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Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Kuwait (RATIFICATION: 1961)

The Committee notes the Government’s reply dated 3 August 2010 to the comments made by the ITUC regarding, inter alia, the fact that the law provides for a single trade union system, with only one national federation, the Kuwait Trade Union Federation (KTUF), allowed. The Committee notes that the Government indicates in its report that the allegations according to which the KTUF only includes public sector workers and trade union organizations are inexistent in the private sector, are not correct. The Government further indicates that since 1967, the KTUF has been based on two main organizational pillars: the Trade Union Federation of the Public Sector and the Trade Union Confederation of Oil and Petrochemical Industries, and that unionization in the private sector has existed since the trade union movement has begun, in the form of the Workers Trade Union of Kuwait Airways and its subsidiaries and the Trade Union of Bank Employees and Users. The Government’s report adds that since both unions have not formed a sectoral federation, they remain outside the KTUF while endeavouring to maintain good cooperative relations and joint work with the Federation. The Committee takes note of the hope expressed by the Government, in its report, that unions in the private sector will be able to establish a sectoral federation in the very near future in order to form the third pillar of the organizational structure of the KTUF. The Committee requests the Government to provide information in its next report on any developments in this respect.