TMCnet News
Ooredoo under fire for firing Kuwaiti workers - MPs demand action - Company denies political motives [Kuwait Times](Kuwait Times Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) KUWAIT: A number of MPs yesterday raised the bar in their assault against Ooredoo telecom company for firing 60 Kuwaitis in a restructuring plan that also laid off 105 expatriates. MPs demanded strong action against the company, with one lawmaker calling for cancelling its licenses and contracts, another demanding changes to national laws on employment while a third threatening that the measure will not pass off without penalty. The government said it was aware of the issue and called on companies to abide by the law while thanking other companies for offering to employ the sacked Kuwaitis. Ooredoo Telecom (previously Wataniya), which is 93-percent owned by Qatar's Ooredoo (previously Q-tel), held a press conference at its headquarters yesterday to explain the redundancies. Saleh Al-Houti, Head of the Human Resources Sector at Ooredoo Kuwait, explained that the job cuts were part of the restructuring plan of the company. "This decision was taken by the board of directors as part of the company's restructuring plan to increase efficiency, serve customers more effectively and simplify the organization," he said during the press conference. Houti said the sacked employees will receive a three-month salary in accordance with the law, health and life insurance, free calls and will be provided additional benefits. He denied any political reason for the firings. "The restructuring plan was not the result of any political reason and the laid off employees won't be replaced with others. But there are new departments that need new qualifications that were not available, and we will search in the local market to hire them. We also won't be cutting jobs of current expat employees to replace them with Kuwaitis," he pointed out. Several senior staff have left the telecom provider in recent months, including the previous CEO. Houti said that Ooredoo had not lost any noticeable number of subscribers as a consequence of the layoffs. "Portability from one operator to another is still going on, and we haven't noticed any dramatic change. Clients are shifting to other operators while clients from other operators are subscribing with our company. Regarding news spread on social media of some of our clients sending us letters to end using our services, we respect their decision, but we haven't received any official requests yet," he added. Ooredoo Chairman Sheikh Mohammad bin Abdullah Al-Thani said in a statement that as a result of the dismissals, the percentage of Kuwaitis in the company has increased to 46 percent among 662 employees. The percentage will be raised to 60 percent by February next year. State Minister for Cabinet Affairs Sheikh Mohammad Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah said in a statement that the government is aware of the sudden sacking of a number of Kuwaiti employees by "a telecom company". He said the government will implement the law that requires private sector companies to employ a certain percentage of Kuwaitis, particularly in light of constitutional articles that consider employment of citizens a must. Sheikh Mohammad thanked national firms like Zain, National Bank of Kuwait and others for offering to employ the sacked Kuwaitis. Meanwhile, Shiite MP Abdulhameed Dashti launched a campaign against Ooredoo, saying that Kuwaitis do not want to see the company's officials in Kuwait. MP Faisal Al-Kandari called for implementing the law against companies that dismiss Kuwaiti employees, including refusing to renew their contracts. Kandari said the Kuwaiti government has been trying to convince citizens to seek jobs in the private sector after the limitations in the public sector and the company's decision has badly hurt such measures. MP Askar Al-Enezi said the National Assembly must not let such a decision pass without a penalty. MP Humoud Al-Hamdan said amendments must be introduced to existing laws to prevent the sacking of Kuwaitis by private companies. MP Saud Al-Huraiji said MPs will seek the use of constitutional, monitoring and legislative tools to prevent the sacking of Kuwaiti employees. He said that the government is required to pay the salaries of all dismissed Kuwaitis until they find suitable jobs. The Youth Association of Kuwait also issued a statement on the matter, calling on the government and parliament to "work together to enact laws that protect employment in the private sector, especially that fresh graduates are hesitant to work in this sector out of fear of termination and low job security". By B Izzak and Nawara Fattahova, Staff Writer All rights reserved. (c) 2014 Kuwait Times Newspaper Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info). |