government of Kuwait has been
to keep the alien labor isolated from the native popula-
tion. In Kuwait, non-Kuwaitis have separate housing

colonies, coffee shops and restaurants. A study of the

76
socioeconomic and political conditions of alien labor
found that there were huge socioeconomic gaps between
the non-Kuwaiti labor force and their native counter-
parts, largely due to the immigrant labor code and
restrictive legislation which perpetuates the feeling
that natives, whatever their status, belong to a
privileged class vis-A—vis the aliens. Although the
alien population is acutely conscious of this discrimina—
tion they continue to suffer it because liberal social
services sufficiently compensate for their under-
privileged status in Kuwait. The study concluded that
this state of affairs will last so long as the Gulf
States are able to provide better social and economic
opportunities than the ones existing in the native
countries of the immigrants (al-Salem and al-Dhaher,
1981).

Birks and Sinclair in their study, "Arab
Manpower: The Crisis of Development," (1980) examined
the GNP's of both the rich and poor Arab countries and
described the economic conditions of labor in those
countries and the process of employment by sex, nation—
ality and economic activity over a couple of decades.

It must be pointed out that the preponderance of
persons, fifteen years and younger, in the populations
of the Gulf States will continue to be the source of
shortages of employable labor in these states including

Kuwait, and immigrants will continue to pour in from

77
South Korea, the Philippines and Thailand. The Govern-
ment, in these circumstances, will do well to have well-
defined laws to regulate immigration, and to allow
access to information for research in order that scien—
tifically valid data, recommendations and conclusions
can be made available to the authorities for better
planning and regulation of manpower security and
stability. There is a strong feeling in the Arabian
peninsula and Gulf States that the greater portion of
the immigration should be from the Arabic—speaking
countries, the states should institute more training
programs, technical education programs should be
upgraded, the participation of women in all segments of
the economy should be encouraged and promoted, and
finally, programs should be organized to elimiate
illiteracy and upgrade literacy.

In conclusion, it should be noted that the
composition of the labor force in Kuwait is varied,
segregated along national origin lines and unorganized,
largely due to government policy and strict laws reg-
ulating the behavior of alien labor. Indeed, alien workers
are prohibited from taking part in most labor union
activities. Under the circumstances, a strong labor
movement is unlikely to take hold in most Gulf and
Arabian peninsula states. However, the heterogeneity
of the labor force in Kuwait helped the development of

the trade union idea in the minds of the native workers.

78
The workers who migrated to Kuwait from other Arabic
countries such as Egypt and Syria who have experienced
trade union organizations, by mixing with the native
workers have influenced them and the Kuwaiti workers
started to organize themselves in the early fifties in
the form of clubs. In the following chapters we will
follow the process of this trade union movement,
beginning in the next chapter with the history of

the development of trade unions in Kuwait.

CHAPTER FOUR

THE HISTORY OF THE DEVELOPMENT

OF TRADE UNIONS IN KUWAIT

Trade unions are primarily an economic institu—
tion, through their evolution and subsequent development
are greatly influenced by the socio—political environ-
ment. In some instances, even religious practices and
customs have a significant role in shaping the nature of
the trade unions (D'Costa,1963). A study of the trade
union movement, therefore, must take into account the
whole range of factors that have some role in its
taking root and ultimately its growth.

Industrial civilizations by their nature inhibit
social isolation and by promoting division of labor and
exchange foster integration of groups of common inter-
ests. Monopoly capitalism, in particular, increases this
tendency towards the integration of interests. In this
process trade unions become a means for a separate
identity for labor, which in turn, involves an intensive
interaction between individuals on the one hand, and
between groups on the other. In this context, the

community, regional, national and international

79

80

ramifications of the unions cannot be ignored. Indeed
the wider the affiliation of a union, the greater its
power against the monolithic forces of capital (Ghosh,
1960, p. 92).

In the past few decades, particularly since the
Second World War, most advanced, developing and under—
developed countries of the world have witnessed the
increasing power of the trade unions and some labor
problems that have followed in its wake. Scholars,
administrators in the public and private sectors, govern—
ment agencies, entrepreneurs and students of the subject
have, as a result, been taking a keen interest in labor
and manpower problems in the context of industrialization
(Khalaf, 1970).

Despite the divergent structural dif—

ferences discernible among the unions of

the world and the peculiar socio-economic

and cultural environments conducive to

the genesis, growth and development of

them, it has nonetheless been possible

to construct a generic model or profile

of features that characterize a trade

union in an emerging country. (Khalaf,
1970, p. 92)

In the Middle East, the Arab countries share with
one another, in particular, and with the Third World
countries, in general, a set of common problems and
aspirations. Kassalow (1967) describes the stiuation in
newly developing countries undergoing economic and polit-

ical changes and the changing role of trade unions.

81

What are the characteristics or forces
which distinguish or shape the develop-
ment of unionism in the newly developing
societies, particularly when this process
is compared to what we know about Western
development? To begin with, there is a
striking fact that in most of these

nations political and economic modernization
are proceeding side by side. Colonialism
has barely come to an end, and the new
societies are faced with the double tasks
of structuring new forms of political gov-
ernment even as they also strive for
accelerated economic development., This
places a strain on all groups in the so-
ciety. Trade unions are no exception to
this rule. In most of the developing areas,
in the pre-independence periods, trade
unions were involved or used in the struggle
for political freedom against colonial rule.
(Kassalow, 1967, pp. 65-66)

Following political independence, which many of
the Third World countries attained in the aftermath of
the Second World War, they have exhibited a strong desire
to industrialize themselves, enhance their standards of
living, raise their per capita incomes, improve their
health and sanitary facilities, provide their masses
with better housing, improve and universalize education,
and in short, effect a profound social and economic
change. In fact, significant economic and social prog-
ress has been made, particularly in most Arab countries.
Kuwait and the Gulf States have been completely trans-
formed by the industrial and economic development in the
region. And this progress is still proceeding at such a
rapid rate that they are still in need of technological

expertise from abroad.

82

Historical Evolution of Trade
Unions in the Arab World

 

 

The Industrial Revolution in the West, from the
end of the eighteenth century through the beginning of
the nineteenth, was the turning point in the history
of the human race. Since the Industrial Revolution the
life of the worker has never been the same, but it took
decades beforetflmaeffects of this Revolution were per-
ceived in the Middle East. While the labor movements
all over the world were being internationalized, their
counterparts in the Arab world were still in the nascent
stage, largely because most of the Arab world was either
a colony of the Turkish Empire or later of the Western
powers.

The following pieces of legislation in the major
centers of the Arab world reflect that area's movement
towards trade unionism, however slow, during the thirty
years from 1935 throuth 1965:

KUWAIT: (a) The Government Workers'

Codes of 1955, amended in 1959 to include

the private sector workers. (b) The

Government Sector Labor Legislations of

1960, superseded by Legislation 38/64.

LEBANON: The Work Contract Law of 1946.

SYRIA: The Syrian Labor Legislation No.
49/84 of 1949.

IRAQ: Labor Law No. 72/36 of 1936, fol—
lowed by Labor Law No. 58/1 of 1958.

ADAN: The Work Contract Law of 1945.

83
SAUDI ARABIA: The Work and the Worker
System of 1947.
THE SUDAN: The Employment Law of 1949.
EGYPT: Legislation No. 31/44 of 1944,
which was replaced by Legislation No.
91/95 later.
LIBYA: The Libyan Legislation of 1962.

TUNISIA: The Tunisia Labor Legislation
No. 81/62.

JORDAN: The Jordanian Labor Legislation
No. 21/60 of 1960.

BAHRAIN: The Labor Legislation of 1957.

What is special about this legislation is the remarkable
similarity of these enactments, reflecting perhaps the
essential social, economic and political homogeneity of

the Arab world.

Trade Union Development in Kuwait
The Kuwaiti trade union movement is still in its
infancy. The reason for its slow, late growth is to be
found in the socioeconomic history of Kuwait, which can
be broadly divided into two distinct eras: the pre- and
post—oil eras. It is, therefore, necessary for us to
understand the essential nature of the social, economic

and political environment of the two peridos.

The Pre-Oil Era in Kuwait

 

The year 1946 was a crucial year in the life of

Kuwait, when the first shipment of oil was made from the

84

country to the outside world. The period before that is
generally regarded as the era of the pre-oil economy
which was characterized by pearl fishing, mercantile
shipping, ship—building, and import—export trade. Al—
Nageeb describes some of the activity of that period,

in which the ruling family and the merchants controlled
the economy.

The merchants and the family of the
ruling prince constituted a relatively
homogeneous group related to one

another by kinship and/or marriage.

This group also consisted, for the most
part, of descendants of the original
group of families which founded Kuwait.
The trading ships, particularly the
deep-sea ships which brought the highest
income, were owned either collectively
by several merchants or singly by one
merchant. . . . The merchants financed
the building of the ship, while the
ship's captain or his family was ob-
ligated to assume part of the financing
in payment of his office. Besides the
captains and the merchants there was
nother group, the ship builders, who were
highly skilled and highly regarded for
their performance of this essential
function (1976, p. 129).

Though there is no comparison between the economic
prosperity of'UKapre—oil era and that of the post-oil era,
Kuwait did eke out a satisfactory living from a per
capita income that did not exceed $21.00 per annum. The
sea—based activities influenced the entire social and
economic nature of the community,its outlook and skills.
The society was impregnated with a strong sense of cooper-

ation and fellow—feeling. The pearl industry was a

85
profit-sharing enterprise. After the fixed and the
variable costs of the fishing vessel were adjusted, the
revenue from the sale of pearls were distributed among
the captain and the other members of his crew according

to the formula listed below:

1. The Captain Three shares
2. The Divers Three shares
3. The Hauler Two shares
4. The Hauler's Aide One share

5. The Apprentice Uncertain

6. The Cook One share

7. The Ruler of the

Country Three shares

(al-Rumaihi, 1979)

Al-Sabah has described the roles of each member
of the crew ofiipearl—fishing expedition as follows:

The captain is called naukhadah and is
usually the owner of the boat or most
likely the son of the owner. Sometimes,
he is hired by a merchant, who owns a
fleet of ships. The naukhadah is given
full powers to recruit his own crew and
he is in full command at sea.

The diver is called ghais in the
local language. He dives and fishes for
oysters on the sea-bed. He is not furn—
ished with any of the modern devices such
as the aqualungs, etc. His equipment
consists of (1) a small knife to cut the
oyster loose from the bed of the sea,

(2) a clip made of wood or from the horn
of the mountain goat to stop the nostrils,
and (3) a basket, hung round the neck of
the diver, to collect the oysters in.

The hauler is called saib. His main
job is to let the diver down into the sea

 

 

86

and pull him up by the rope tied round
the diver's waist.

The principal hauler has an aide
or assistant called the razif. The
razif's main job is to assist the hauler
in his operations.

The apprentice, or the boy, is called
tabbab. He is perhaps the youngest member
of the crew. He is a bound apprentice and
is there to learn the trade, and in turn he
performs all sorts of chores he is capable
of by his age and youth. He is not paid
for his services, except that he gets free
board when at sea.

Then there are brokers and middlemen
involved in the trade, locally called
dalals and tawashes, respectively, Some-
times these tawashes make their purchases
in kind or cash at sea. Usually, they make
a substantial profit in the bargain. (al-
Sabab, 1980, p. 14)

Pearl—fishing was a very demanding occupation and
one of the best paying in Kuwait. Because of the heavy
business turnover involved, corruption and malpractice
crept into the trade. About the end of 1926, the Sheikh-
dom of Bahrain was the first Gulf State to introduce
reform laws to ensure a fair deal for all engaged in
pearling. These laws were possibly the earliest ”labor
laws” and were later adopted by other Sheikhdoms in the
Gulf area.

The captains and divers were the main function—
aries of the pearling industry. The captain organized a
complex pearl-fishing operation, navigated the ship to
an area which promised him a rich harvest, and organized
a variety of human beings into an efficient team. The

diver, on the other hand, performed the most arduous and

87

hazardous task—-going down to the bottom of the sea and
staying there until he could no longer hold his breath,
in order that he might come up with a few oysters rich
with pearls. He expected that he would make enough
money during the four and a half month long summer, when
the sea water was the warmest, to last him and his fam-
ily for the rest of the year. However, at times, the
diver was forced to look for some shore work if the
pearling season turned out to be lean.

In 1940, the Sheikh of Kuwait, Sheikh Ahmad al—
Jaber al—Sabah issued a fifty article decree requiring
the divers to give total and absolute obedience to
their captains both at sea and on land during the pearl
fishing season. Such a regulation was thought necessary
to better coordinate the industry, as it was the main—
stay of the Kuwaiti economy. But immediately after the
Second World War, the industry received a staggering
blow from the cultured pearl manufacturers of Japan.
Many pearl divers had to seek other work and a very large
number of these unemployed or underemployed divers were
absorbed into the ship—building industry, the second
most important segment of the Kuwaiti economy in the pre—
oil era. Ships built in Kuwait had ranged far and wide
in the Middle East, and to India and Pakistan, carrying
cargo, merchandise and passengers. But the ship-building
industry had its own problems: steamboats were fast

replacing sailboats, a Specialty of the Kuwaiti ship-

88

building industry. With resourcefulness and resilience
of the entrepreneurial spirit, the Kuwaitis then trans—
ferred their attention to trading in precious metals with
India and Pakistan and the Far East, and to import—
export business in the Middle East. In this regard, al—
Rumaihi adds:

For geological reasons such as the nature

of the land and the lack of rain, man's

struggle in the Gulf area was at first

against nature. He worked hard to earn

his living, and his first direction was

to the sea, diving for pearls, fishing or

trading. In addition to the above

sources of living, the Gulf man de-

pended on trade, whether internally,

namely trading between villages and the

location centres, or externally between

the Gulf area and India, Iran, Africa and
Iraq. (al-Rumaihi, 1979, p. 3)

During the peak pearling days, the relationship
between the captain, who generally owned the ship, and
his crew was that of master and journeymen. It was a
veritable feudal system complete with serfs and the
Diving Law of 1940 tended to perpetuate it. Article 2 of
the Law stated that the journeymen must obey the master
or captain during the season on land as well as at sea.
Disobedience of the captain's orders constituted mutiny
and was punishable with the severity of that law. The
crew was required to give the captain blind obedience.
Furthermore, Article 8 stated that the master could
dismiss the diver and refuse to pay his wages without

assigning any reason. In the event of the diver's death,

89

the captain could even appropriate the diver’s property,

home, land and money. Article 17 says:

If a member of the crew dies and leaves
some property behind excluding his house,
that property should be distributed among
his creditors including the naukhadah in
an equitable distribution of the money he
owes every one of his creditors.

 

Furthermore, Article 18 lays down:

In this

If a sailor (diver) dies and leaves his
home without an heir, and if the diver has
bought the house with the money he earned
from employment with his naukhadah, the
house must revert to the naukhadah. But
if the diver bought the house with the
money earned at other jobs, or if he has
inherited it, the house becomes the prop-
erty of the diver's creditors.

 

 

connection, al—Rumaihi says:

Whilst there was no feudalism in the Gulf
in the ordinary sense of the word, still
we can talk about a sort of feudalism and
a sort of serfdom——a feudalism and serfdom
that turned the diver into a slave to the
merchant who financed the business and who
owned the means of production, namely the
ship. (Ibid., p. 4)

The pearl industry thus created a class-oriented

society composed of the classes of owners, divers, haulers

and other non-owners of the means of production. In the

beginning, one captain owned only one ship, but as the

business prospered, he ended up having as many as five

or six ships and hired other shipless captains to command

his pearl-fishing boats. Out of this arrangement rose a

rich merchant class, which became the virtual rule of

the country. Before the promulgation of the 1940 decree,

90

the relationship between the captain and his crew was
based on an unwritten moral understanding regarding the
hours of work, wages and the command structure of the
ship. The sharing of the revenue discussed above was
a result of this moral understanding.

However, without the benefit of the Decree of
1940, the system had begun to resemble the guild system
in Europe, without the legal authority of the European
system. The Kuwaiti society, in fact, had come to be
divided along occupational lines, complete with duties
and responsibilities and ethics, resembling European
guilds. The professional classes owned all the means of
production and expertise, and the controlling authority
resided with them. Yet within the professions there
existed people who did not own anything other than their
expertise and skills, together with people who owned both
the skills and expertise as well as the means of produc—
tion. This state of the economy gave rise to two classes,
those who owned the means of production and those who
sold their skills and expertise. The former had close
ties with the ruling class and the latter formed the
working classes. The relationship between the two
classes within the guild was regulated by deeply entrenched
social customs and highly respected traditional values.
These values and customs had sustained a measure of
stability in Kuwaiti society which on the face of it

appeared to be fairly stable.

91

Kergan described the influence of religion on
the evolving social and economic order of the Gulf area.

Social and economic changes inevitably

are bound up with history and brief men-

tion must be made of the historical events

which have influenced development. Prob-

ably the greatest influence has been

Islam. The Gulf people are largely Muslim

people. . . . A major consequence also of

religious, historical and geographical

factors inevitably has been an autocratic,

but paternalistic, type of governmental

and social structure. The family unit and

the tribal unit are strong factors in the

social patterns and this is backed by the

conservativeness of religious beliefs in

Christian and Jew as well as Muslim.
(Kergan, 1976, pp. 282-3)

In conclusion, Kuwaiti society, before the oil
wealth, was highly traditional, even feudal and was con-
trolled by the unwritten laws of customs and religious
and social sanctions. The merchants or owners and the
workers formed a network of social relationships that were
observed by all concerned with absolute fidelity, despite
the fact that the workers always got short shift. In
the economic activities of the past, the division of
labor was not clear and the workers were not literate
enough to demand workers organizations or trade unions.
The production unit, which was the ship, stayed four to
five months off-shore. Travelling from one place to
another, it was seasonal economic activity. The main
reason for not having trade unions at that time was the
ignorance of the sailors and workers and their absolute

dependence on the good will of the merchants and

92
captains. This period in the history of Kuwait came to
an end, as the economy underwent a revolutionary change,
following the exploration and discovery of oil in the

country.

The Oil Era

 

In 1934, the ruler of Kuwait granted an Anglo—
American oil company a concession to explore for oil
within the Sheikhdom of Kuwait. But the operations came
to a standstill at the outbreak of the Second World War.
As a result, the first shipment of oil out of Kuwait did
not materialize until 1946. Following the estimate that
Kuwait had huge reserves of oil, an agreement was worked
out between the ruler and the Kuwaiti Oil Company, the
provisions of which included:

1. the oil profits to be shared between the

ruler and the oil company on a 50-50
basis,

2. the payment to the ruler to be made in
the form of a flat-rate of royalty per
ton plus the revenue from a local tax
to make up the balance of the ruler's
share of the profit,

3. the flat-rate per ton to remain as at

present, that is, at four shillings and
ten andzihalf pence per ton,

4. the company to make an annual grant for
the purpose of higher education of
Kuwaitis in institutions overseas,

5. the term of the concession to be extended

by seventeen years to run a further
seventy-five year period,

93
6. the agreement to come into effect from
the first of December and the average
amount payable to 13MB ruler at the
present level of costs and prices to be

twenty-nine shillings and two pence a
ton.

Additionally, the company agreed to pay the ruler
a sum of rupees one hundred million ($14,250,000), in full
settlement of the rulers' claims up to the first of
December of 1946, which was approximately equivalent to
two months revenues at the then current rates. In 1952,
with an estimated production of forty million tons of
crude oil, the ruling Sheikh's revenues were expected
to amount to about sixty million pounds sterling compared
with four million pounds in 1950 (Ibid.).

The discovery of oil was the main reason for the
social and economic changes that took place in Kuwait.
Social change is considered to be the process of alter-
ation in various aspects of our lives, such as the
beliefs, values and institutions of people. The change
occurs also in people's thinking, action and their every—
day lives. Ismael explained that:

Social change in Third World countries has

been viewed as a special case, specific-

ally, as the reaction of traditional so—

cieties. The process of modernization

or development has been conceptualized

as the transition from static tradition—

bound structures to the dynamic, contin-

uous growth structures of modern industrial

societies. Most definitions of development

or modernization, as this process has been

called, are based on the technological

correlates of industrialization. The
implicit or explicit sociological questions

94
have centered on the social and political
hindrances to or imperatives of achieving
economic takeoff (the stage where a so—
ciety achieves a self—sustaining rate of
economic growth). The assumption has been
that traditional institutions and values
offer resistance to social change and thus
hamper economic develOpment. Thus,
traditional/modern and underdeveloped/devel—
oped dichotomies have been fundamental to

most of the literature on modernization.
(Ismael, 1982, p. 2)

It is not difficult to see that 1946 constituted
a turning point in the economic, social and political
history of Kuwait. After 1946, the petroleum-based eco—
nomic activities soon replaced almost totally the old
traditional pearling, fishing and marine trades. The
people found this transformation of their economy a God—
sent relief, as their traditional industries were tot-
tering under the impact of the Japanese cultured pearl
industry and the growing popularity of steamships. Yet
the huge oil wealth that began to flow into the country
from 1946 to 1951 did not make any significant change in
the lives of the Kuwaitis during this period. Admin—
istratively and organizationally, the system remained
geared to the old routines as if nothing of significance
had happened to the economy. But in the beginning of
1952, the authorities began to envision the broad con—
tours of the future. Four boards--one each for educa—
tion, health, municipal affairs and waqf (charitable
endowments)--were formed. The phenomenal increase in

the oil production had by then completely transformed

95

the Kuwaiti economy and its modes of economic activity.
The old traditional economic relationships were gradually
disappearing and giving way to a new modern economic
order. The Kuwaiti populace was becoming increasingly
exposed to social and economic activities totally
unfamiliar to them. Among the most egregious changes
was the influx of hundreds of thousands of skilled and
semi-skilled workers, professional men, high executives
from Arab and non-Arab countries attracted by high wages
and salaries in the reconstruction and developmental pro-
grams and expanded social services. Kuwait had always
enjoyed the reputation of being the most stable area in
the Middle East--a fact that greatly contributed to the
influx. Also, this period marked the beginning of the
trade union movement owing to increased industrial
activities.

In 1952, the native Kuwaitis employed by the
oil-related industries consisted largely of men who
had been displaced by the slump in the pearl industry
because of the competition from Japan. Later the native
labor force was joined by some nomadic Bedouins. The main
problem the oil companies faced was that the native
workers did not possess the skill needed in the oil
industry. The oil industries were forced to import
skilled labor from wherever they could find it and at
prices they could afford. The available statistics show

that in 1948 the oil company had 9,067 employees as

96

junior and senior staffers and laborers, of which native
artisans or blue-collar workers numbered 3,821 (See
Table 4.1). But the number of native employees at the
jobs requiring complicated skills was very low. Indeed,
there were only 58 native Kuwaitis at the junior level
and none at the senior in 1948. American and British
employees of the company were all senior executives and
no American was employed in a junior position. Since
most Kuwaitis employed with the oil company were either
shepherds who until recently had been tending their
sheep in the desert or divers who were displaced from
the pearl industry, they had precious little change of
rising to positions of importance in their lifetime.
Because of the position of the native employees in the

oil company, Kuwait experienced its first strike in 1948.

Strikes

A strike is the last weapon to be used by the
trade union after the failure of the collective bargain-
ing processes. It is neither a very palatable or easy
thing for a union to do. Leaders of trade unions with
a sense of responsibility are always aware of the hard-
ship and economic difficulties the rank and file have to
suffer during a strike. There are many causes for
stnfluxg such as wage demands, demands for shorter hours,
higher over-time pay or paid holidays and leaves. Also,

strikes sometime arise against retrenchment, bad personnel

97

 

 

 

 

 

 

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98
policy, discrimination or victimization. ”Causes of
strikes are not the issues on which the parties nego-
tiate, but the reason for their failure to reach
agreement." (Kornhauser, et al., 1954, p. 11).

In the conflict between the workers' organiza-
tions and the employers, peace may be disturbed,
involving intervention by the state. This may lead to
conflicts between labor unions and the state. The strife
between these two parties may take the form of political
strikes, defiance of state regulations and militant trade
union activities. At times the state's intervention may
be justified when there is a breach of law and order by
either the employers or the workers. The main criticism
directed against the state is that it tends to side with
employers. According to Professor Laski, the state is
simply a coercive power and therefore, has to protect a
system of rights and duties of some economic class from
invasion by another class which seeks to change it
(Laski, 1928).

In the past in Kuwait there were no trade unions
for many different reasons. The main reason was that,
while the economic activities changed, Kuwaitis social
life did not change. As Kergan described it:

Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Emirates with

their paternalistic and autocratic forms

of government, small populations and more

strongly based religious principles, are

the most resistant to social change

despite their being most vulnerable to

impact of oil wealth. The family unit
has remained very strong and adherence

99

to the nomadic way of life remains for a
high proportion of the peOple. Never—
theless, development arising from the
impact of the oil economy inevitably is
leading to urbanization and a break-up
of the traditional way of life. (Kergan,
1976, p. 283)

In fact, traditional societies are characterized by
religious, ethnic, regional and kinship structures which
constitute the basic patterns of social organization and

cleavages in the society.

The 1948 Workers' Strike*

 

In 1948 the oil diggers struck on the grounds
that they were being discriminated against as compared
with the foreign workers. They demanded free meals,
free medical care, free housing, and free social services
-—the privileges the alien employees of the oil company
enjoyed. The strike lasted three days and the strikers
went back to work without achieving any of their objec—
tives. The strike had apparently failed because the
strikers were much fewer in number than the foreign
workers who did not strike, probably because they did
not have the same grievances as the native workers, and
because the strikers were poorly organized (al-Ajmi,
1982, p. 59).

By 1950, the Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) has 10,644

employees on its register (Table 4.2); only 3,113 were

 

*The 1948 and 1951 strikes were quoted and trans—
lated into English from Al-Ajmi's book (in Arabic). See
bibliography.

100

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101

native Kuwaitis. Native Kuwaiti employees fell from
3,821 in 1948 to 3,113 in 1950, but their percentage
share of the jobs with the KOC fell still further as

the company had 10,644 employees in 1950 against only
9,067 in 1948. This drastic reduction in native Kuwaiti
employees by 1950 might have been due to their partic-
ipation in the strike of 1948. It might also be that
more Kuwaiti workers and oil sector employees joined the
government sector at that time, when the government
agencies were expanding due to the oil revenues and
government development plans.

The relatively few Kuwaitis who were in the
clerical, foremen and technical staff by 1950 (Table
4.2), had risen from the ranks because no Kuwaiti had
any training or experience in the oil industry when the
operations began in 1946. Initially the natives were
recruited as truck drivers, security guards or well—
diggers. They were required to work hard, the pay was
low and the working conditions were very poor. As
against them, the non-Kuwaiti workers enjoyed such fringe
benefits as free meals, free medical care and high
wages. The company imported rich food largely from Great
Britain for their non-Kuwaiti workers. One of the
Devonshire suppliers reported that the company ordered
88 tons of frozen meat for 1,100 employees of the company
for a six month period, January to June 1948, which

amounted to 8 ounces of meat per person per day. This

102

unequal treatment infuriated the Kuwaiti workers and

they struck work once again in 1951.

The 1951 Transportation Drivers' Strike

 

This time it was the transportation drivers who
went on strike. Their grievances were identical to those
of the 1948 strikers. They felt that they were being
discriminated against in that the fringe benefits the non-
Kuwaitis enjoyed were being denied to them. This time
the workers were better organized and proceeded with
their strike in a systematic manner. They prepared a
memorandum of demands which included paid annual hol—
idays, free or subsidized meals and free transportation
to and from work, and submitted it to their English
supervisor. When the transportation drivers were told
that the company intended to do nothing about their
demands until 1960, they decided to go on strike. The
strikers assembled at the Transportation Headquarters at
Al-Ahmadi and elected a five-member delegration to rep—
resent them in negotiations with the government repre—
sentative, Abdullah al-Mullah, and to meet with the
ruler (The Sheikh) Abdulla al-Salem. The outcome of the
negotiations was that the leaders of the strike were
fired, but the transport workers won 14 days paid annual
holidays, subsidized meals and Friday as an official
weekend holiday. This strike was more successful than

the one in 1948 because it was better organized and

103
carried out in a systematic manner (al-Ajmi, pp. 60-62).
In addition, more of the native workers were aware of
economic relations and the processes of industrial
relations. The ruler himself was more open to the people
and allowing them more freedom than before.

It is worthy for a final note that these strikes
went unrecorded in official Kuwait history, documenta—
tion and records. Information has had to be obtained from
outside the country, principally the Public Records
Office in London which also supplied pertinent KOC staf-
fing data. It does not appear that these strikes had any
influence on the formation of trade unions in Kuwait.

The Current State of
Trade Unions in Kuwait

 

 

Generally speaking, trade unions, intheir major
part of their existence, they tried to affect or influ—
ence government attitudes toward their own special ben—
efits and their interests. They used different methods
to form type of pressure on the government to achieve
their interests. Trade unions being as a pressure group
are independent of political in order to achieve its own
needs without external influence. Trade unions tried
different methods of pressure such as strikes which is the
last weapon in their hands. In the case of Kuwaiti trade
unions movement, the emergence of trade unions was in
1964 (Trade Union of Kuwait Municipality and Trade Union

of Ministry of Public Health), strikes that occurred

104
before the Trade Unions Act were not backed by any trade
union or organization, and that was the main reason for
their failure. So the trade union movement in Kuwait
was not a result of workers' pressure on the government,
but it came as a result of action taken by the govern-
ment, with some support from individuals who were literate
at that time and who called themselves nationalists and
tried to work for the betterment of the state. The
nationalists appeared as an opposition group in 1917-
1921, when the "notables” signed a petition demanding a
voice in public policy. (The term "notables" in Kuwait
refers to a category of merchants and educated people.)
The 1917-1921 period witnessed several wars which ended
in the defeat of Kuwait (Aruri, 1970). This contributed
to the demand for political participation in that period
and an opposition bloc started to appear, represented
by an underground committee of the ”notables." In 1938
the Opposition group appeared as the "National Bloc” to
confront the ruler of Kuwait with its demands and griev—
ances. The ”National Bloc" played a major role in most
of the legislation regarding both interior and exterior
affairs. In November 1963, the first general election
for the National Assembly was held in Kuwait, and members
of the ”Nationalist Bloc" were elected to the assembly.
Al-Aruri described the activities of the nationalist
members of the assembly as follows: "No sooner had the

National Assembly begun its meetings than the nationalist

105
members began to play the role of the opposition” (Al-
Aruri, 1970). One part of this role was to apply pres-
sure for the development of trade unions.

In the beginning of the oil era, which was the
turning point in Kuwait's history, the majority of the
labor force was illiterate and came from Bedouin society,
without any background in worker organization and rights.
The Kuwaiti Constitution promulgated in 1962 defines the
country as an hereditary emirate. The Constitution
guarantees the freedom of the press and the care and
protection of the young and the old. Freedom to join
trade unions and other associations is guaranteed. In
1961, the Kuwaiti government ratified ILO Convention No.
87 of 1948 concerning freedom of association and protec—
tion of the right to organize. The Kuwaiti government
ratified this convention in the same year of its inde-
pendence. In 1964, labor law for'Uxeprivate sector was
formulated and gave in detail the right of trade union
formation, specifying the structure, organization, mem-
bership, financing, and dissolution procedures for
trade unions.

The following lists name trade unions in Kuwait
and provide information regarding their inception and
representation, both in the public and in the private

sectors.

106

Trade Unions in the Public
(Government) Sector

 

 

1. The Trade Union of Wage Earners and Sal-
aried Employees of the Municipality,
founded on October 21, 1964.

2. The Trade Union of Wage Earners and Sal-
aried Employees of the Ministry of
Public Health, founded on October 24,
1964.

3. The Trade Union of Wage Earners and Sal-
aried Employees of the Ministry of Educa-
tion, founded on November 11, 1964.

4. The Trade Union of Wage Earners and Sal-
aried Employees of the Ministry of Public
Works, founded on December 31, 1964.

5. The Trade Union of Wage Earners and Sal-
aried Employees of the Ministry of Finance,
founded on January 1, 1965.

6. The Trade Union of Wage Earners and Sal-
aried Employees of the Ministry of Elec—
tricity and Water, founded on May 5, 1965.

7. The Trade Union of Wage Earners and Sal-
aried Employees of the Ministry of Com-
munication, founded on September 19, 1968.

8. The Trade Union of Wage Earners and Sal-
aried Employees of the Ministry of Infor-
mation, founded on December 12, 1971.

9. The Trade Union of Wage Earners and Sal-
aried Employees of the Ministry of Social
Affairs and Labor, founded on January 1,
1972.

10. The Trade Union of Wage Earners and Sal-
aried Employees of the Kuwait Airways,
founded in December 1982.

Trade Unions in the Oil
(Semi-Government) Sector

 

 

1. The Trade Union of Wage Earners and Sal-
aried Employees of the Kuwait Oil Company,
founded on November 11, 1964.

107

The Trade Union of Wage Earners and Sal-
aried Employees of the Arabic-Japanese
Oil Co., founded on December 25, 1964.
(This Trade Union was suspended on May
20, 1980 by the Saudi government because
of the dispute over the division of the
neutral zone between Kuwait and Saudi
Arabia.)

The Trade Union of Wage Earners and Sal-
aried Employees of the Independent Amer-
ican Oil Company, founded on February 18,
1965. (This Trade Union was banned on
September 19, 1977 on the expiration of
the agreement between Kuwait and the
company by the Amiri Decree 124/77.)

The Trade Union of Wage Earners and Sal-
aried Employees of the Kuwait National
Petroleum Company, founded on November
11, 1968.

The Trade Union of Wage Earners and Sal—
aried Employees of the Petro Chemical
Company, founded on February 27, 1972.

Trade Unions in the Private Sector

 

1.

Federations

 

1.

The Trade Union of Wage Earners and Sal-
aried Employees of the Banks, founded on
December 27, 1972.

The Kuwait Trade Union Federation, estab-
lished December 1967. All trade unions
are members in this federation, public and
oil sectors, except for the Trade Union

of Bank Employees. This union is not a
member for various reasons. An interview
with the ex-president of the Union of Bank
Employees indicated that the federation is
involved in politics and did not help the
bank employees in their strikes in 1974.

KTUF is an affiliate of the World Federa-
tion of Trade Unions (WFTU). It is also
an affiliate of the International Confed-
eration of Arab Trade Unions (ICATU).

108

2. The Trade Union Federation of the Govern-
ment Sector, established in 1965. All
trade unions in the public sector are
members.

3. Oil and Petrochemical Industry Workers'

Confederation, established in 1965. All
trade unions in the oil sector are members.

General Trade Union Structure

 

Trade unions are usually divided or classified
according to the type of work the workers are involved
in. As previously noted, there are four main types of
trade unions: craft unions, general unions, employment
unions and industrial unions. The craft unions are
associations of workers working or involved in the same
craft, no matter what industry they are employed in;
workers share the same training and specialization.

Most of the members undergo training at recognized
institutions. The changing systems of production have
decreased the importance of these unions; with the use
of automation, semi-skilled workers can do the same jobs
skilled craftsmen do.

Another type is the general union. Every worker
has the right to be a member in this type of trade union
as long as he follows the rules and regulations, which
is the main condition for membership. inithe very begin-
ning, these unions were mostly made up of unskilled and
semi-skilled workers. But gradually their scope widened
to include: (1) skilled and craftsman workers, (2) work-

ers in industries where trade unionism was not effective

109
or underdeveloped, (3) organized unskilled workers in
industries. The all-embracing character of these unions
made them very large, massive in terms of membership.
Organizations, such as the Transport and General Workers
Union in Great Britain with 1,285,000 members, fit this
description. Because these unions are very large they
tend to become over-centralized, with very little
personal contact between organizational leaders and
workers.

A third type is the industrial union which
includes all workers in one industry or group of indus-
tries. The characteristics of these unions are that (1)
every wage earner under a single or group of related
industries has the right to be a member, (2) place of
work is the only determinant of membership, not the place
of residence or particular job performed.

The industrial union is between the craft union
and the general union, its field is wider than the craft
union and narrower than the general union. A craft
union accepts workers with a certain craft, the general
union accepts all workers, but the industrial union re-
stricts membership to workers in a certain industry or
group of industries. Workers are now demanding a share
in the mangement of industries and industrial unions are
in a better position to ensure the effective participa-

tion of workers in the management of an industry.

union.

110
The fourth type of trade union is the employment

This type includes all the employees working

under a common employer or group of employers. The idea

behind such unions is that employers should have the

same policy for all their concerns and that the policy

is independent of the working results or the paying

capacity of individual industries (Mathur and Mathur,

1957,

ture:

pp. 84-86).

Ghosh mentioned two types of trade union struc-

vertical and horizontal.

Trade union combinations can take two
forms: vertical and horizontal. The
vertical structure starts with the union
for the workers of a single establish-
ment, which becomes a branch or a con—
stituent of a national union or federa-
tion either for every craft or for every
industry, according to the organizational
principle which is followed. Sometimes
in between the national union or federa-
tion and the "establishment union,"
regional or area organizations are also
organized to coordinate the activities
of unions at regional levels. Side by
side with this vertical structure there
exists the horizontal structure. Local
branches of different national unions
form trade councils or coordination
committees at the town or city level or
district or provincial committees at the
regional level. National unions or fed-
erations of different industries or
crafts form the national trade union
centre, i.e., the British Trades Union
Congress. But provincial or district
committees are usually coordinating
committees, under the national trade
centre for the regional level. (Ghosh,
1960, p. 93)

111

Trade unions in Kuwait are of two types: indus-
trial and employment unions. As mentioned earlier, the
government is the largest employer in the country; the
trade union in the public sector is of the employment
type. Each ministry in the government has its own trade
union which accepts any worker in that Ministry, no
matter what skill or technical classification. The
primary condition of membership is 1x) be an employee of
that Ministry, per the labor code in Article No. 70,
which states, ”workers employed in one and the same
establishment, profession or industry or in like or
related occupations, industries or professions shall
have the right to form trade unions." (Law No. 38/1964).
In addition the other conditions are stated in Article
No. 72: "Membership of a trade union is open to workers
over 18 years of age and who are of good reputation and
conduct." Non-Kuwaiti workers, who have fulfilled
these two conditions and have a work permit can join
the trade union if they spend five consecutive years in
their jobs in Kuwait from the data of the promulgation
of Ordinance No. 38 of 1964.

In the private sector there is only one trade
union, which is the Union of Bank Employees. Members
are under different employers but they all work in the
banking field; there are no skill or technical require-

ments.

112

In the third sector, which is the oil sector, all
trade union members work for different employers, but
work in the oil fields or related industries, such as the
Union of Petro-Chemical Workers.

The public sector (Government) unions are under
one Federation which is the Federation of Trade Unions of
the Government Sector. The second federation is for
the oil sector which is the Federation of Trade Unions
of Oil Sector Workers. The union of Bank Employees is
not under any federation. Both federations and trade
unions in Kuwait are under one General Federation of
Kuwaiti Trade Unions (K.T.U.F.). In Kuwait, trade
union membership is on a voluntary basis not obligatory
and is not a condition of getting a job. Each trade
union has its own board of directors elected from the
general committee. According to the Ministry of Social
Affairs and Labor, in Article No. 25 of Trade Union
Constitution, eleven members should be elected from the
general committee for two-year positions. The Board of
Directors is the executive authority for the trade union;
its function is to manage and direct all trade union
affairs, inside the union and outside it. After the
election of the Board of Directors by the General Com-
mittee, the Board of Directors elects four persons as
President, Deputy President, Secretary and Treasurer.

The President of the trade union is its legal

113
representative before all authorities of government in
all cases. The Board of Directors meets weekly and to
be legal meetings they should be attended by more than
50 percent of the members. The work of the Board of
Directors of the trade union is voluntary, no salary or
any kind of compensation is paid.

The Kuwait Trade Union Federation (K.T.U.F.),
the General Conference, is the highest authority in the
Federation and its orders and decisions must be followed
by each member of any trade union (Figure 4.1). It
consists of representatives from different unions which
are members in the Federation. Membership in the General
Federation comprises 36 members from each Federation
(e.g., Oil Sector--Public (Government Sector) and 10
members from each trade union.

In the Federation of Trade Unions in the Govern-
ment sector, each Trade Union is represented by eleven
members. All the Trade Union representatives form the
general committee of the Federation. From among these
representatives they elect the Executive Board of the
Federation.

As for the Federation of Trade Unions in Oil
Sectors, each Trade Union should be represented accord-
ing to the number of workers who pay dues, as shown in
Table 4.3 (Article No. 18). These member representatives
elect eleven members to the Executive Board of the

Federation.

114

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116

 

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118

TABLE 4.3 FEDERATION REPRESENTATION IN THE OIL SECTOR

 

 

Number of Federation

 

Trade Union Membership Representatives
From 1-100 6
From 101-200 7
From 201-300 8
From 301-800 9
Over 801 11

 

All trade union constitutions and regulations
are set by the government through the Ministry of
Social Affairs and Labor, with no obligation for any
person to be a member of any union. Labor Law No. 38
for 1964, Part 13, dictates the formation, objectives
and organization (structure) of the trade unions.
Article No. 74 in the Labor Law states that the general
committee of each trade union should form an internal
constitution for that union which manages and directs
its affairs socially and economically. But the Ministry
of Social Affairs and Labor has supplied a standard
constitution which should be followed by all trade
unions, even though this is in violation of ILO Conven-
tion No. 87 in 1948, ratified by Kuwait in 1967. Article

Three, "Concerning Freedom of Association and Protection

119

of the Right to Organization,“ states:

Workers and employers' organizations
shall have the right to draw up their
constitutions and rules, to elect their
representatives in full freedom, to
organize their administration and ac-
tivities and to formulate their pro-
grams. The public authorities shall
refrain from any interference which
would restrict this right or impede

the lawful exercise thereof.

Trade Union Activities

 

Every association and organization has its own
objectives and goals. Trade unions also have their own
definite objectives and their own attitudes and methods
to obtain their objectives. The primary objective, of
course, is improving the conditions of the working lives
of employees in the industry and in the society. To
attain their objectives, trade union activities go
beyond protection and services to their members. This
means beyond their primary function to services such as
welfare activities, educational activities and recre-
ational activities. In addition, the trade unions influ-
ence the legislative bodies, in passing social legislation
beneficial to all workers. Trade unions also partici-
pate in other ways in the government's industrial and
labor policies.

The welfare activities of trade unions can be
classified into two categories, a broader one of the

activities which the worker enjoys inside the workplace

120
and those extended to outside the work place. The
narrow conception of welfare activities means that they
are provided to the worker inside the workplace. In
this narrow understanding of union welfare activities,
the families of the workers do not benefit. It is the
broader conception of welfare activities that is gener-
ally accepted by the governments and trade unions in
most countries. Welfare activities provided by the
unions to their members include adult education cen-
ters, co-operative societies, recreational and cultural
centers and the provision of death benefits. For in-
stance, in India the Ahmad Abad Textile Labor Associa-
tion runs six schools for children, a central library
and seventy-five reading rooms and circulating libraries,
as well as adult education and cultural centers. It
also provides four dispensaries and a maternity home and
has established a co-operative bank and a number of co-
operative housing societies (Textile Labour Association,
1951, pp. 46-61).

In most Asian countries there are factors that
hinder unions from providing welfare activities for
their members. The major factor is the lack of financial
resources. Another factor is the migratory nature of
the labor force. This does not mean that the trade
unions can neglect welfare activities, but through

collaboration with the government, the employers need to

make provisions for adequate workers' welfare activities.

121
The union acts as a pressure group to ensure that
suitable and adequate provisions are made for the
workers.

In Kuwait, the country of Kuwait, itself, is
considered to be a welfare state. It provides free
medical treatment, free education and social security
for workers and employees. The social security system
is provided for Kuwaiti workers and employees. The
General Federation of Kuwaiti Trade Unions participates
by activities and demands to legislate and provide the
social security system. Most union activities in Kuwait
are efforts toward improvement of wages, working hours
and working conditions. Lately trade union leaders have
participated in a committee to improve labor legislation.
The committee consists of Ministry of Social Affairs
and Labor, Chamber of Commerce and trade union repre-
sentatives. Welfare activities are mostly carried out
by the government.

Trade unions have their own cultural institute
called the "Institute of Labor Culture” established in
1972 which consists of 25 workers from different unions.
The labor movement in Kuwait realized that it was im-
portant to educate the workers, educated workers are
more productive than illiterate ones. The lectures for
workers started in 1967 and from then until now every

year the Institute gives lectures for workers and the

122

leaders of the unions. Each course has different
topics and different subjects, such as general culture,
leadership, supervision and secretarial. In 1982 the
Institute started a course for working women which
focused on political rights for women. The activities
of the Institute go beyond Kuwait's boundaries to other
Arabic countries; it participates in most workers'
courses held in other Arabic countries. Internationally,
the Institute participates in labor courses in Bulgaria,
East Germany, Romania, the Soviet Union and Checkoslovakia.
In addition to these activities, the Institute receives
scholarships from different countries, mainly the
U.S.S.R., Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania.

In other educational activities, in 1978 there
was the establishment of a workers' theater. The first

play was given in 1979. The Labor Journal (Al-Amel)

 

plays an important role in the labor movement and is

used as a weapon against employers and government,
explaining workers demands and ideas. In 1970 the
General Federation of Kuwait Trade Unions received
permission to publish a magazine called Al-Amel. The
first issue was published in September 1975, but it faces
difficulties such as financial problems, no headquarters
and a shortage of worker participation in writing ar-
ticles that have reduced the magazine from a weekly to

a twice-monthly publication. In addition to these

activities, most trade unions have collective security

123
programs for their members and their families, such as
the collective security program for the Union of Bank
Employees. Trade unions also have some recreational
activities such as athletic activities.

A major type of trade union activity are the
collective bargaining activities which are one of the
main objectives of trade unions. In most democratic
countries collective bargaining is the normal way of
determining wages, hours, and conditions of work.
Collective bargaining is the backbone of American trade
unionism and takes place within a specified legal
framework without any interference from the government
or administrative authorities. Collective agreements
today include wages and hours, arrangements for holidays
with pay, pension schemes and even welfare activities.
In fact, collective bargaining, besides promoting and
protecting the interests of the workers, is also one
of the main goals or objectives of trade unionism.
Collective bargaining is considered to be an activity
that improves the status of the workers, besides
serving their interests. It is also the only instrument
in the hands of the workers to improve their status and
working conditions. G. D. H. Cole says, "nowadays in
the countries where trade unions have become firmly
established, their main activity is collective bargain-
ing covers almost all the issues entering into the

conditions and terms of employment, it also develops

124
procedures for settlement of disputes between workers
and management.

In Kuwait the collective bargaining process in
the public sector takes place between the trade union
and the government; the government is the largest employer
in the country. In the public sector, collective bar-
gaining is rare, because working hours, wages, holidays
and sick leaves are determined by a civil service board.
In the oil sector, it takes place between the trade
union and oil companies. In the private sector collec-
tive bargaining takes place between the one trade union
and a committee of bank representatives.

The collective bargaining process in the oil and
private sectors is mainly focused on wages, working hours
and paid leave. Because some of the banks do not hire
married women, this is also a major issue for that union
and the banks. In the oil sector, for instance, the
company stopped water and housing allowances but through
trade union negotiation with the company they were
reinstated.

When it does occur in the public sector, the
Kuwait government is involved in collective bargaining
process and arbitration through the Ministry of Social
Affairs and Labor.

Labor law covering the private sector is No. 38
of 1964, Article 88, Chapter XIII. Under ”Settlement of

Collective Disputes," the article states that if a

125

dispute in respect of the conditions of work arises

between an employer and all or part of his workers, the

following measures shall be followed in settling it:

1.

Direct negotiations between the employer
--or his representative--and the workers
or their representative. If an amicable
settlement between both parties is re-
vealed, it should be registered within
seven days from date it was signed with
the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor
in accordance with the procedure deter-
mined by the Ministry.

If no settlement is reached between both
parties by negotiations, any or both par-
ties shall submit either personally or
through a representative, a request to
the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor
asking the latter to try to settle the
dispute.

If the Ministry of Social Affairs and
Labor fails to effect a settlement with-
in fifteen days from the date of the
request, the dispute shall then be
referred to the Labor Disputes Tribunal
to be composed as follows:

(a) A division of the Higher Court of
Appeal to be assigned by the General
Assembly of the Court every year.

(b) A public prosecutor to be assigned
by the Attorney General.

(c) A representative of the Ministry of
Social Affairs and Labor to be as-
signed by the Minister of said
Ministry. The employer or his rep-
resentatives of the workers may
appear before the Tribunal but
neither party shall have more than
three representatives.

The decision of the Tribunal shall be final

and binding on both parties. (Ministry of
Social Affairs and Labor, No. 38, 1964).

126

The final action for workers, if they fail to
settle any dispute, is the strike. Most of the strikes
in Kuwait take place in the oil sector and occur because
an oil company violates government legislation or a
labor agreement with the workers. In the government
sector the wages and employment policies are set by the
government through the Civil Service Board. If the
government violates any legislation, it affects all
government employees and workers. The private sector is
new to trade unions and most employees are non-Kuwaitis,
so strikes are unlikely.

The political activities of Kuwaiti trade unions
are not limited to concern with legislation and admin-
istrative action that directly affects workers and their
families. They also become involved in political ac-
tion and events, such as the suspension of Democracy in
1976 by the Kuwait government. In 1976 the government
suspended the National Assembly. As a result of this all
the national organizations and associations besides
Trade Unions held an emergency meeting to discuss this
action at the end of their meeting. They published a
petition directed to the government denying this action
and asking for a reopening of the national assembly as
it was before. In this case the government by using its
legal power threatened these associations and organiza-
tions to withdraw their letter or withdraw individually

from this letter or it (government) will suspend the

127

board of each association and organizations which
included trade union federation. The result was some of
the associations announced their withdrawal. Trade
Union federation was one of them. The other who did not
withdraw, the government suspended their board members
and appointed new members for each association. One of
the clubs is still closed for political reasons. Elec-
tions for the National Assembly and many significant
events that take place in the Middle East or around the
world. In the 1974 election for the National Assembly,
three members of trade unions stood for election.
According to their election programs, there were three
main issues. The first was the oil companies' policies
towards Kuwaiti workers. The second issue was a demand
for independent labor legislation and the third issue
was improvement of working conditions for the working
class. Trade union members, through the General Federa-
tion of Kuwaiti Trade Unions, participated in demonstra-
tions which took place in Kuwait concerning various
issues, either inside the state of Kuwait or in other
Arabic countries, such as the situation in Lebanon.

The trade union took an initiative role in organizing a
committee called, Solidarity Committee with the
Palestinians and Lenabese People. The purpose of this
committee was to collect donations of materials such as
money, clothes, food and to educate the Kuwaiti people

by giving lectures showing the situation in Lebanon and

128
providing press releases. They also organized demon-

strations against the war in Lebanon.

Trade Union Membership

 

Membership in a trade union results from admis-
sion in accordance with its rules. Application to join
the union and promising to abide by its rules is a pro-
posal which, on its acceptance by the union by the act
of admitting the person concerned to the membership of
the union, results in a contract between the member and
the union. The union acts or legislation, constitution
or rule book forms the terms of such a contract. The
rights and liabilities of parties depend upon the terms
of the rules of the union, which are subject to altera-
tion, revocation, or revision from time to time,
according to their own provisions in this respect and
the provisions of the Trade Unions Act (Sethi and Dwived,
1966, p. 47).

In a democratic society every individual enjoys
the freedom of association as one of his fundamental
rights. All workmen, as such, in the industrial field
are free to join or not join a trade union, so far as
their position under the law is concerned. But the
employers are equally free to make union membership or
non-membership a condition of employment. On the other
hand, there are some societies where union membership of

the worker is made a condition of employment by

129

union/management agreement. Such compulsory trade
unionism is especially prevalent in British and American
industries. It has been criticized by Allen.

A major criticism of compulsory trade
unionism is that it makes so many members
simply cardholders and not trade unionists.
More than this, compulsory trade
unionism might weaken the union. A trade
union is like fresh stream: When it is
dammed up it collects a lot of muddy water
and scum rises to the top. Men who are
forced into a union are not only passive
deadweights so far as membership participa-
tion is concerned they are also often
focal points of disaffection and disruption
and form the nucleus to which the dissatis-
fied voluntary members may cling. Their
resentment into being press-ganged into a
union infects others. (In Sethi and Dwived,
1966, p. 65)

According to Labor Law in Kuwait, the definition

 

of a worker is found in Article No. 1 "The expression

 

'Amil' (worker) means any male or female worker or
employee performing manual or mental work for remunera-
tion under the supervision of, or instruction, from the
employer." It also defines the employer. The expression

"Sahib Amal” (employer) means "any natural person or

 

body corporate having a profession or trade and engaging
in his service employees receiving remuneration."

The number in Kuwait's labor force belonging to
trade unions in 1971 was 3,492, compared with a total
labor force of 184,018 or 1.9 percent. This was about
seven years after passage of the trade union Act in
1964. It was a period of formulation of labor laws and

legislation and the concept of being a union member had

130

not yet been made clear to many workers. In 1964 the
Kuwaiti labor force numbered 43,018, of whom the 3,492
union members formed a percentage of 8.12 percent. As
for the government sector in 1971, Kuwaiti employees
numbered 26,881, of whom 2,770 or 10.3 percent were
union members.

The situation of trade union membership in
Kuwait in 1980 will be examined to explain the develop-
ment of membership, using the government sector as an
example because the government is the largest employer
in the country. Table 4.4 shows the membership in
trade unions in 1980, a number of members almost double
the 1971 membership. The increase of membership is due
to various social, educational and economic reasons,
mostly dealing with the workers themselves.

Most of the Kuwaiti unions are in the public
sector, where there are various organizations and asso-
ciations dominated by the government. The reasons for
the domination is that non-Kuwaitis cannot be full
members of trade unions, but they constitute the majority
of the labor force in Kuwait, about 70 percent of the
labor force is non-Kuwaiti. The government also tries to
hinder the development of trade unions, although it pays
an annual stipend to them and the constitution legalizes
their formation. The government provides all services
to the workers, forbids trade unions from becoming

involved in political issues, and gives itself the right

131

TABLE 4.4 TRADE UNION MEMBERSHIP IN 1971 AND 1980

 

 

No. of Members
No. Name of Trade Union 1971 1980

 

 

1 Trade Union of Wage Earners and i 404 2,084
Salaried Employees of the Ministry
of Public Health

2 Trade Union of Wage Earners and 432 2.023
Salaried Employees of the Munici-
pality

3 Trade Union of Wage Earners and 158 2.330

Salaried Employees of the Ministry
of Communication

4 Trade Union of Wage Earners and 200 2.400
Salaried Employees of the Ministry
of Electricity and Water

5 Trade Union of Wage Earners and 571 1.329
Salaried Employees of the Ministry
of Public Work

6 Trade Union of Wage Earners and 230 1.559
Salaried Employees of the Ministry
of Education

7 Trade Union of Wage Earners and 725 334
Salaried Employees of the Ministry
of Finance

8 Trade Union of Wage Earners and 525
Salaried Employees of the Ministry
of Social Affairs and Labor

9 Trade Union of Wage Earners and 310
Salaried Employees of the Ministry
of Information

132

TABLE 4.4 CONT

A...

 

No. of MemEers

 

No. Name of Trade Union 1971 1980
10 Trade Union of Wage Earners and 590 2,164
Salaried Employees of Kuwait Oil
Company*
11 Trade Union of Wage Earners and 38 2,500

Salaried Employees of Kuwait
National Petroleum Company

12 Trade Union of Wage Earners and . 264
Salaried Employees of the Petro-
Chemical Company

 

13 Trade Union of Wage Earners and 1,792
Salaried Employees of BANKS
EMPLOYEES
14 Trade Union of Wage Earners and 1,000
Salaried Employees of Kuwait Air-
ways
TOTAL 3,492*

 

*94 members of the trade union of the American Independent
Oil Company in 1971 were absorbed into the other oil company
unions by 1980.

133
to inspect the books of trade unions at any time.
Further, no trade union delegations or representatives
are allowed outside Kuwait without permission from the
Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor. Additionally,
union activities are hindered because most of the trade
union leaders hold good positions in the public sector.
Even with the awareness of such domination workers have,
with the diffusion of education, started to realize the
values of worker organizations and trade union member—
ship.

It should be mentioned here that not all gov—
ernment ministries have trade unions, most of them do
not. It depends on the Kuwaiti ratio among employees
and how long the Ministry has been in existence. Table
4.5 shows the number of employees in each ministry that
does have a trade union and the membership in their
trade union. The numbers in the table show only the
number of Kuwaiti employees who hold full membership in
their trade unions. As mentioned before, non—Kuwaiti
workers have no right to become full members. The
highest percentage of membership is in the Ministry of
Electricity and Water with 89.0 percent. The second
highest is the Ministry of Public Works with 85.8 percent.
These two ministries have the highest number of crafts-
men in the government sector. According to the 1980

census, the Ministry of Public Works has 1,200 craftsmen,

the Ministry of Electricity and Water has 716 craftsmen.

134

 

 

 

 

TABLE 4.5 THE RATIO OF EMPLOYEES MEMBERSHIP IN TRADE UNION
IN THE GOVERNMENT SECTOR IN 1980
Numbers of
Employees
Ministries in Unions Employee %

Ministry of Finance 384 615 62.4
Ministry of Education 1,669 16,196 10.3
Ministry of Information 810 1,919 42.2
Ministry of Public

Health 2,084 5,529 37.7
Ministry of Social

Affairs and Labor 625 1,596 39.2
Ministry of Electricity

and Water 2,400 2,698 89.0
Ministry of Communica-

tion 2,330 4,314 54.0
Ministry of Public

Works 1,829 2,132 85.8
KUWAIT Municipality 2,023 3,880 52.1
Total & Overall Average 14,154 38,879 36.4

 

SOURCE: Number of employees in each Ministry is from the
Annual Statistical Abstract. Number of Trade
Union members is from the Ministry of Social Affairs

and Labor

135
In contrast, the Ministry of Education has the highest
number of employees, but fewer members in the trade
union. The main reason for this is that most of the
Kuwaiti employees in the Ministry of Education are
teachers, and they are members of the Teachers' Associa-
tion which is considered to be the largest association
in the country but is not a trade union. In addition,
teachers are considered middle class people who do not
join trade unions in most societies. The number of
craftsmen in the Ministry of Education is only 80. In
1980, the number of Kuwaiti union members in government
was 14,154 compared to a total of 49,401 Kuwaiti govern—
ment employees (28.7 percent).

Like the teachers, most professions in Kuwait
have their own associations, such as the geographers,
social workers, engineers and lawyers associations.

Most of the members of trade unions are employees or
workers without professional affiliations. Both the
associations and trade unions are under the domination
of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor but under
different Acts and Legislation.

Generally speaking, women are the least organized
group in the whole world, especially in the Third World
and developing countries. Ghosh states that:

The slow rate of unionization of the

women employees also is due to some

special factors peculiar to them. It
is a usual complaint against the women

136

employees that they are more apathetic
about a trade union than their male
colleagues. (1960, p. 201)

M. Ruikar in India, speaking from personal ex—
perience affirmed that women workers are not hostile to
trade unionism, but described women in India to be less
responsive to the call of unionism for three reasons.
First, the absence of leisure to take active interest
in trade union affairs, after attending to family respon—
sibilities in addition to their factory or office duties.
Second, the social set-up in India which discourages
women from moving about alone in the evening, which is
usually the best time for organizational work among
workers. Finally, illiteracy is at fault because ignor—
ance and superstition prevail to a greater extent among
women than among men (1953, p. 255). Ghosh summarizes
these three reasons as follows:

Of the three main reasons for women‘s
apathy to the trade union or their
inadequate participation in its activ—
ities, the first one is more or less
universally applicable to most of the
women employees, more particularly the
married ones throughout the world. The
second and the third, however, although
not applicable to the advanced western
countries, are more or less commonly
applicable to many undeveloped coun—
tries, besides India and Pakistan. The
second factor might have influenced the
organization of women employees in some
other countries as well, in which the
Indian and the Pakistani employees con-
stitute a significant proportion of the
total labor force as well as the coun—
tries in which the orthodox Islamic
traditions are strong. Thus the

137

religious influence in the Middle East is
likely to have affected the unionization of
the women employees to some considerable
extent through the second factor. The
third factor, however, is more or less
universal in all the underdeveloped coun-
tries. The reason for this lies in

poverty and scarcity, which combined with
social occupational and territorial
immobility--a few of the attendant factors
of economic underdevelopment create a
favourable basis for the growth of all
types of superstition, ignorance or
fatalism. (p. 202) .

In Kuwait working women form a small proportion
of the labor force. Their number, according to the 1975
Census, was 7,477 in the total labor force. Their par—
ticipation rate in the labor force was 3.2 percent. Most
working women in Kuwait are married, which is one
obstacle. The other obstacle is the tradition and customs
which dictate the social order in the society, in ad-
dition to its religion. A great proportion of the work-
ing women work in the field of education as teachers, a
profession in which they can't mix with males, that
makes teaching a favorable job. Most of the women
teachers are members in the Teachers Association.

Kuwaiti labor law and legislation are not
against women joining trade unions as members. In 1982,
during the lectures about ”working women" held in the
Institution of Labor Culture by the General Confederation
of Kuwaiti Trade Unions, a group of women met and dis-
cussed the organization of a Working Womens Committee.

The purpose of this Committee is to encourage Kuwaiti

138

women to become members in trade unions, give lectures
concerning women's issues, encourage working women to
participate in the courses given by the Institute and
hold lectures concerning women's rights. Work on the
committee is on a voluntary basis. The office of the
”Working Womens Committee" is in the General Federation
of Kuwaiti Trade Unions. In fact, working women in
Kuwait have improved in terms of their representation in
the labor force. In 1957 the ratio of working women in
the labor force was .7 percent, in 1975 their ratio was
3.2 percent, which gives a good indication that Kuwaiti
women are improving their position. Working women in
Kuwait will need to be persuaded toward membership in
trade unions, either by media or by the trade unions

themselves.

Trade Union Organization

 

Leadership in trade unions fits the definition
given by Bogardus as:

Leadership is a process in which there is

a give-and-take relationship between lead-

er and followers. The role of the leader

is often self-evident, the function of the

followers may be obscured. Yet, the fol-

lower is vital, for without him, their
could be no leader. (1934, p. 7)

Trade unions are supposed to be democratic organizations
in which the decision making is not in the hands of the
leader, but in the hands of workers themselves. The

leader should be organizationally responsible to them,

139
in any case of decision, the rank and file must partic—
ipate. The leader also should be flexible, especially
in case of negotiations. The multidimensional nature
of the context of trade union leader also brings about
a multiplicity of goals which are often conflicting.
There are, for example, the organizational goals of a
trade union such as its survival and growth as an
entity.

In Third World countries, a trade union is
generally led by ”outsiders." The "outsiders" are of
two types or two groups. The first group are those who
are genuinely interested in the welfare of the workers,
the second group are those who join unions for personal
gain or to further their political ends. Trade union
activity in the field of education should eventually
lead to the formation and recruitment of union leaders
from among the rank—and—file (D'Costa, 1963).

Outsiders are individuals who hold office in a
union although they may not be employees of the same
industry or establishment as the workers of the union.
Some of the outsiders are unattached to any political
group; these peOple may be more dangerous to the union
than the politically attached outsiders. Ghosh described
the outsiders who are attached to a political party,
saying that political workers usually are motivated by
some ideal--their behavior, therefore, may be colored by

that ideal. Moreover, the knowledge that their party will

140
be judged by their own conduct and behavior may give
them some incentive to work in a more efficient, dignified,
sincere and honest way. Such elevating and restraining
forces may be absent for unattached outsiders.

Generally speaking, employers strongly dislike
outsiders running trade unions. Their reasons are that
it is easier to suppress a trade union run by employees,
than one managed by outsiders.

In Kuwait trade union's leaders are insiders;
they are employed in the same Ministry and are not
attached to any political party or group, as political
groups or parties are illegal in Kuwait. But, in the
1974 elections for the national assembly, four trade
union leaders stood for election, and according to their
platform, they would defend the rights of the workers
and improve their working and living conditions.

Most of the leaders of trade unions in Kuwait
have no educational degrees, but have experience in
working as trade union leaders. Most of the leaders
attend international conferences and represent the
workers outside and inside Kuwait, especially in the
Middle East. The major problem is that most of the
leaders do not have much education, which is an obstacle
to understanding the complications of trade union and
labor legislation, and using them to the advantage of
the members. Generally speaking, the lack of education

means the leaders suffer from a sense of inferiority,

141
especially in sophisticated negotiations. It is thus
easier for better-educated management representatives
to silence them by arguments or threats.

Trade unions in Kuwait are totally managed by
rank—and-file employees of each industry or Ministry,
because the leader of each union is elected from the
general committee of that trade union, under the super—
vision of a Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor repre-
sentative. According to the Trade Union Act, no employee
can join a trade union other than his own Ministry trade
union. Leadership of trade unions in Kuwait is a part—
time job, done after the employee does his regular job.
One of the main demands of the trade unions is a full—
time position for trade union leaders. It is now a
voluntary job. Most of the trade union leaders in Kuwait
have been associated with the trade union movement since
its beginning. They are fully devoted to trade union
activities and are not members or active in any other
organizations. Most of the leadership aims and goals are
the following:

1. Full time trade union leadership.

2 First of May as an official holiday.

3 Unified labor legislation for trade unions.

4. Higher wages and better conditions.

5

The participation of trade unions in work
and workers' committees.

6. The increase of annual leave to forty-five
days.

142
7. Unification of wages in the oil sector.

8. Some special social security system for
workers in the oil sector.

9. Jobs to be filled by Kuwaitis and Arabs
in the oil companies.

10. Association for consumer protection.
(Trade Union Convention, 1980)

As mentioned earlier, the leadership in Kuwait
Trade Unions is from insiders not outsiders. Leaders
believe that outsider leadership of a trade union causes
weakness in the trade union movement in general. They
reject the idea of outside leadership and feel that
leadership should be from the rank-and-file. Trade
union leaders play a dominant role in the new industrial
society, so leadership should arise from the rank-and-

file with the diffusion of education.

Summary

The preceding chapter focused on the history of
the development of Trade Unions in Kuwait. In the first
part of the chapter, we examined the pre-oil era and its
economic activities. In that era, the social strcture of
the society was built around the traditional seafaring
trade. Social stratification consisted of the ruling
family, the merchants, and a working class of mostly
fishermen, pearl divers, and shipbuilders. The merchant
class was the most dynamic social force. As Shehab
describes them: "It was the merchants' enterprising

spirit that provided the ruling family with their meagre

143
income in the shape of customs duties and provided
employment for the rest of the community" (Shehab, 1966,
p. 127).

The Kuwaiti people began to modernize the old
structure of power through an elected legislative
assembly. The function of that essembly was to create
government departments and to determine their roles.
These government departments were the foundation for
the Kuwaiti administrative framework. However, the
turning point in Kuwaiti history was the oil exploita-
tion. Oil was first exploited in the 19308 by an Anglo—
American concern, the Kuwait Oil Company. Under an agree-
ment signed in 1951, following the Anglo-Iranian dispute,
fifty percent of its revenues went to the Sheikh. The
elements of the social structure, at that time, were
still threefold: the ruling family, the merchants, and
the people. The power of the ruler was absolute. (The
Listener, Sept. 1952, p. 407). After the death of Sheikh
Ahmad Al-Jaber, the structure of the autocracy was
changed by his successor, Sheikh Abdulla Al-Salem. As
Ismael described it:

Abdullah Al-Salim had been an active

supporter of the reform movement in the

interwar period and throughout his reign

(1950-65) he attempted to lessen the

more oppressive aspects of autocracy in

Kuwait. Youth associations were al-

lowed to open; a local press emerged

as the active medium for political de—

bate; elections were organized for im—
portant administrative councils; and

144
the foundations of the welfare state were
initiated. However, the expression of
nationalism in the liberalized political
atmosphere proved threatening to dependency,
and the youth associations and press were
banned and the elections to the administra-

tive councils annulled in February 1959.
(Ismeal, 1982, p. 82)

This period was a transformation period, in every
aspect of the Kuwaiti society--socially, economically,
and politically. In 1955, a law was promulgated regulating
the conditions of employment, salaries, pensions of civil
servants. This law was followed later in the year by
another applicable to labor iannegovernment sector,
which numbered 25,000-—of whom 5,000 were Kuwaitis. In
1959, the private—sector law was drafted, covering about
130,000 workers. Excluded from its jurisdiction were
certain categories of employees, such as domestic ser-
vants, casual labor employed for less than six months,
and workers employed by private establishments which
operate without any machinery and with not more than
five workers. The law gives employment priority to
the Kuwaitis; next,to Arabs; and then, to non-Arab
foreigners. The Arabs and non-Arab foreigners must
obtain working permits to be registered in the Ministry
of Social Affairs and Labor.

Concerning the labor—force structure, in the
beginning of the oil era, a huge influx of aliens
migrated to Kuwait to fill the occupations that had been

created by government plans. The government's ambitious

145
project plans and its determination to carry them out all
at once created a flood of skilled and unskilled jobs,
and workers flocked from the four corners of the globe-—
but mostly from neighboring countries. This influx
created new problems. The ethnic and political compo—
sition of this immigrant labor was heterogeneous,
though the largest proportion (about 70 percent) were
Arabs. Their social habits, cultures, creeds, and,
above all, political leanings were numerous and widely
divergent. In addition to that, the largest group of
these aliens were male. But the fact is that this
large community of aliens had no ties with the host
society. The growing size of this labor force from
different cultures and countries created a feeling
among the native citizen that they were about to be a
minority in their own country (Fakhri, 1966, p. 129).
According to the 1980 population census, Kuwaiti citizens
are about 41 percent of the population, and the rest are
non—Kuwaitis.

There is no documented information concerning
any organized labor prior to the 19608. There were
several strikes staged in the beginning of the oil era,
but due to the lack of homogeneity and cohesiveness
among the workers, they failed to achieve most of their
demands, and did not lead to the formation of unions.

The discovery of oil in Kuwait transformed the

relations of production from a seafaring or traditional

146

mode of production into a modern or industrial one and
allowed Kuwait to integrate into the world capitalist
system. In 1961, the special treaty of relationship
between Britain and Kuwait was terminated, and Kuwait
became an independent state. The period of independence
witnessed enormous constitutional, political, and econom—
ic development. In December, 1961, a constituent
assembly was created to draft the state constitution.

On January 23, 1963, a general election for a fifty-
member National Assembly was held. The franchise was
given to Kuwaiti citizens only. Despite the fact that
the ruler himself was the only one who appointed the
government, the National Assembly proved itself a fairly
representative and independent body. For example, in
1963 the National Assembly created a cut of about 20
percent in the defense budget. Another action taken

by the National Assembly was that in 1964 it opposed

the Sheikh's oil policy. In fact, political parties are
forbidden in Kuwait, but an opposition faction of seven
members of the National Assembly known as the Arab
Nationalist Bloc came into being. (This group was close
in outlook to, and possibly linked with, the movement of
Al-Qawmrya Al-Arabia.) In mid-1966, the members of the
bloc resigned from the National Assembly in protest
against government policy towards aliens. (Middle East
Record, 1967, p. 415.)

Later, the government created the Kuwaiti civil

147
service to provide jobs for the educated younger genera-
tion, as a part of the process of welfare—state creation.
Among the welfare benefits introduced were free educa-
tion, free medical services, a 40-hour work week, social
insurance, and unemployment grants. The cost of these
programs was financed out of oil income. The alien
population benefited from some of these programs, such
as free education and free medical services. This step
was taken by the government to reduce discrimination
against non-Kuwaiti citizens. The labor force in
Kuwait is dominated by aliens, however, and the govern—
ment has taken measures to control them. In May, 1966,
the Prime Minister obtained approval from the National
Assembly for measures aimed at "subversive elements.”
Several hundred aliens were deported while others were
arrested for having entered Kuwait illegally.

In November, 1962, Kuwait drafted a constitution
which recognizes the basic freedoms of press, assembly,
association, speech, religion, and guards against illegal
searches and seizures. The constitution guaranteed the
right of education and employment for Kuwaitis. The
constitution gave the Kuwaitis the right to participate
in the political process and decision making through
their representatives in the National Assembly. The
organization of trade unions is permitted, and guaranteed,
by both the labor laws and the constitution. The legis—

lation regulating the right of workers to form trade

148
unions is Ordinance No. 38 of 1964 concerning labor in
the private sector, as amended by ordinance No. 43 of
1968 and Ministerial Orders Nos. 1 and 2 of Sept. 30,
1964, and Nos. 4 and 5 of March 21, 1965. The first
two trade unions were formed in November, 1964: the
Trade Union of Wage Earners and Salaried Employees of
the Ministry of Public Health, and the union of employ-
ees of Kuwait municipalities.

Trade unions in Kuwait can be divided into
three sectors: the Government (Public) Sector, the
Oil Sector, and the Private Sector. Trade—union
organization and structure is according to a unified
model set by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor,
as described earlier, and all trade unions follow that
structure and organization. In the next chapter, we
will focus on the relationship between unions and the

government.

CHAPTER FIVE

UNION AND GOVERNMENT

Introduction

 

In the preceding chapter, the history of trade
union development in Kuwait, and the present status of
trade unions in that country, were discussed. This
chapter concerns the relationship between Kuwaiti trade
unions and the government.

Modern trade unionism in the industrial West is
a result of the factory system of production. The
factory system requires a large number of workers, most
of whom have work problems, such as conditions of work,
wages, security of service, social security, housing,
and medical insurance. In some cases, workers have the
opportunity to discuss these problems with their employer
and try to find solutions, but in most cases, employers
want to increase their profits and so they try to get the
most working hours for the lowest wages, and spend as
little as possible on working conditions. This situation
prompts workers to organize themselves for collective
action.

In Kuwait the trade union movement is different
in many ways from the situation in most of the industrial

149

150
countries. Trade unions in Kuwait are formed according
to the Ministries, not according to profession or craft,
such as the Trade Union of Salary and Wage Earners of
the Ministry of Education. The government has full
domination over the trade unions through the Ministry
of Social Affairs and Labor. That Ministry sets forth
unified rules concerning the finance, formation and
dissolution of trade unions, that must be followed by
each trade union.

The discovery of oil in Kuwait marked the begin-
ning of the growth of its labor movement. The economic
situation changed completely and a large number of
trade unions were organized after full independence was
gained and the constitution put into effect.

Labor law and legislation in Kuwait is prejudiced
against non—Kuwaitis. It also gives the government full
authority over the trade union. These problems will be
discussed in the following pages.

Lynn says that the state is the supreme sovereign
authority of a country, claiming the allegiance of all
its citizens. For a long time it looked askance at the
birth of voluntary association within itself, such as
political parties, labor unions and even economic organi—
zations. The reason can be found in a statement given
by Bailey:

Multiple allegiance has been recognized

only in so far as allegiance to the state
in those matters which it chooses to

151

regard as vital remained unquestioned. If
a citizen's allegiance to some other in-
stitution, whether church or family, or to
his individual conscience came into con-
flict with the state fiat, the latter must
be obeyed. (Bailey, 19 , p. 20)

Economic factors play an important role in the
development of the trade union movement, but they are not
the only factors. There are also non-economic factors
such as the attitude of the government toward the trade
union. Most of the southern Asian countries, after
their independence, adopted liberal attitudes toward the
development of the trade union movement. The state is
the most important influence in the development of the
trade union movement. The task of the trade unions, to
get favorable legal enactments passed to govern the
terms and conditions of work in a manner which will
benefit the workers, is nothing less than an attempt to
attain its objectives through the command of the sover-
eign external agency-~the state.

Thus, the nature of the state whether it is

sympathetic to labor or not, and whether it

believes in the necessity of democratic

mass action through their own organizations

-—is itself very important to determine the

possibilities of getting the trade union
aims fulfilled through legal enactment.

Early Manpower Programs

 

Following the Transportation Drivers' strike of
1951, Kuwait witnessed a series of attempts to control
immnigration into the country, as well as a series of

labor laws to improve the lot of the workers in order

if

152

that development plans might go on unhindered. But,
because the native labor force was unable to keep pace
with the developmental needs of the country and was
largely unskilled, a homogeneous native labor force
always eluded the country. According to the census
figures, 3,185 alien workers immigrated to Kuwait in
January and February of 1955. Non-Kuwaitis employed in
various sectors in 1957 were 40,628. Of these, 8,934
worked in government offices and agencies, 5,200 in
the oil companies, and 26,494 in the private sector.
Though illegal migration into the country had been going
on across the open border of Kuwait since 1945, immigra-
tion from India and Pakistan had always been organized
and controlled via the British Petroleum contract offices
in Bombay and Karachi. These contract workers constit—
uted only 15 percent of the total labor force, but the
Kuwaiti government has long been concerned about the
inordinately large non-Kuwaiti population. In 1957 they
appointed a British expert on immigration, G. M.
Strover, to study the problem of alien migration into
the country and suggest ways and means to accomplish the
importation of labor and expertise without disrupting
the essential character of the country and its develop—
mental programs.

Strover's study submitted two sets of recommenda-
tions to be implemented at the governmental level.

First, the government was advised to rationalize its

 

153

administrative machinery by establishing a central labor
office whose responsibility would be to process requests
for imported labor and expertise, to issue work permits
and thus to regulate entry at a central point.
Additionally, the central office was to initiate train—
ing programs, in cooperation with the Ministry of Educa-
tion, to prepare the local populace for the workforce
needs of the country. The second set of recommendations
concerned criteria of entry for the intended immigrant,
namely that he would have to be

(1) 18 years of age or older.

(2) deported if he failed to find work within
a month of his entry.

(3) legally admitted into the country, before
a permit would be issued;

(4) required to surrender his work permit if

he left the country.

(5) held liable to sanction and punishment if
he violated the rules and regulation of
his entry into the country. (Aminizideen,
1958, pp. 11-14)

Among the manifest purposes of Strover's recom-
mendations was to curb immigration into the country so
that more and more jobs were made available to native
Kuwaitis. But the economy was moving so fast and the
demand for skills and expertise for the developmental
project was so heavy that neither the training programs

nor the expertise gained by the native workforce could

keep pace with the needs of the country. As a result,

154

there was considerable unemployment generated among the
Kuwaitis as their skills and experience became obsolete.
This kind of unemployment is described as structural
unemployment in the technical jargon—-unemployment that
is due not to shortages of jobs but to the lack of
skills among the unemployed for the available jobs.

It was soon realized by the government of Kuwait
and the oil companies that steps must be devised to
correct the situation if it was not to deteriorate
further. After careful study, the government found that
it was possible to absorb a substantial part of the
unemployed citizens into the public sector. In 1954,
an Administration of Social Affairs was established to
register such native workers as were rendered super-
fluous because of their lack of skills and to grant them
permission to work in suitable government offices (Ibid.,
p. 14).

In 1951, the Kuwaiti Oil Company had already
started a training program of its own at a center at
Magwa to train Kuwaitis for positions in the company.
The training center has been described by E. A. V. D.
Candole as follows:

Magwa deals with about 250 Kuwaiti boys

each year who are taught skilled trades.

These young Kuwaiti Bedouins mostly come

from the desert and many still have their

long hair in Bedouin fashion. They start

in a basic class where they learn to

handle tools and learn the names of the

tools, and also they are acclimatized to
the workshop atmosphere. Having completed

155
the basic course they are drafted into
trade courses, according to their ap—
titudes. The trade courses carry them
for about two years, until they are
able to take on jobs in the company.
Many of them, in fact, go down to

Kuwait where they find extremely well—
paid jobs. (Candole, 1955, pp. 21-29)

The courses taught include carpentry, painting, elec-
trical wiring and maintenance, plumbing and pipe-fitting.
In 1954-1955, the government established a four-
year industrial training college with an initial capacity
of 600 students. In the first year, the college opened
with 98 students enrolled to learn various skills, such
as carpentry, electrical wiring, maintenance and repairs,
and plumbing. The trainees were given free board,
books and clothes; and paid a stipend of 70 robeas
($30.00) in the first year, 80 in the second, 90 in the
third, and 100 in the fourth year. (Aminizideen, 1958)
In 1955, the Ministry of Social Affairs and
Labor opened a Professional Training Center, the purpose
of which was to train Kuwaiti workers for jobs both in
the oil and the government sectors, to increase the par-
ticipation ratio of Kuwaitis in the labor force, and to
improve their overall working conditions. The trainees
were provided with free transportation, uniforms and
some financial help. In November 1956, the Ministry of
Social Affairs inaugurated a Training Center for girls,
to train young Kuwaiti women whose families were on

social welfare. The training included tailoring, and

 

156
home economics skills to improve the general welfare of
the family as a whole. In the very first year, the
institute received 250 applications for admission to
three six-months courses but the welfare requirement
limited enrollments to 53 girls whose families received
social welfare from the Ministry of Social Affairs.
By 1958-1959 the number of enrollees in the center had
risen to 120, and the courses had expanded to include
mathematics, first aid, child-rearing, home economics,
and tailoring.

In September 1956, the Ministry of Social Affairs
and Labor established a Cultural Institute for workers,
on the belief that an educated worker is more produc-
tive and valuable than an uneducated one. The objec-
tives of the Institute were to raise the educational
standards of the workers, to raise their consciousness
of the world around them so that they might be able to
keep up with the progress of a rapidly developing Arab
world and to increase the ratio of Kuwaiti to non-
Kuwaiti workers. As a part of its cultural programs,
the Institute provided a venue for the exchange of
ideas, and for the development of hobbies and artistic
talents, in addition to lectures and vocational classes.
The Institute had a huge library, a movie theater,
classrooms and promoted soccer and other field sports.
All in all, the cultural Institute provided a very com-

prehensive cultural and educational program for native

157
Kuwaitis. Indeed, the establishment of the Institute was
viewed as a means for upgrading Kuwaiti workers' skills
and abilities in preparation for stiffer labor laws and
immigration legislations.

The Development of Labor Law
and Legislation in Kuwait

 

Al—Rayes, in his study, examined some of the
complexities of a multifaceted approach to develop-
ment and labor force change.

A country attempting to move rapidly
from an archaic to a modern economic
social system has to compress into a

few decades a complex, interrelated

set of fundamental changes which took
place gradually over several centuries
in the countries of original industrial—
ization. Health programs, education and
reform, agricultural extension work,
roads, irrigation, market facilities,
and many other things have to move for-
ward together in a fairly well-
integrated program if any of the reforms
are to be truly successful. This means
that the governments of the developing
countries striving to get their econ-
omies off dead center need to undertake
more coordinated planning and do more
stimulating and guiding in economic and
social fields than is necessary in the
more advanced countries where patterns
are already set. (Al-Bayes, 1979, pp.
40—41)

The developmental program, shortages of labor
supply, and massive import of foreign labor launched the
government on a major program of labor laws. Their
effects on the social, economic and political life of
the country were so far—reaching that the Kuwait of 1983

bears hardly any resemblance to the Kuwait of forty years

158

ago. In 1954, a committee drawn from various government
institutions was formed to deal with various labor
problems. The first recommendation of the committee was
the formation of the Labor Office to handle problems
centrally. The Committee was later expanded into the
Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor, with responsibility
for all labor affairs. Following its formation in 1955,
the Ministry issued a decree called the "Employee and

the Retirement System” regulating the marriage and accom—
odation allowance, paid holidays, medical care and
retirement. Under the decree, workers were divided into
two categories and were designated as classified and
unclassified workers. The classified worker was educated
and enjoyed the privilege of a promotional scale with
eight grades, through which they could rise from the
eighth, the lowest, to the first. The unclassified
worker had no educational degree or even minimum educa—
tion, and his pay scale was neither fixed nor graded,

but determined by the employer. Classified workers were
further divided into married or single. If they were
married, they were entitled to a marriage allowance in
their grade of pay.

In Kuwait, the largest employer of classified
workers has always been the government of Kuwait. Until
1955, the laws were vague about whether the workers
could organize or form associations. The Ministry of

Social Affairs and Labor issued a decree entitled

159
Government Workers Cadre of 1955, which defined the
eight—hour workday with half an hour's break, conditions
of employment, weekly and official holidays, sick leave,
compensation for injuries on the job, loans for married
employees and retirement benefits. The unclassified
employees were excluded from the government on a non
time limit basis; that included the provision that the
government could terminate the contract with thirty
days notice. Under the provisions of the Cadre of 1955,
all employees were denied the right to form unions or
associations. They were even prohibited from discussing
reasons for any dismissals. Despite the fact that a
large percent of the native population was employed by
the government, their ratio to the non-Kuwaiti employees
was still very low. Non-Kuwaitis were in the country
on sufferance. They had no right to form associations
or unions under the conditions of their entry into the
country, thus diluting and weakening any threat the
native employees created by collective activity.

In 1959, the state promulgated a comprehensive
labor law, containing eighty articles distributed over
thirteen chapters, each chapter dealing with a different
aspect of labor relations. In 1961, the government
revised the Cadre of 1955, codified as Law 18/1960.

The labor laws of 1959 gave a green light to
the formation of trade unions in Kuwait. Article 70

says:

160

The right of the employers to form associa-
tions and of the workers to form unions is
guaranteed in accordance with the provis-
ions of this law and the orders issued by
the Department of Social Affairs and Labor
in this respect. The provisions of this
Article and its executive orders shall
apply to the Government Workers. (Kuwait
Department of Social Affairs and Work,
1959, p. 29)

Though this law was intended to delineate the employer-
employee relationship in the private sector, the pro—
visions of Article 70 extended to government servants.

Article 71 says:

If a dispute in respect of the conditions
of work arises between an employer and all
or part of his workers the following meas-
ures shall be followed in settling it:

1. direct negotiations between the em-
ployer--or his representative--and
the workers or their representative.
If an amicable settlement between
both parties is reached, it should
be registered within seven days from
the date it was signed with the
Department of Social Affairs in
accordance with the procedure deter—
mined by the said Department.

2. if no settlement is reached between
both parties by negotiations, any or
both parties shall submit either per-
sonally or through a representative,
a request to the Department of Social
Affairs asking the latter to try to
settle the dispute.

3. if the Department of Social Affairs
fails to effect a settlement within
fifteen days from the date of the
request, the dispute shall then be
referred to an Arbitration Board pre-
sided over by the president of the
Social Affairs Department who will
issue orders as to its constitution.
Representatives of both parties shall

Article

Article

Article

Article

Article

161

attend its meetings. The decisions
of the board shall be final and
binding on both parties. (Ibid.,
p. 30)

72 says:

The Department of Social Affairs shall issue the
orders and instructions regulating the procedure
mentioned in the preceding article. (Ibid., p.
30)

73 says:

The employers and workers may form Joint Com-
mittees to co-operate in the settlement of
disputes and raising the social standard of
workers, organizing workers' utilities, fix-
ing wages, increasing production and other
matters of interest to both parties. These
committees may be founded in the same estab-
lishment or at an industry level. (Ibid.,

p. 30)

74 says:

Each Joint Committee shall have a constitution
showing its aims, composition, and procedure
followed in convening its meetings and adopt-
ing resolutions. These committees shall be
registered with the Department of Social
Affairs in accordance with the orders to be
issued by the Department in this respect.
(Ibid., p. 30)

75 says:

A Higher Advisory Committee for Labor Affairs
shall be set up with representatives of the
Department of Social Affairs, employers and
workers. Its function shall be to advise on
labor legislation and its amendments. The
Committee shall have an advisory capacity.
(Ibid., p. 31)

76 says:

The Department of Social Affairs shall issue
orders, and rules organizing the composition
andiflmeprocedure of the Higher Advisory Com-
mittee. (Ibid., p. 31)

162

In 1960, an Amiri Decree No. 43 of 1960, was
issued by the ruling Sheikh and approved by the Supreme
Council, Abdulla Al-Salim, of Kuwait, to amend paragraph
3 of Article 71 to its present form as noted above:

Paragraph 3 Article 71 of the Labor
Law regarding the private sector shall be
substituted by the following:

3. If the Department of Social Affairs
and Labor fails to effect a settle-
ment within fifteen days from the
data of request, the dispute shall
then be referred to the Labor Disputes
Tribunal to be composed as follows:

 

A. A division of the High Court of
Appeals to be assigned by the
General Assembly of this Royal
Court every year, to adjudicate
industrial disputes.

B. A special public prosecutor shall
be nominated by the Attorney
General.

C. A representative of the Department

of Social Affairs and Labor shall

be appointed by the President of

the said Department.
The employer or his representative and the rep-
resentatives of the workers may appear before
the Tribunal, but neither party shall have more
than three representatives. The decision of

the Tribunal shall be final and binding on
both parties (Ibid., 1960, pp. 34—35).

The other two articles regarding collective bar-
gaining were untouched by this amendment. They referred
to the provision that if collective bargaining does not
work, the Department of Social Affairs should intervene.
An amendment to Article 70 transferred the authority of

adjudication from the Department of Social Affairs to

163

the High Court.

In 1961, the Ruler of Kuwait issued an amendment
to Article 70 of the Labor Law for the private sector,
that is, Law 1 of 1960:

Article 79 of the Labor Law regarding the
private sector shall be amended as follows:

1. Actions instituted by the workers in
accordance with the provisions of
this Law shall be exempt from fees
and shall be heard urgently. The
court in dismissing a case may re—
quest the plaintiff to pay all or
part of the costs.

 

2. The action shall be preceded by an ap-
plication submitted by the worker to
the Department of Social Affairs and
Labor. This Department shall invite
both parties to the dispute and take
the necessary measures to settle the
dispute amicably. If no amicable
settlement is reached, the Department
of Social Affairs and Labor must,
within two weeks, from the date the
worker submitted the application, re-
fer the dispute to the General Court
with a memorandum comprising a brief
account of the dispute, the submis-
sions of both parties and the comments
of the Department. The Registry Of—
fice of the General Court shall within
three days of the receipt of the ap-
plication fix a date for the hearing
of the case. The worker and the em-
ployer shall be notified thereof. The
Court may summon the writer of the
memorandum submitted by the Department
of Social Affairs and Labor to clarify
its contents. (Ibid., pp. 36-37)

This amendment was an improvement on the existing
law in the sense that the Department of Social Affairs and
Labor was no longer the sole adjudicating authority but

was required to transfer the dispute to the High Court

164
within two weeks of the application.

These laws and subsequent amendment gave the work-
ers a right to form and organize unions, but it was not
until 1964 that the first union was formed in Kuwait. In
this regard, al-Sarawi points out two reasons for the
late formation of unions in Kuwait. First, the small
number of Kuwaiti workers in the labor force and their
inexperience with workers' problems. Second, the non—
Kuwaiti workers were not interested in forming a labor
organization because the working conditions in Kuwait
were much better than those in their home country, espec—
ially with regard to the wages.

It should be noted that all these labor laws and
legislation were passed when Kuwait was still a British
protectorate, under the 1899 agreement between Kuwait
and the United Kingdom. The independence of Kuwait in

1961 introduced a new order of things in the country.

Post-Independence Era

 

June 1961 witnessed the termination of the 1899
agreement between the United Kingdom and Kuwait, which
had allowed Great Britain control of the foreign policy
of Kuwait. The formal independence that followed the
termination of the protectorate status brought Kuwait
into the fold of the League of Arab States and to the
full exercise of its sovereignty. The new political
status brought in its wake new internal economic obliga-

tions and imposed certain regional economic obligations.

165

The most important event in the history of Kuwait after
independence was the approval of a constitution in
November 1961 by Abdulla al—Salem, which was proclaimed
in January 1963, with full application of its articles
and codes. Article 43 of the constitution of Kuwait
guaranteed the right to form associations and trade
unions. At the same time, the article held that no per-
son should be obliged to join an association or a trade
union against his will. The labor law for the private
sector, issued in 1959, was replaced by Labor Law No. 38
of 1964, in which articles 69 through 87 deal with the
formation of trade unions and their regulations.

Article 69--workers and employers, each have
the right to form trade unions, in private,
government and oil sectors.

Article 70——workers employed in one and the
same establishment, profession or industry
or in like or related occupations, industry
or professions shall have the right to form
trade unions. Trade unions shall pursue the
following objectives: to tend the interests
of workers, to defend their rights, to im—
prove their material and social conditions
and to represent them in all matters con—
nected with their affairs.

Article 71—-a trade union cannot be formed if
the number of workers represented is less
than one hundred. And only one trade union
can be formed for workers of one and the same
establishment or profession.

Article 72--membership of a trade union is
open to workers over 18 years of age and who
are of good reputation and conduct. The non-
Kuwaiti workers who have fulfilled these two
conditions, apart from having obtained a work
permit, can join a trade union, but they shall
be prohibited from becoming members of trade
unions save where they have spent five

166

consecutive years in Kuwait as from the
date of the promulgation of ordinance No.
38 of 1964 in question. And, it is not
lawful for any worker to be a member of
more than one trade union. The non-Kuwaiti
workers shall not be entitled to elect nor
be elected, but they shall have the right
to depute one of them to represent them

and present their point of view to the
committee of management.

Article 73——trade unions shall be forbidden
to engage their property in financial, real
estate or other kinds of speculation, and
accept gifts and legacies save with the ap—
proval of the Ministry of Social Affairs
and Labor.

 

Article 74-—A. A trade union shall be estab—
lished by not less than fif-
teen members as founders of
the trade union.

B. The founders who constitute a
constituent general assembly
shall draw up the organic
statute of the trade union.

C. The committee of management
elected by the constituent
general assembly shall within
fifteen days from the date of
its election submit to the
Ministry of Social Affairs and
Labor two copies of the organ—
ic statute, two copies of the
minutes of the general assembly
meeting at which the committee
of management was elected, a
list of names of the members of
this committee, a list of names
of the trade union members, the
name of the bank at which the
money shall be deposited, and a
no-objection certificate from
the Ministry of Interior in re-
spect of any of the founders.
The trade union shall be deemed
enjoying legal status and shall
have the right to start bus—
iness as soon as these documents
have been submitted.

167

D. The organic statute of the
trade union lay down the
competencies of the general
assembly and the rules to be
followed in connection with
the conducts of its business
and the passing of resolu-
tions. It also shall lay
down the constitution of the
committee of management, its
duration as well as its com-
petencies and the rules to
govern the conduct of its
business.

E. The number of members of the
committee of management shall
not be less than seven and
shall not exceed twenty-one.
The organic statute of the
trade union shall lay down the
subscription fees which it
shall deem to levy on members,
the source of the trade union's
property and the manner in
which such property shall be
exploited and disposed of, and
the rules to be observed in
connection with book—keeping,
approval of budget and the
balance sheet.

Article 75--Within fifteen days of the submission
of the above documents, the Ministry of Social
Affairs and Labor shall be entitled to communicate
its objection to the measures relating to the
formation of the trade union, if any of the pro—
visions of ordinance No. 38 of 1964 are found

to be violated. If the Trade Union fails to
effect the correction of the measures proposed
within fifteen days following the objection, the
formation of the Trade Union shall be deemed void
from the beginning.

Article 76——the trade union should maintain the
following records and files:

1. members' names, nationality, profes-
sions, working position, birthdate,
admission and dismissal dates.

2. the minutes of the Board of Directors'
meetings.

168

3. the minutes of the General Assembly
meetings.

4. the Financial Records.

The Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor has the
right to inspect these records at any time at
the trade union offices.

Article 77--a trade union can be dissolved either
by a resolution passed by the General Assembly or
by an enforceable court order. In the event of
the winding up, the property of the trade union
shall after its liquidation, be handed over to
the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor.

Article 79-—trade unions may form federations,
provided such federations do not include other
than trade unions of one profession or industry
or industries participating in the production of
one type or of similar goods.

Article 80-—trade unions and federations may
form only one general federation in the country.

Article 81--the provisions concerning the for-
mation and dissolution of trade unions shall
apply to local as well as general federations
which shall enjoy the same rights and be sub-
ject to the same obligations as other trade
unions.

Article 83--trade unions shall inform the Min—
istry of Social Affairs and Labor of any change
of their union headquarters.

Article 84--Local and general federations may
join any Arab or international federation,

provided they notify the Ministry of Social
Affairs and Labor.

Oil is the main source of Kuwaiti national income,
and due to its importance and to the expansion of the oil
industry in Kuwait, accompanied by the oil workers' demands
for separate labor laws concerning the workers in the oil
fields, the government modified Labor Law No. 38/64 for

the private sector, adding a new section concerning oil

169
industries. The government had drafted Law No. 43/68
for the oil industries, but the oil companies did not
apply it, saying that it needed more modifications.
Afterwards, the government modified it and also drafted
another independent law concerning the oil industry,

Law No. 28/69.

Ratification of ILO Conventions

 

The provision of Article 84 brought the trade
union movement in Kuwait within the purview of the reso—
lution adopted by the International Labor Organization
(ILO) regarding the ”Freedom of Association and Protec-
tion of the Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively"
passed in 1947. In 1948, an international convention had
adopted a similar resolution concerning the Freedom of
Association and Protection of the Right to Organize. This
convention clearly confers the right of association on
any employer or worker to join any organization they
wish. By implication, the public authority has no right
to interfere with or restrict this right or to hinder its
lawful exercise. And also, the administration is not
within its rights to dissolve or suspend any workers' or
employers' organization. This convention also recognized
the right to form and join federations and confederations
of national or international scope.

The 1949 ILO convention concerning the applica-

tion of the principles of the right to organize and to

170

bargain collectively provided that workers should be
adequately protected against acts of anti-union discrim-
ination in respect of their employment, and added that
such protection should be given particularly against
acts calculated to:

1. subject the employment of a worker to
the precondition that he shall not join
a union or shall renounce his member—
ship of a trade union.

2. and cause the dismissal of or otherwise
prejudice the interest of a worker be-
cause of union membership or participa—
tion in union activities outside working

hours or, with the consent of the employ—
er within working hours.

The 1949 Convention also provided that employers'
and workers' associations or organizations should be
adequately safe-guarded against any acts of interference
by each other. Acts of interference are those acts
which are intended to promote the establishment of work—
ers organizations under the control of employers or
employers' organizations or to support workers' organi-
zations by financial or other means in order to bring
such organizations under the domination of employers,
or employers' organizations.

The right to free association, of course, also
means that individuals are free not to join an associa-
tion if they desire, or to withdraw from them any time
in the future. This also postulates the right of people
to organize new organizations alongside the existing

ones, and that they can leave an organization with the

171

object of forming a rival one. In practice, individuals
may not find it easy to pursue such actions because of
social pressures and other forces limiting their choice.
However, Article 43 of the Kuwaiti constitution of 1962
guarantees the right of the individual "to form associa-
tions and trade unions.” Also, Article 67 of Law No. 38
of 1964 concerning worker employer relations in the
private sector, states that,

The right of the employers to form asso—

ciations and of the workers to form unions

is guaranteed in accordance with the pro—

visions of this law and the orders issued

by the Ministry of Social Affairs and

Labor in this respect. The provisions of

this article and its executive orders

shall apply to the government/private
sector workers.

Although every Kuwaiti citizen enjoys equality
before the law and equality of opportunity in matters of
public employment, the Trade Union Act discriminates
against non—Kuwaitis. Article 72 of the Trade Union Act
states that "The non-Kuwaiti worker shall not be entitled
to elect nor be elected, but they shall have the right to
depute one of them to represent them and present their
point of view to the committee of management." In this
regard, it is interesting to note that in 1961, Kuwait
became a member of the International Labor Organization
and ratified the following conventions adopted by the
international bodies, on the dates mentioned:

1. Convention 1, adopted on October 29,

1919, limited the hours of work in

172
industrial undertakings to eight per day
in a forty—eight hour week-—ratified on
September 21, 1961.
Convention 29, adopted on June 10, 1930,
concerning forced or compulsory labor was
ratified on September 23, 1968.
Convention 30, adopted on June 10, 1930,
concerned the regulation of hours of work
in commercial offices--ratified by Kuwait
on September 21, 1961.
Convention 52, adopted on June 6, 1936,
concerning annual paid holidays-~ratified
by Kuwait on September 21, 1961.
Convention 81 adopted on June 19, 1947,
concerned Labor inspection in industry and
commerce-—ratified by Kuwait on November 23,
1964.
Convention 87, adopted on June 17, 1948,
concerning freedom of association and protec-
tion of the right to organize--ratified on
September 21, 1961 by Kuwait.
Convention 89, adopted on June 17, 1943,
concerning night work for women employees
in industry, (revised later in 1948)--
ratified by Kuwait on September 21, 1961.
Convention 105, adopted on June 5, 1957,

concerning the abolition of forced labor—-

10.

11.

12.

13.

173
ratified by Kuwait on September 21, 1961.
Convention 106, adopted on June 5, 1957,
concerning weekly rest in commerce and
industry was ratified on September 21,
1961 by Kuwait.
Convention 111, adopted on June 4, 1958,
concerning discrimination in respect to
employment and occupation, was ratified by
Kuwait, on December 1, 1966.
Convention 116, adopted on June 7, 1961,
concerning the partial revision of the
conventions adopted by the General Confer—
ence of the International Labor Organiza-
tion, at its first thirty-two sessions for
purpose of standardizing the provisions
regarding the preparation of reports by the
governing body of the International Labor
Organization on the working of conventions,
was ratified by Kuwait on April 23, 1964.
Convention 117, adopted on June 6, 1962,
concerning the basic aims and standards of
social policy was ratified by Kuwait on
April 23, 1963.
Convention 119, adopted on June 5, 1963,
concerning the guarding of machinery was

ratified on November 23, 1964.

174
14. Convention 136, adopted on June 2, 1971,
concerning protection against hazards of

poisoning from benzene, was ratified on

March 3, 1974.

All of these International Conventions concern—
ing labor are supervised by a Committee of Experts which
is responsible for the application of the conventions
and recommendations. Its work is to examine the reports
submitted by the countries which have ratified the
international conventions and to make comments when it
finds discrepancies, or notes progress in the applica-

tion of these instruments. (Pouyat, 1982).

Summary

The Kuwaiti trade union movement is comparatively
young since the first trade union was organized as
recently as 1964, when the right of association was
guaranteed to workers by the Kuwait government. There
are no records of any organized labor activity before
that date. Strikes which were staged before that date
were unsuccessful because they lacked organization. They
caused only hardship for participating workers, while
the leaders were dismissed from their jobs. Such strikes
were too weak to exert any pressure on government policy
and had no impact on legalizing trade union organization.
At that time, the labor unionizing efforts were charac-

terized by heterogeneity and an absence of internal

175

cohesiveness.

In December 1961 a Constituent Assembly of
twenty members was elected. The Assembly drafted
Kuwait's first Constitution which was promulgated on
November 11, 1962, and acted as the nation's first
parliament (Aruri, 1970, p. 330). The Constitution
recognizes the basic freedoms of speech, press, assembly,
association, religion, and guards against illegal searches
and seizures. Among the 1961 Assembly members, what
may be called a "nationalist wing” supported the legali-
zation of worker associations and organizations.

The most important external agency which
may influence the regulation of working
conditions is the state. The endeavor
of the trade unions, to get favourable
legislation passed for regulating the
terms and conditions of work in a manner
which will benefit the workers, is noth-
ing but an attempt to attain its objec—
tives through the command of the sover—
eign external agency——i.e., the state.
Thus the nature of the state, whether it
is sympathetic to the labor or not and
whether it believes in the necessity of
democratic mass action through their own
organizations, is itself very important
to determine the possibilities of get—
ting the trade union aims fulfilled
through the legal enactment. Similarly
the attempt of a trade union to utilize
the machinery of arbitration provided by
the state is bound to be influenced by
the nature of the state which will, to
some extent at least, reflect itself in
the nature and composition of the board
of arbitration. (Ghosh, 1960, p. 226)

Since terminating its special treaty relation—
ship with Great Britain in 1961 and gaining full inde-

pendence, Kuwait has made enormous constitutional,

176

political and economic strides, propelled by its rapid—
ly increasing oil revenues as much as by the political
and technocratic talents mobilized by the ruling family.
In fact, the traditional autocracy was transformed into
a constitutional monarchy, in which reasonably democratic
formulae have been applied and maintained. The Constitu-
tion formulated in 1962 incorporates a modest but useful
balance of power mechanism by which executive power is
vested in the monarch and his council of Ministers,
legislative power shared by the Ruler and 50-man National
Assembly elected by adult male suffrage and judicial
power exercised by an independent judiciary (Mear, 1975,
p. 6). The government, however, tries to avoid creating
or permitting another competitor for its power, such as
a strong, independent army or trade union. Trade unions
exist but the key to dissolving them lies in the hand
of the state, the executive power. In 1976, the govern-
ment showed it willingness to use this power and closure
of the National Assembly was accompanied by suspension of
parts of the Constitution and the imposition of new con-
trols on the press. In addition, the boards of the
teachers', writers' and lawyers' associations were dis-
solved.

Rather than arising out of an industrial pro-
letariate or the development of a free labor movement,
the design and operation of Kuwaiti trade unions were

designated by the government. Nevertheless, the Trade

177

Union Act of 1964 was received with enthusiasm by work-
ers and those in sympathy with them. In spite of govern-
ment control over trade union memberships, leadership,
finance and some activities, trade unions get official
recognition and their memberships are increasing.

Non-Kuwaitis, who form about 70 percent of the
total labor force, are not allowed to form trade unions.
Full membership is restricted to Kuwaiti workers only,
effectively limiting union power. Another type of gov-
ernment control is that trade union leaders and repre-
sentatives are required to be union members. This means
that a union leader has to work his job and do union
work on a voluntary basis which makes it impossible to
develop any full—time relationship. And, at the same
time, any outsider who might be sympathetic with workers
and interested in the labor movement, could not be ac-
tive legally in the union movement. Another aspect of
government control over trade unions is that annual
government payments to trade union have become a weapon
in the hands of the government. Also, unions are not
allowed to invest their money in any kind of financial,
industrial or commercial venture. Union groups are not
allowed to engage in any religious and political activ—
ities. All unions are required to keep records of
membership minutes, and accounts and the Ministry of
Social Affairs has given itself the right to inspect

these records at anytime. By such controls, the

178
government has sought to limit trade unions to social
welfare activities and keep them and their leaders out
of politics.
A summary and conclusions will be presented in

the following chapter.

CHAPTER SIX

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

Trade unions are an important constituent of the
industrial relations system in any society. As institu-
tions, they have become a powerful force in advanced
countries and play a significant role in the developing
countries, in terms of economic development and the
development of society in general. Most of the liter—
ature concerning trade union movements or their evolu-
tion correlate them with the Industrial Revolution, as
major factors that brought about extensive social,
economic and political changes. The Industrial Revolu-
tion undermined the old order of society and the old
craft—industrial relations and introduced the factory
system of production. The growth of factories separated
the operators from the ownership of the means of pro-
duction, a division of labor that brought about the
collective process as the interests of the masters and
the workmen diverged. While the old production system
had depended on traditions and customs, the new system
seemed to have inherent within it the seeds of conflict
and confrontation.

The beginning of the trade union movement was

179

180
not easy; the founders of early trade unions had to face
the wrath of a society, many of whose members consider
them to be antisocial or, at least, against the popular
interest and anti—business. They had to face punish-
ment and, in some cases were considered to be criminals.
Trade unions were exposed to changes in their character
following change in the processes of production and
technology; they had to change themselves to adjust to
the existing circumstances.

The trade union movement was influenced by a
number of social, economic and political ideologies.
Marx, in discussing class conflict theorized the creation
of a class of unionists who considered that labor
organization was a tool to change the whole social order,
as a result of the conflict between the proletariat and
bourgeoise classes, and that at the end, the proletariat
would win the conflict and overthrow the bourgeoise class,
the bourgeoise being a symbol of capitalism. The Webbs'
theory, which is considered to be a classical theory of
trade unionism, indicated that the workers have aspirations
to take over, and eventually to nationalize the major
industries. They think that the only way to accomplish
these goals or objectives is through political action.
The Webbs, generally speaking, focused on the origins of
trade unionism and expanded their perspective to
include the various methods which unions see to achieve

their ends. Finally, the American school is symbolized

181
by Hoxie who considered the psychological factors in the
origins of trade unions. Tannenbaum says that industry
itself was responsible for the inevitable birth of the
trade union movement. He believes that trade unions are
a replacement for the former society of workers. In
modern times, the objectives of trade unions are clear:
(1) to defend or improve the wages and conditions of
labor, (2) to raise the status of the worker as a cit-
izen of industry and of society, (3) to extend the area
of social control of the nation's economic life and par-
ticipate in that control.

In reviewing trade union literature, the impact
of European and American trade unionism or the trade
union movement is apparent in the Third World or devel—
oping countries, especially in Asia. There are some
minor differences between European and developing coun-
tries, however, in the beginning of the union movement.
In most of the developing countries the industrialization
process and the trade union movement began at the same
time, giving the fledgling industries inadequate time to
firm up their operations to confront the trade union.

In Europe and America the opposite situation occurred;
industrialization preceded the trade union movement. In
the Third World, the fact that workers are not skilled,
that the labor force is heterogeneous, and that industry
itself depends on the industrial countries slowed labor

union growth. Finally, from the very beginning, the

182

trade union movement in some developing countries was
associated with political parties and the unions that
formed were mostly controlled by "outsiders”, who
became leaders of trade unions. (D'Costa,1963)

In Kuwait, eocnomically speaking, history can
be divided into two distinct periods, each with its
own characteristic economic activities. The first is
the period before the discovery of oil and the second
is the period after the discovery of oil. The economy
in the first period was mainly dependent on the sea and
sea activities such as fishing, pearl-diving, seafaring
and boat—building, with some herding and trade. Geo-
logical factors, that made agriculture exceedingly
difficult in the arid desert region, forced the inhab-
itants to turn their faces toward the sea as a source
of living. The year 1946 forms a clear dividing line
between the pre—oil and the oil era, for it was in this
year that the first shipment of oil was made from Kuwait.
The exploitation of oil brought about new economic ac-
tivities and witnessed the disappearance of old economic
activities such as pearl-diving, boat building and
trade, which had already been hurt by the introduction of
cultured pearls in Japan and the invention of steamships.
The country's growth since then has largely come about
as a result of the smooth and swift exploitation of its
vast oil revenues. Within a span of no more than fif—

teen years, its population has come to enjoy living

183

standards formerly considered the normal lifestyle in only
the most developed industrialized countries. The patterns
of growth that Kuwait has experienced since 1946, the de-
velopment of its infrastructure, institutions and the wel-
fare system that has evolved are unparalleled in modern
history (Khoja and Sadler, 1979, p. 25).

The discovery of oil was influential in creating
extensive structural changes in the social institutions
in Kuwait. As a result of its oil revenues and devel—
opment plans by the government, Kuwait has become an
attractive land full of job opportunities. The unusual
population growth in Kuwait is directly traceable to
immigration; no other country has witnessed such a
massive influx of peOple, proportionately, as has Kuwait.
Between 1957 and 1965, the total population of Kuwait
rose from 206,473 to 467,339 an overall increase of 128
percent for those years, at an annual average of 16 per—
cent (El Mailakh, 1968, p. 13). Most immigrants came
from neighboring Arab countries and from Iran, Pakistan
and India. Kuwait has admitted many immigrants capable
of contributing to the economic development in Kuwait in
the labor force. The distribution of the labor force
reflects the country's manpower and population.

In fact, Kuwaiti society before the discovery of
oil was a traditional, tribal society. In that type of
society, the ruler is the final arbiter. The Koran was

the basis for law as well as for society. The concept

184

of the tribal ruler, around whom a tribe or tribes
gather in time of war, was the political pattern. The
rule of the Sheikh in Kuwait, until the advent of oil,
was effected by securing the allegiance of as many
tribes and tribal groups as possible, rather than sub-
jugating tjmmn The ruler often consulted with the
community elders in conformity with the established
tradition, and permitted a wide latitude of individual
freedom. The Kuwaiti society, in the past, was dom-
inated by values, traditions, and customs which stem
primarily from Islam (with its holy book, the Koran).
In fact, the forum for tribal-~and eventually, general
popular-—grievances, was there; so was the traditional
method whereby the Ruler consulted and made policy with
those groups considered to matter in the state. There
is also the Islamic conception of the laws emanating in
their final form from the leaders of the state, where
laws-are required to supplement Shari'a (Heard—Bey,
1972).

The transformation of Kuwaiti society from trad—
itional to modern created a great gap. Bridging the
gap between the traditional society and the oil society
meant great effort and planning for development concern-
ing many different aspects of Kuwaiti society. This
led to a gradual transformation of the basic structure
of the state, including its administration. But the

Islamic and Arabic factors, social and political,

185
continue to have a dominating influence. The political
reality is found near the center of Islamic and Arabic
traditions. In Kuwait, Shari'a is a source of legis—
lation, but it is not the only source of legislation.
The government is now debating with some religious
members in the National Assembly to change Article Two
in the Kuwaiti constitution, which says that the Shari'a
is a source for legislation. The religious members are u
trying to change it to be that the Shari'a is the only
source (If legislation. In fact, trade-union laws were
drafted not according to the Shari'a, but as a result of
the efforts to set up a modern welfare state. Trade
unions and similar associations are part of the organi-
zational structure of states of this kind, and provide
opportunities for citizen participation.

With the discovery of oil, the old traditional
economic relations disappeared and new, modern, indus-
trial economic relations appeared, capital investment
was transferred from outside to inside the country,
into such efforts as a national infrastructure. With
this economic transformation, the Kuwait labor force,
which consisted of men who had previously worked by the
sea and some nomads, started to direct its activities
toward new fields. These men formed the national labor
force, but the labor force was not skilled or large
enough to fill the new occupations, especially in the

oil sector. At that time, the need for outside workers

186
became apparent, immigration started and grew until the
country's population is now more non—Kuwaiti than
Kuwaiti; Kuwaitis form only 42 percent of the total pop-
ulation. In terms of the work force, the Kuwaitis form
only 30 percent of the total labor force; the rest is
made up of non-Kuwaitis.

At the beginning of the oil era, the indigenous
population was poorly educated and almost totally ignor-
ant of the industrial world, and the government was
obliged to recruit its entire technical expertise and
administrative needs from abroad. The state opened its
borders for immigration to fulfill its needs. The
immigration started with a Western work force to super-
vise work in the oil fields. This supervisory work force
consisted mostly of English and American workers, with
additional skilled workers from India and Pakistan. At
that time, the native work force was not skilled enough,
so Kuwaitis held the unskilled jobs. For jobs outside
the oil industry, the main source of workers was the
neighboring Arab countries and Iran.

In the middle of the 1970s, the traditional
structure of the labor force began to change in terms
of its origins and numbers. Now exporting countries
like South Korea, the Philippines, and Japan entered
the Gulf states. Of these, South Korea has always
dominated the Kuwaiti construction industry. So, the

migration circle goes around, leaving the native labor

 

187

force in the lower part of the occupational scale and
without adequate training programs.

The legislation regulating the right of workers
in Kuwait to form trade unions consists mainly of the
Constitution of 1962 and Ordinance No. 38 of 1964.
Article 43 of the constitution guarantees workers the
right to form associations and trade unions. Ordinance
No. 38 of 1964 guarantees, in Article 69, the right of
workers in the private sector and in the government
sector to form trade unions. The first trade unions
formed in Kuwait, in 1964, were the Trade Union of Wage
Earners and Salaried Employees of the Municipality and
the Trade Union of Wage Earners and Salaried Employees
of the Ministry of Public Health. Currently, there are
fourteen trade unions, three in the oil sector, ten in
the government sector and one in the private sector.
There are also two confederations, the Confederation of
Trade Unions of Workers in the Government Sector and
the Confederation of Trade Unions of Workers in the
Oil Sector and Petro-Chemical Industries. There is also
the General Confederation of Kuwaiti Workers in which all
trade unions are members, except for the one private
trade union, which is the Trade Union of Bank Employees.
In fact, trade unions are important organizations at the
present time, no matter what'Uxepolitical structure of
the country is, although they have not deve10ped to the

strength trade unions enjoy in the West.

 

188

In the West, the trade unions have been devel—
oped and improved and have their own role in economic
and development planning, especially in economic institu-
tions. Their role is not merely economic but social in
that they strive to protect the dignity and individuality
of laborers and replace what may have been degraded and
dehumanized by the division of labor created by indus-
trialization.

The trade union movement in Kuwait is still in
its infancy; the majority of the workers in Kuwait are
non-Kuwaitis who, according to the Trade Union Act, have
no right to be full members in trade unions. This study
has examined the structural similarities and differences
between unions in the three sectors in the economy and
revealed that the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor
has dictated a unified structure for every trade union.
Only minor differences are noted in some of the struc-
ture, such as the timing of General Committee meetings,
the amount of dues (fees), the way the fees are collected
and the money spent. The structures of the trade unions
in Kuwait are mostly employee trade unions, with some
being industrial. The situation is that trade unions in
Kuwait are not formed according to craft or industry but
that every Ministry in the government has its own trade
union. Every Kuwaiti employee in a ministry with a union
has the right to join that union.

The overall trade union structure in Kuwait is

189
vertical, starting with the union for the workers or
employees of a single establishment or Ministry, which
is one unit or constituent of a national union or
federation. Every trade union is under a federation of
that sector; the trade unions of the government sector
are under the Confederation of Workers in the Government
sector. There is another confederation of oil and petro-
chemical industries unions. Both the Government Sector
Confederation and Oil Sector Confederation are under
the General Confederation of Kuwait Workers. In the
General Confederation, each trade union is represented,
the number of representatives allocated according to the
number of members in the union. The confederation for
the sector selects representatives to the General Con—
federation of Kuwait Workers. All decisions concerning
leadership in each sector occur by election by the Gen—
eral Committee of each trade union. Non-Kuwaiti workers
have no right to vote or stand for election. All elec-
tions take place under the supervision of representatives
from the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor.

The objectives of trade unions, as organizations,
include their survival, growth and maximization of some
utility functions which, in themselves, are composed of
numerous objectives. Their activities concern maximizing
workers' interests in terms of wages, job security,
fringe benefits, promotion by seniority, the right to

natural justice and the like (Johri, 1967, p. 194).

190

Trade union objectives go well beyond their inherent
objectives, such as the improvement of working con—
ditions; there are also activities and objectives which
are non—economic, such as welfare, educational and
recreational activities.

As we mentioned earlier in Chapter Four, trade
union goals and objectives can be classified as political,
social, and economic. More specifically, the major goals
of Kuwaiti trade unions are to provide adequate training
services for workers, to fight unemployment, and to raise
the spirit of democracy among workers through lectures
given by the Institute of Labor Culture. Politically,
trade unions participate in most events that take place
internally and externally. The political activities of
Kuwaiti trade unions are not limited to concerns related
to legislation and administrative action that directly
affects workers and families; they also become involved
in political action, such as the protest against the
suspension of democracy in 1976. Trade unions have also
arranged demonstrations against the Israeli invasion in
Lebanon. Concerning the achievement of their goals, they
have been successful, to some extent. They have contrib-
uted to achieving the major goals identified above; how—
ever, most of the gains workers have made have been a
result of government actions.

In Kuwait, which is a welfare state, benefits

such as education and medical treatment are guaranteed

191
to all citizens and some non-citizens by the government,
so the role of trade unions in these activities is
minor. Article No. 12 in the Trade Union Constitution
states that each member of a trade union has the right
to enjoy the activities and services-~social, cultural
and professional, provided by the trade union. The
services provided by the trade unions may be divided
into several categories by type. There are basic
services such as security against unemployment, and
sickness and collective security programs. There are
also emergency services such as marriage donations for
members and provisions for work-related accident or
injury on the job; there are also death benefits for
spouses and families.

Other services are the recreational activities,
such as sport, traveling and camping groups sponsored
by trade unions. The educational activities include
special classes for adult workers. The Institute of
Workers' Culture gives lectures to workers and plays
a major role in educating the members. They also give
lectures for women about their legislative rights and
how to participate in the labor movement in general.
The Workers' Theater plays a major role, especially for
illiterate workers, by showing plays concerning differ-
ent situations of workers in the work place and their
problems. One of the other educational or informational

activities is the Al—Amel magazine, a magazine that

ur-

192
deals with the problems concerning the working class and
their major demands, the rank—and-file participate in
writing the articles published in that magazine. Another
educational activity is the issuing of publications and
pamphlets. There are professional activities such as
training programs and cooperative activities such as
establishing stores inside the work sites with reasonable
prices for workers.

Concerning the demographic characteristics of
trade union members, as mentioned in Chapter Four, non—
Kuwaitis have no rights to full membership in the trade
unions, according to the government Trade Union Act.

The government thinks that the non-Kuwaitis, as a major-
ity in the labor force, will organize strikes through
these organizations, asking for higher wages and making
demands that will create problems for the whole polit-
ical system. For example, in 1974 non-Kuwaiti workers
demanded that Kinko, a Kuwait oil—supply company, reduce
the number of working hours from eight to six during the
holy month of Ramadan (during the month of Ramadan work—
ing hours in all government sectors are reduced).
Another strike was initiated in September 1974 by non-
Kuwaiti soft—drink workers (Canada Dry. Corp.) who
demanded better working conditions and an increase in
salary to meet the high cost of living (Al—Essa, 1981,
p. 46). Thus the government has restricted the non-

Kuwaitis from voting or standing for election to any

193

leadership position in the trade unions.

As for influences from outside Kuwait, on the
development of the Trade Union Movement, there are no
direct effects from industries run by external forces
from industrialized countries, such as the case in India
with some textile factories run by English capital. In
most southern Asian countries, the trade union movements
have had the active support of numerous Englishmen.

The establishment of the International Labor Organization

 

played a major role in the formation of labor policies in
the colonial governments. The foundation of most of
these countries' trade unions is based on practices in
the industrialized countries, but the development of

the trade union movement in Kuwait has felt no direct
outside effects. The growth of the movement has been
conditioned by an awareness and sense of exploitation

and awareness of economic strains.

In concluding this chapter, this study has
found, the trade union movement in Kuwait to be in its
infancy and in a unique situation as the government has
encouraged the formation of trade unions as one of
the country's democratic institutions. Trade union dif-
ficulties or work disputes are rare, especially in the
government sector.

The government, through the Ministry of Social
Affairs and Labor, however, totally dominates the trade

unions and has full control over their activities. It

194

pays an annual stipend to support the trade unions,

which forms a major portion of their budgets, making it
unlikely for such trade unions to disagree with or

engage the government in any major confrontation. In
addition, all trade union members receive many services
directly from the government, so the trade union activ-
ities are restricted to those certain activities approved
but not performed by the government.

Most of the collective bargaining that occurs in
Kuwait concerns labor codes and labor legislation, the
reason being that there are gaps in the transitional
process from codes governing traditional sea-faring
activities to codes governing the modern economic activ—
ities brought about by the oil industries that mechanized
industrial activities. The changes that took place in
these economic activities affected the social aspects
of the society.

Trade union policy in Kuwait should become more
comprehensive, in the future, in terms of participation
in the decision—making processes of economic development
in general, and should be guided by principles of
modernization, sacrifice and responsibility. While the
government, as the largest employer in the country, and
other employers have their duties and responsibilities
in Kuwait's modern economic development, trade unions
also have to accept their share of the responsibilities.

With the spread of education among the workers,

 

195
the leadership should also arise from the rank-and—file.
Trade unions in Kuwait, for their own survival, should
diffuse education and training programs among their
members to an even greater extent than they are now
doing. A second emphasis should be the full participa-
tion of non—Kuwaiti workers in the trade unions to give
the movement the expertise of experienced members from
other countries. The main agenda for the future of
Kuwait's trade unions should be to end government dom-
ination over the unions and then make trade unions
independent in their decision-making. Kuwait's trade
union movement should not lose its dynamism, but as an
agency of the state it may well lose its credibility
and power. In addition, working women should participate
in union activities and in the development of the country
as a whole.

Finally, the development and strength of its
trade union movement are important indications of the
general progress of a country. This is particularly true
of a newly independent state moving from underdevelopment
to development. The organization of trade unions re-
flects the consciousness of the workers of their role and
the importance of their collective strength, indicates
a state of industrialization where a proportion of the
population totally depend on hiring themselves out as
workers, and heralds the emergence of a proletariate.

The regulations and labor legislation adopted by the

196

government are considered to be indicators of the
importance of labor to the economy and social develop—
ment of the state. In fact, the existence of a trade
union movement which is strong enough to fight and
defend its members' interests through the means of
collective bargaining will create confidence among the
workers and will attract more workers to join the trade
union. The diffusion of education among the workers
will be a weapon against illiteracy and these kinds of
services and activities sponsored by a strong trade
union will also attract more workers to the unions.
Along with educational programs, intensive vocational
and training programs should be sponsored by trade
unions and they should also participate in special
programs to raise worker productivity and improve their
efficiency within the industry. Trade unions can also
participate in the whole process of economic development
by helping workers to adjust themselves to the new modes
of production and industry, because maladjustment can
cause a variety of problems such as absenteeism, migra-
tion to another sector, high turnover, and lack of
interest in learning new ideas concerning production and
new economic relations. The Director General of ILO in
the 37th General Session pointed out:

The trade union may be one of the most

powerful instruments for creating a new

industrial society and for helping the

new recruit from the rural community to

adjust to the conditions of the indus-
trial life. (ILO, 1954)

197

When all these activities and changes are init—
iated by trade unions in Kuwait, they will be more
active organizations of workers, striving for their own
and for the country's welfare. In every organization
there are people who accept the challenge for change
and betterment of their people and their country. The
objectives are clear, their attainment requires

constant effort.

APPENDIX

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8:352... .533 33:25.... 2: 3 8.3580

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.. .8... 8 825.23.. 8:588 2.: 8::8 5:... .233: 53..

@3085V
Inl-

10.

11.

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

Membership in the union
Workers employed in ministry , oil sector

, private sector

 

Machinery of collection of members' fees,

monthly , quarterly , half yearly ,
yearly

Structure of union

How do you formulate your demands?

a) In the general body

b) In the executive

c) On the advice of central organization

Union publication

What is the relationship with the government and
with the General Federation?

How is the process of collective bargaining prac-
tices by the trade union?

Educational, technical and professional qualifica-
tions and languages.

Occupation

Occupational and trade union history. What offices

have you previously held in the trade union?

203

 

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

204

How long have you been associated with the trade
union movement?

Do you take part in activities in other organiza—
tions?

Did you write or contribute articles on the subject
of labor to any magazine or newspaper?

What are your major functions as a trade union
official?

a)
b)
C)
d)

6)

Do you think that trade union in Kuwait is:

a) weak

b) fairly strong

c) very strong

Here is a list of trade union aims. Which do you

think should be given priority?

a) Higher wages and better conditions.

b) Effective consultation with management in all
levels.

c) Creating political consciousness among members.

d) The fullest use by rank and file members of the

democratic procedures of the unions.

205

:oiitioai agency,
Kuwait.

132/16/50 . . .- Juniess, 1950..

5' :3,” “
-r‘ .

i4 .-

 

 

Dear Department,

Your letter EA 1391/15 of 19th June appears
to have crossed our 132/13/50 or 12th June. »

I

We have in the meantime received a reply ,
from the Euler in acknowledgement of our note trans-
mittin; tne memorandum. In it he raised the question
of employing xuwaitis; both this and a subsequent
nOte received after we had replied to the first bore
the unmistable signs or having been drafted by Abdullah
Mulls. rhey were slightly puerile and referred to driving
cars end lorries as "simple Jobs" with the suggestion
that any Luwaiti could do it. We propose, having
discussed the matter with Schorield, to leave the question
until after Ramadhan, and then discuss it personally
with the Ruler, whom Schofield will also invite out ’
to see what steps the Company are taking to ma: Kuwaitis,
since he has never seen the Training School. we think
the matter'will end with general expressions or good
.intentions; but while we sympathise with the Kuwaiti
desire to see Kuwaitis employed wherever possible and
would indeed like to see Panistani artisans reduced to
the utmost, we agree with Schorield that he cannot be
bullied by Abdullah nulls beating on the nationalistic
drum.

The memorandum as a whole, apart from that
query, has not been questioned by the Euler. The
Fort REgulations have in the meanwhile been translated,
and as soon as Ramadhan is over, we Will get the Ruler
to issue them as an n'lan.

.e are sending a copy of this letter to Bahrain.

'- __ \

 

Eastern Department,
Foreign Office, :: _ .
London.

206

 

 

 

 

E;Jh' é. tx’!
E “I‘SEI'L‘\
Visit to the Kuwait Oil Compggy's instillatiogg at
”38!“: AhmadiL Mina-a1 Ahmadi and Egrgan

on the 20th Februggz
1. Technical training scheme

In its present form this scheme started at Magwa with the ‘
arrival of Ir. Bannister, a Ministry of Labour official
on secondment in March 1951. The pupils are either boys
of fourteen and upwards recruited from the desert or the town,
or in some cases, promising boys who have already been in the
Company's employment for some time. They receive instruction
in all kinds of technical subjects such as plur‘ing, welding,
internal combustion engines, electricity etc. The periods of
their training vary according to subject from about six months
to three years. Part of each day is spent in lectures on
the subject they are studying, in the course of which they learn
the English words for the various technical terms which they will
commonly use. In this way, they gradually pick up the essential
English vocabulary for their subject. Apart from this, there
is no set teaching of English as such, since the Company consider
that this is not necessary for efficiency and that the pupils will
rick up all they need in the course of their work. In addition,
the Company know from eXperience that once a boy has learnt English
he is liable to go off into the town and obtain a Job as a clerk.
There are about eleven instructors at present, of what five are
British and the remaining six are Palestinians. A.further six
British instructors are to be engaged. At present the ratio of
instructors to pupils works out at about one to sixteen.

9. Recruitment

At present the greater part of the clerical, foreman and
technical staff are Indians. and Pakistanis,and Kuwaitis form the
bulk of the unskilled or semi-skilled.1abour. It seems likely
that this position will remain for acne time although the
Company apparently have accepted as the ultimate sun the
replacement of the Indians and Pakistanis‘bv Inwaitis. At present,
however, there is a tendency for Kuwaitis; once trained as
technicians or clerks to take up Jobs with.merchants in the town
where they are much better paids The sus- feeling, however, is
that these men will sooner or later appreciate that although
their wages in the town.may be higher they lack the security
and continuity which they would get with the Oil Company in such
matters as pensions and compensation. ThelZEIso expect that
sooner or later sources of employment in the town will reach
saturation point. Men will then remain with, or return to the
Company. The Company are therefore not worried about the
wastage and do not attempt to raise their wages in order to
compete with rates pd elsewhere in the State, realising that
they can act as a stabilising influence which will in the and
reap its own reward.

3. Housing
The Company'° housing programme has been complicated.by
the fluctuation the total size of their staff and in its

{apportionment between various categories. For example, they

/ are

 

207

are still at present carrying out part of their construction
programme but expect that in two or three years time this will
be completed and a consequent redxviicn in the foreman and lower
grades will take place. Housing for the senior EurOpean and
American staff (numbering, with families, about eleven hundred
people in all) is given first priority on the grounds that these
people are much more difficult to replace than those in the lower
grades. At present houses have been provided for approximately
half the staff and the remainder live in accommodation which will
eventually be given to the Indians and Pakistanis. It is hOped
that the building programme for this grade will be completed in
two years time. Houses for Indians and Pakistanis will take
rather longer and it may be three years before this programne

is completed. Local employees. are in.some cases still living
in huts and tents outside the present accomodation areas. Many
of these peoyle are Bedouin and appear to prefer this way of
living :nd in any case it is probable that their families will
wish to continue it. The families vary so much in size and the
future size of this grade of staff is at present so elastic

that it is not easy to assess with any exactness when they would
all be suitably housed. This may not however be for three to
four years.

4. Labour “ciations .

So far there has been no joint consultation. Recently,
however, the Indians and Pakistanis have elected five
representatives and they have renuected that these representatives
should be OCCvchd by the management as their representatives on
a joint committee. The management propose to appoint members
from their side and are prepared to accept a measure of joint
consultation on general matters relating to the men's welfare
but not about wages which they regard as a matter between the
individual and the Com\rny. The Company are anxious to see that
the men's nouinees are suitably representative and not all
drawn from a Jew drynrtwents. There is no intention of
instituting joint co nsultation with the Arab employees and in
this the Company consider that they have the support of the Ruler
who gives short shrift to rny agitators. Recently, for example,
two men made trouble about hours of work and wages, and claimed to
represent the interests of the Arab em loyees. The Ruler, who
regasds hlmflvlf as having a half share in the Company, sent for
themthtcr informing them that he was fully satisfied that their
interwsts ware prOnerly leuked after by the Company, directed that
one of than, a suspected Communist agitator, should be imprisoned.
Apart rrcm this incident, ho:CVwr, there are no serious signs of
Communist o Ltntion and a close watch by the Company's
investigatinfl stuff is kept to ensure the renoval of any
undesirnbln elements.

[1 . r’\- . 1M
9" . .—

C.M. Rose
5 nd February, 1952.

f/ O(

208

£931

TBAVSLATION OF LFTTPR NO. R. 6.3829 dated the 9th
September, 1949 from His Highness the Ruler of Kuwait
to the Political Agent, Kuwait.

After Compliments,

We refer to your letter No.160(7/2) dated the 29th
August, 1949 and enclosed please find a summary of the Sharia
law as arriind to Kuwait by your Tribunals, regarding compen-
sation. The full compensation is mu4000 and the other com-
pensations are decided according to the nature of the case.
We hope that these details will be sufficient and in case you
require more details, we shall ask the authorities concerned
to supply them with pleasure.

Usual ending.

ENCLOSUhE.

The Sharia law followed by the Kuwait Tribunals in
compensatory cases and which is enforced regarding criminal
cases, is as follows:-

(1) Full compensation for killing a person by mistake.
But if killing is with intention then punishment is to be
enforced. Full compensation is necessary in the following
cases.

(1) to cause one to lose his intellect, with intention
or mistake;
(ii) to cause one to lose his sense of hearing:
(iii) to cause one to lose eyesight;
(iv) to cause one to lose smelling,
(v) to cause one to loose taste;
(vi) to cause one to lose touch;
(vii) to cause one to lose speech;
(viii) to cause one to lodse voice;
(ix; to cause one to lose power of sexual intercourse;
(x to cause one to lose posterity by stepping it;
(xi) to cause one to be afflicted with leprosy;
(xii) to cause one to he become a leper;
(xiii) to cause one's skin to become black;
(xiv) to cause one to lose his ability to stand up
and sit alone;
(xv) to cause one to lose tip of his nose;
(xvi) for cutting a person's penis;
(xvii) for cutting a person's glans penis;
(xviii) for smashing a person's testicles;
(xix) for cutting a woman's breast:
(xx) for cutting a woman's breast's nipple, if that
action causes to stop her milk or to spoil it;
(xxi) for gouging out an eye of one-eyed person.

(2) Whoever commits two of the above things will have to
pay two compensations and more if he commits more.

(2) Half compensation is necessary in the following cases:

) cutting one hand

) cutting one leg;

) one eye for the person who has two eyes, but
one-eyed person, a full compensation should be paid
for his eye as mentioned above.

r—HA
fir.”

(
(i

(8) One third of compensation is to be paid for the following:
(i)

209

(i) for a cut reaching the belly, for the cut reaching
the brain, so much that it reaches the thin envelOpe
covering the brain;

(4) cut that reaches the bone and slightly smashes it and
causes the broken bone to be treated by medicine compensation
for this one tenth of full compensation i.e. 3/26 ‘

(5) but the cut that shows the bone and does not smash it,

for this 1/2 tenth of compensation 1/20, except if the cut is

in the ace of the person and shows it ugly the compensation

for this is to estimate the injury and addit to the first I
compensation.

(6) for every finger one tenth of the compensation

(7) For every tip of any finger, cut purposely or by mistake
one third of one tenth of the compensation, i.e. 1/30 except
tip of the thumb for which half tenth is charged.

(8) For a good tooth one tenth of the compensation 1/20.

All these details are applied to male but the female
will receive half or what is stated above in respect of man;
but she will be equal to him in wounds up to one third, then
she will go back to her original.

(9) For the embryo one tenth of his mother and will be
numerous if it is numerous, this is so if the embryo

is separated dead from his mother and the mother is alive.
If his mother dies before he is separated from her, there
is no compensation for him, but only his mother's case will
be considered.

The Government will act in case of wounds not compensat-
ed by Sharia law, for example, cutting ears without causing the
loss of hearing, cutting of a paralysed head, cutting the two
rumps of a man or woman by mistake for a shaking tooth,
for removing the eyebrow hair and the nail by mistake.

We mean by "the Government" the decision in cases not
stated by Sharia law be left to the Governor's dilligence.

210

W

This Anglo-Nasrican Company has experienced a phenomenal
expansion since the war. It had to taco its accomdation and
social probleas practicalh' from scratch. and was handicapped
by ditticultias in obtaining vast quantities or building
materials by shortages of skilled workers and by lack oi’
3:111): staff for personnel aanagesent. medical services and

.a

2. Responsibility for labour relations rests with Air. Campbell,
the British Assistant General Manager. he has two capable
assistants: Ur. nowlcs deals with senior staff (mainly British
and American) and ur. Considine with the two other categories -
the ao-eallsd "Clerical Foreman and 'chhnioe '° start and the
"z-‘ayroll naploysea".

3. The total labour force of all categories mannered 1900 in
154:7. 12,0oo in 191.9 and 7.50.) in January 1952. an indication
of the rapid as which have taken place. or the present
total 715 are or Otatt over 1,000 ara"Olcricnl Forsaken and
Technical" (C.P.T.J-and 5, 00 are payroll eaployees, i.e.
skilled or unskilled labour. 870 of the 0.9.1“. star: an:
Indiana and Pakistanis. ho are Kuwaitis and the root .‘raba

from neighbouring territories. l,suo oi‘ the "payroll nploycca"
are skilled or anal-skilled Indiana or Pakistanis. whilst the
rest are xuaitia and other Arabs. predominantly unskilled.

b. There are in addition sane 1,000 men «played by
contractors working tor the Company. This total compares with
6,000 in l9b9. The overall reduction in labour enployed
directly or indirectly by the Company is due to the completion
or the main constructional work on the refinery, tho Jetty,
the power station and the senior staff accaanodztion.

5. i'ba great wealth brought to the territory by the Company
has resulted is “proved standards for the bulk or the

tion. the Cauchy pays wages in line with prevailing
rs es in Iuwait town, but has mently undertaken a survey
of living costs and increased its minimun wage and overhauled
its wage scales as i‘rm let beptabar 1951. "Payroll uploywc'
have been graded into seven categories as a result of a revised
ayat- oi' ob evaluation, and to avoid complaints or
discrimina ion the grades and their corresponding wrgc Occlus-
bnww been applied equally to Indiana, Pakistanis and 'rebo.
with the difference that Indiana and Pakistanis are paid an
allowance to compensate for their exile and to bring their pa;-
into line with ous-Mt market rates for such labour in India
and Pakistan. Although the policy or the Conpaoy is to replace
Indians and Pakistanis by iiuwaiti skilled labour eventually
(and their “bare have been sharply reduced in the past 3 yer“,
they are at present appreciated as irreplaceable and are given
contracts similar in tons to those of the senior staff. Bone
difficulties have been experienced with these men in the past,
but the shoaphere is now much inprovad owing to the
establishment oi‘ "Durbhars" on channels for couplaints and
the appointment of two lndian liaison officers.

6. learly all the Kuaiti employees are illiterate, and most
be to tho Milled grades, and an cx-.".ini...try of Lnuour
otric al. ur. Bannister, is in charge or a training school at

flagwa

211

flag-a designed eventually to accomodate 300 Irabs under 8
British instructors. The present trainees are few in number,
and the inpcrtence of training still seals to be insufficiently
realised on the spst, but it is said that the Kuwaitis prove

to b. quiet ”31.. .

7. There are at present no welfare oomittaaa for Arab
workers to wntilate oneplaints as the Gaspany consider these
pruature. Arab workers are said to have easy access to
Comm officials and occasionally their cause is taken up
by the local qusiti authorities. The earlier unsatisfactory
practice of reeruiting and paying local labour through
prefessiuel “tractors has now aided.

8. them has abandoned a rudimentary scheme of
teaching elutery ugliah to Arab workers. begun in 191.9.

9. In this country of sandstone. aeennsodation has been a
major nobles to which the Compaq appear to have devoted
inadequate attntion. The new town or senior staff started
in 19.9 at Ahaadi has made progress but is still far frat
emulate. Senior staff eoemodation is now being designed
on more nodest lines than at first in order to accelerate
caplet am s are now to be no more than adequate.
arrang-u s for ndianand Pakistanis are still temporary and
haphssard. and although the use frsb "village" near Mandi 10
under construction this new aocmodation is not yet generally
in use and the Arab workers use makeshift huts and tents. The
new Arab accusaodstion under construction is unattractive, and
while it mares favourably with the living conditions to
which Kuwaitis are accustomed the Caspany is aware that it is
too prinitive and will sooner or later be a suchct of much
criticin. A means has been completed at the site. The
Canpany provides no catcen facilities for the Arab aorkers,
but is hoping to start its first canteen shortly in the
training school at Ilsgwa.

10. uedionl facilities have been expanded in the p at 3 ya: :1,
but the new hospital planned. for .‘thnndi a; a nut yet
meterinllsed. Instead the coupe-21y have concentrated upon
inprov-nts ad ext-Isions to their or insl hospital at
lagws, which is said to nest present . The Company is
paying particular attention to tuberculosis treebsent for
Arab workers.

11. Anenities have been provided to a limited extent for the
senior staff, and include the new nubars club ct Mandi. A
good deal of racial preJudice exists in overcoming which the
top cant have not shown sufficient simple. honorary
lube p of the hubsre Club has for eaanple been restricted
to enoltaia Wait“. a policy which brought forth a protest
fruu the Sheikh‘s State Secretary last year. The Political
Resin-t has also reported instances where the wishes of the
shsihh have baa needlessly disregarded: gublina has been
allowed at the flubara Club without his permission. aid the
Company has been reluctant to abolish the "ueniw" of bores
racing and totes at Hsgwa, although the Shaikh was known to

disapprove.

12. 'l'hese inst-factions are well known to the Company's
Personnel manager in London. who is doing what he can to our-
cone tn... A ual extension of the system of paint and
gradiu ease to merit and not to race is planned. and tho

macaw

212

TABLE "A": KUWAIT OIL COMPANY LIMITED SENIOR STAFF STRENGTH
BY NATIONALITIES AS AT 30th APRIL, 1952

 

 

 

Nationality Number
British 728
Australian 6
Canadian 2
Irish 5
New Zealander 2
Italian 2
South African 1
American 49
French 3
Swiss 1
TOTAL: ;ié§

 

TABLE "B": KUWAIT OIL COMPANY,

213

LTD. CF&T STAFF STRENGTH BY

NATIONALITIES AS AT 30th APRIL, 1952

 

 

 

Nationality Number
Adenese l
Bahrainian 3
British 3
Egyptian 1
Indians 647a
Iraqi 2
Irani 1
Jordanian 67
Kuwaitis 43b
Lebanese 4
Mauratian 2
Pakistanis 115
Palestinians 11
Portuguese 96
Sudanese 1
Syrian 4
Turk 1
White Russian 1
TOTAL: 1222.

 

aIncludes one French-Indian plus six Indians on temporary duty

from AIOC Abadan.

bIncludes one British Kenyan.

214

TABLE "C": KUWAIT OIL COMPANY, LTD. LABOUR DIVISION:
K.O.C. INDIAN AND PAKISTANI AND KUWAITI AND OTHER
ARABS LABOUR AS ON 30th APRIL, 1952

 

 

Skilled Unskilled

 

 

Nationality Labour Labour Domestics
Indians 296 152 239
Portuguese (Ind.) 42 7 236
Pakistanis 739 37 91
Kuwaitis 606 2131 87
Adanis 10 16 6
Armenians 1 - -
Bahrainis 2 1 -
Hadhramis 1 6 1
Iranis 97 189 110
Iraqis 124 17 9
Jordanians 65 16 3
Mahris - 3 1
Palestinians 3 2 -
Russians - 1 -
Saudis 7 5 —
Sumalis 4 - -
Syrians l - -
Umanis 22 373 151
Zanzibaris - 2 1
TOTALS 2020 2958 935

 

NOTE: (1) 129 Indian seamen on articles shown in unskilled.

(2) These figures also include 654 employees whose wages are
recoverable.

B I BLI OGRAPHY

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