KUWAIT: A number
of labor unions yesterday strongly rejected the early retirement bill the
parliament recently voted on and initially passed pending a second discussion.
Oil and Petrochemical Industries Workers Federation (OPIWF), Kuwait Trade Union
Federation (KTUF), as well as the employees syndicates at Kuwait Oil Company
(KOC), EQUATE, Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) and Kuwait Oil Tankers
Company (KOTC) yesterday held a press conference to discuss the bill they
described as "undermining citizens' rights." Speaking at the
conference, OPIWF Chairman Mohammed Al-Hajeri stressed that the bill undermines
the rights of citizens and strongly condemned how quickly decisions related to
the fate of tens of thousands of Kuwaitis are made.

Hajeri also
expressed surprise on excluding a bill proposed and agreed upon last year to be
substituted with one far "below the aspirations" of citizens working
in both the public and the private sectors, who ought to be consulted in such
matters. "MPs are the voice of the people who elected them to protect
their rights," he said, noting that the current bill will only benefit
6,000-6,500 employees.

Chairman of
EQUATE employees syndicate Mohammed Hassan Al-Ajmi urged both the government
and the parliament to reconsider the bill to help citizens overcome the impact
of soaring prices and the high cost of living. Ajmi also called for reducing
the age of retirement to 50, especially in tough jobs such as oil sector ones.
Chairman of KNPC employees syndicate Obaid Farhoud labeled the new bill as
'unfair' and called for adopting the one agreed upon last year. KTUF Deputy
Chairman Ahmed Al-Daihani totally rejected the new bill and called for making pensions
equal to retirees' total salaries.

Meds prices

Health Minister
Sheikh Dr Basel Al-Sabah yesterday issued a new ministerial resolution on
setting a fixed list of prices for 41 medications, pharmaceutical products and
food supplements with the aim of keeping their prices at minimal rates. The new
resolutions were made upon recommendations by the medicine pricing committee
headed by Ministry of Health's assistant undersecretary for medicine and food
control Dr Abdullah Monjed Al-Bader, which had studied various items and
original price documents endorsed by Kuwait's embassies in the countries of
origin with the ultimate goal of fulfilling GCC leaders' desire to keep the
prices of medicine in GCC states the lowest.

Fire
extinguishers

Outgoing Minister
of State for Municipal Affairs Hossam Al-Roumi rejected a proposal by the
Municipal Council to mandate the presence of fire extinguishers in private
residences. In a letter he sent to the council concerning the minutes of a
meeting held on Nov 26, Roumi approved all resolutions except a proposal made
by member Meshaal Al-Hamdhan on safety precautions at private residences that
call for installing smoke and gas detectors and having fire extinguishers in
all houses.

Rain compensation

Finance Ministry
Undersecretary Saleh Al-Sarawi said 80 victims of the recent heavy rains have
received compensation for the damage they suffered from. Sarawi added that
compensations included damage to houses, furniture and vehicles, adding that
the applications are categorized because the value varies from one application
to another. He said around 2,700 applications are being currently studied and
classified and that applicants will be compensated soon.

Work hours
increased

The Ministry of
Electricity and Water increased working hours based on Civil Service Commission
decisions with regards to setting work hours - from 7:30 am until 2:30 pm. The
decision will go into effect from Jan 2 for all ministry employees, Al-Anbaa
reported yesterday. Informed sources said this decision goes along with the
commission's decisions to extend working hours, leaving the setting of time to
authorities to suit each department. They said all logistics will be adjusted
to agree with the decision.

By Meshaal
Al-Enezi and A Saleh