KUWAIT: MPs
yesterday called on the government to quickly complete the long-awaited unified
pay scale for government employees to achieve justice and equality among all
employees. The new pay scale was submitted by the government to the National
Assembly a few years ago, but was withdrawn after criticism that it does not
achieve equality among employees in various government departments and takes
away some benefits from some.

MP Majed
Al-Mutairi said the strategic payroll alternative, as the new pay scale is
referred to, should be accepted and approved quickly if it is based on a
scientific and comprehensive study. But the lawmaker said that any such study
must be first reviewed by specialists, and warned against taking away any
benefits currently enjoyed by employees. The lawmaker said the new pay scale
must not be applied to vital sectors like the oil sector and the national
guards, adding that attempts to reduce benefits to such sectors will not be
accepted.

He said the new
pay scale must be transparent, achieve justice and equality, and above all,
provide for raising salaries to help citizens cope with the high cost of
living. The new pay scale should be fair with employees who do not get the same
wages and benefits like their counterparts in other ministries. Mutairi also
insisted that the wages of Kuwaiti employees must not be touched.

MP Saleh Ashour
blamed the government for delaying the new pay scale, recalling that it was the
government which withdrew the draft it had submitted to the Assembly, adding
the government now puts the blame on the Assembly. He said the new pay scale,
if implemented correctly, will have important positive results among government
employees, as under the scheme, the employee will get the same salary and
benefits regardless of the place of appointment in any government department.

MP Khalil
Al-Saleh said the proposed pay scale will be difficult to implement under the
current employment policy and stressed he will reject any cuts to the wages and
benefits of Kuwaitis. He said the existing gap between government employees
despite having similar qualifications is the cause of social and financial
disparity among employees. The lawmaker however ruled out the possibility of
approving the pay scale in the coming term, because it may not be very popular,
especially with elections around the corner.

Meanwhile,
informed sources said State Minister for Economic Affairs Mariam Al-Aqeel said
she will present a study to the Cabinet calling for passing a technical
recommendation related to implementing a quota and decide the percentages of
expat labor allowed in the country. She said the quota will start with new work
permits until it develops in the future to set a percentage that no community
will exceed, which is 25-30 percent of the number of Kuwaitis.

Sources said
Aqeel is serious about fulfilling her promises to the National Assembly to
implement steps to deal with the excessive increase in expats in Kuwait, which
exceeds the market's needs, besides the overwhelming number of marginal
laborers that forms a security risk and burden on services.

The sources said
Aqeel is careful about mega projects in Kuwait, particularly the Silk City and
the northern economic zone, which require a large number of expat labor, and if
things are left as they are, thousands of marginal workers will enter the
country, making the problem worse and its solution more difficult. She said the
manpower authority is currently issuing work permits, which is not its job -
rather it should prepare a strategy to set how work permits are issued, to whom
and for how long.

In a related
development, a recent report by the health ministry revealed that 2,214,865
expat workers were examined in the five years from 2012 to 2016. The report
said 12,422 expats were not granted residency permits and deported due to
infectious diseases in this period, including 373 expats infected with malaria,
497 with filaria and 4,081 with tuberculosis. The report said among those
deported were 1,158 infected with AIDS, 4,177 with hepatitis B and 2,203 with
hepatitis C.

By B Izzak and A
Saleh