Kuwait Airways staff go on strike for better pay

KUWAIT (Reuters) - About 4,000 workers at state-owned carrier Kuwait Airways KA.UL have gone on strike demanding higher wages, a source familiar with the matter said on Monday, in the latest labour dispute to hit the country.

The airline, which is seeking investors to buy a $280 million stake to privatise the carrier, has so far cancelled several flights to Gulf cities.

"So far three flights to Doha, Dubai and Jeddah did not take off, and 21 scheduled flights today are expected to be affected by the strike," said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity. There was no official comment from the company.

Kuwait has seen a wave of strikes by government employees in the last several weeks, since the cabinet approved higher wages for oil sector workers.

Some 3,000 customs employees went on a two-day strike earlier in October, briefly halting oil shipments from ports in the OPEC producer.

In late September, Kuwaiti Central Bank employees held a demonstration while employees of the Kuwait Stock Exchange .KWSE scrapped a planned October strike after a deal was struck with authorities.

(Reporting by Mahmoud Harbi and Eman Goma; Writing by Amran Abocar; Editing by Andrew Torchia)