Kuwait: Contracts of 135 expats terminated from housing agency
Sackings mark the first in a 3-phase ‘Kuwaitisation’ scheme
Cairo: A Kuwaiti state housing agency has bid farewell to 135 expatriates, the first group of foreign employees set to have their contracts terminated under a plan to replace foreign labour with citizens, Kuwaiti newspaper Al Jarida reported today.
The departing expatriates make up around 33 per cent of the total 398 foreign employees at Kuwait’s Public Authority for Housing Welfare.
Their contracts ended Tuesday after a two-month notice upon directives from Minister of State for Housing Affairs and Minister of Public Works, Rana Al Faris under a three-phase replacement plan that exempts foreign employees whose mothers are Kuwaitis and stateless staff as well as service workers such as drivers, according to the report.
The sacked employees include senior engineers and legal advisors.
A notice for the second phase of terminations will begin in early November, while the third and last phase will be next April, the paper said, quoting sources in the agency.
There have been increasing calls in Kuwait over recent months to redress the population imbalance in the country, prompting several government bodies to disclose plans to minimise numbers of their expatriate employees.
Several Kuwaiti public figures have demanded curtailing numbers of migrant workers, mainly the unskilled labour, in the country, accusing them of straining the country’s health facilities and increasing the COVID-19 threat.
Foreigners account for nearly 3.4 million of Kuwait’s 4.8 million population.