KUWAIT CITY: Kuwait was to deploy national guard units Wednesday to run and protect some oil facilities after workers announced a major strike for this weekend, a newspaper said.

The units would start working at facilities in the Gulf state’s southern region, Al-Rai said, citing sources.

Kuwait’s oil workers’ union decided to begin an open-ended strike from Sunday after a dispute with the government over proposed pay cuts.

Hit by the sharp drop in crude prices, Kuwait is introducing a new payroll scheme for all public employees and wants to include the country’s 20,000 oil workers, which would mean an automatic cut in wages and incentives.

The union decision for the strike at all production units and other facilities was taken on Monday, a day after talks with acting Oil Minister Anas Al-Saleh broke down. Saleh told parliament Wednesday that negotiations with unions were still ongoing.

National oil conglomerate Kuwait Petroleum Corp. said it had accepted a request by the Ministry of Social Affairs and labor for negotiations with the workers.

KPC spokesman Sheikh Talal Khaled Al-Sabah said the ministry had scheduled negotiations with the oil workers for Thursday, and that the KPC would attend. He urged oil employees to reject the strike.

Independent MP Mohammad Tana defended the employees’ demands and rejected any plan to cut their pay, saying that “benefits and incentives of the oil workers should not be touched.”