The Kuwait Trade Union Federation ( ar, الاتحاد العام لعمال الكويت, KTUF) is the sole

national trade union center A national trade union center (or national center or central) is a federation or confederation of trade unions in a country. Nearly every country in the world has a national trade union center, and many have more than one. In some regions, such a ...

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

. It was founded in 1968. The Kuwait Trade Union Federation is affiliated with the

International Trade Union Confederation The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC); german: Internationaler Gewerkschaftsbund (IGB), link=no; es, Confederación Sindical Internacional (CSI), link=no. is the world's largest trade union federation. History The federation w ...

(ITUC) affiliate,. There are 38 trade unions in Kuwait, of which 15 are formally members of the KTUF.

Legal context

The freedoms of association and collective bargaining in Kuwait are recognized by law; however, they are strictly regulated. For instance, Article 104 of the Labour Act "prohibits unions from interfering in political, religious, and sectarian issues". Under Kuwaiti law, the Kuwait Trade Union Federation is the only federation of trade unions permitted to exist on a national level, although the government permits limited trade union pluralism at the local level. However, despite these restrictions, some unions outside of the KTUF exist, which include the Kuwait Bank Workers’ Union and the Kuwait Airways Workers’ Union.

References

Trade unions in Kuwait World Federation of Trade Unions International Confederation of Arab Trade Unions Economy of the Arab League Trade unions established in 1968 1968 establishments in Kuwait {{Asia-trade-union-stub