By: Terresa Monroe-Hamilton

Kuwaiti Customs Union strike takes hold. From Arab Times:

DUBAI/KUWAIT, Oct 10, (Agencies): All vessel traffic in and out of Kuwaiti ports is halted and oil tanker traffic has stopped on Monday as Kuwait customs union went on a strike, two shipping sources based in Kuwait said.

“All vessel movements in and out of Kuwaiti ports are suspended,” a shipping source said, adding that at least five oil tankers were waiting to depart from Mina Al-Ahmadi port, which handles the bulk of Kuwait’s oil exports.
Kuwait is among the world’s top crude oil exporters with biggest customers mostly from Asia. It has a 930,000 barrels per day (bpd) of refining capacity.

“No vessel, oil tanker or bulk carrier, can depart without customers clearance. They can’t enter Kuwait either,” a second shipping source said.

The country has two commercial ports, Shuwaikh and Shuaiba, and two other oil terminals, apart from the largest Mina Al-Ahmadi, which is also home to its biggest refinery.

Kuwait Petroleum Company (KPC) is trying to secure staff not taking part in the strike, in order to complete clearance documents for the shipments, an oil official said.

The customs union pledged to continue the strike as long as its demands are met.

“Any commercial shipment, coming via air, land or sea has been suspended… the strike will continue until our demands are met,” Ahmed al-Enezi, the head of Kuwait’s customs union told Reuters.

Customs employees are demanding a pay raise and improved work conditions, Ajmi said, adding that workers have already rejected an offer by the customs chief, Ibrahim al-Ghanem, to meet their demands if they called off the strike.

Kuwait has been hit by a spate of industrial action in the public sector, which employs close to 80 percent of the 360,000-strong workforce of Kuwaiti nationals.

The country has about 1.7 million foreign workers, mostly employed by the private sector.

The industrial actions escalated last month after the government increased the salaries of oil workers at a cost of more than $500 million a year, bowing to strike threats in the key revenue earning sector.

Finance Minister Mustafa al-Shamali has said that the public sector wage bill has more than doubled over the past decade.

Government spending has tripled since 2005 to a record $71 billion, with public sector salaries estimated to account for at least a third of total expenditures.

The Gulf state, which counts 1.2 million Kuwaiti nationals, offers a cradle-to-grave welfare system with public services and fuel offered either free or at heavily subsidised prices, and no taxes.

From France 24:

Kuwaiti customs officers pressed a strike into a second day on Tuesday, severely disrupting air, sea and land trade and threatening to halt oil exports, a trade union official said.

“The strike is still on and we will continue until our demands are fully met,” Fahhad al-Ajmi, board member of the customs trade union, told AFP.

More than 3,000 customs employees went on strike Monday demanding a pay raise and improved working conditions.

  • No troop movement out of Iraq.
  • No Iraq withdrawal.
  • No oil exports.
  • No supplies for troops including fuel, food and mail going into Kuwait or Iraq.

There is no end in sight. Why is this not in the American news? Why do I have to go to Kuwait or France to find this out? It affects Americans and our troops. There is no real media coverage any more.