Bapco union leaders said yesterday they would boycott crunch talks with Oil and Gas Affairs Minister Dr Abdulhussain Mirza and company bosses, unless an agenda was agreed up front.

Bosses have called a meeting tomorrow, following a protest by hundreds of staff and their families outside the refinery on Saturday.

But union leaders said that they would not be attending any talks without a clear agenda.

Company chief executive Faisal Al Mahroos told the GDN yesterday that the union and management would meet Dr Mirza, who is also National Oil and Gas Authority (Noga) chairman) in Awali, to 'thrash out all the issues'.

'A clear agenda has been set for the meeting and we hope concerned parties will agree to sort out pressing issues,' he said. The stand-off is despite a decision by the company to pay its 3,200 employees a month's salary as a bonus for last year, at a cost of $10 million (BD3.7 million).

It is expected to be paid into employees' bank accounts today.

But union leaders dismissed the payout as a 'management ploy' to weaken members' resolve over 52 demands put by the union.

'We want at least two months' salary as bonus, but that is not a major demand anyway,' said Bapco Trade Union deputy chairman Mohammed Dulabi.

'More pressing issues are that we fear 1,000 employees may end up losing their jobs in the next few months.

'The union board is under immense pressure from employees for strike action, but we have to resort to a general body meeting for that.

'Of course we cannot rule that out, but we are all for a negotiated settlement with management.'

He said the bonus would be paid directly into employees' bank accounts - but it was not enough.

'We have demanded another month's salary should also go into the accounts along with it,' said Dulabi.

He also said the union had turned down a request from the management to 'sit and talk' because the union wants a fixed agenda. The management had invited employee representatives for 'unconditional' talks, said Dulabi.

'We know where the talks would be heading in the absence of an agenda,' he said.

'We want to talk specifically about certain topics and not deviate from them.'

Dulabi said the union wants to know the status of the 350 employees who had been transferred to the newly-formed Tatweer Petroleum, which last month took over all upstream oil activity in the kingdom.

It also wants to know what will happen to other employees once US consulting firm McKinsey and Company submits its restructuring plans for Bapco.

'There is also the issue of 190 employees who man our petrol stations, because there is talk of these stations being privatised,' said Mr Dulabi.

'The Bapco wharf, which employs 200 people, is also being transferred to private hands.' Dulabi said all this put together had instilled a sense of fear among employees.

'If a third of us lose our jobs, or are made to compulsorily retire, citing a reorganisation in the company, we will not accept it,' he said.

'We have to know from the management what their intensions are in black and white.'

Staff and families demonstrated for more than an hour at the refinery's north gate, near Ma'ameer, holding banners and placards calling for the government to intervene.

The protest was spearheaded by the union, which has issued a list of 52 demands, including pay rises for staff and automatic retirement for those aged 60.-TradeArabia News Service