On March 20, 2019, an international conference dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the International labour organization began its work in the house of trade unions in Almaty.
At the opening of the conference “the Role of unions in social and labour relationships: the Dialogue of East and West” was made by the Deputy Chairman of the Federation of trade unions of Kazakhstan Satybaldy of Dauletaly.
In his speech, he stressed the duty of trade unions to actively promote the rights and legitimate interests of workers, to improve their well-being and protect them from changes in the world and society.
He recalled that for 12 years at the site of the Astana economic forum with the participation of global leaders in the field of economy, experts and representatives of the business community, issues related to the introduction of an active employment policy, the creation of new jobs and decent wages are discussed.
“Today the Federation of trade unions unites about 2 million members. It includes 22 trade unions and 16 territorial unions on a voluntary basis. Today, the system of social partnership is built at all levels: Republic – industry – region – organization. Arrangement held together by the General, branch and regional agreements and more than 62 thousands of collective agreements”, – said S. Dauletaly.
According to him, about 18 thousand collective agreements have been concluded in organizations and enterprises of various sectors of the economy, where about 18 thousand trade Union organizations have been established and operate, the level of coverage of collective agreements is 96.4%.
“In 2018, compared to 2017, labor conflicts decreased by 2.5 times, and in General, over the past 5 years, their number has decreased by 14 times,” – said Satybaldy Dauletalin.
In conclusion, the Deputy Chairman of the FPRK noted the outstanding contribution of the Leader of the nation Nursultan Nazarbayev to the formation of Independent Kazakhstan and the strengthening of labor rights:
“I’m sure the name is N. Nazarbayev will be made in gold letters in the annals of Independent Kazakhstan. People of labor in Kazakhstan have always felt his care and respect. He has always supported trade unions, clearly aware of the role and place of trade unions in civil society.”
On behalf of 2 million members FPRK S. Dauletaly thanked the Leader of the nation: “Thank you for all our Elbasy. For us, you have always been and will be the Leader of the nation.”
Zhaksybek Kulekeyev, Advisor to the Director General of the research Institute of mining and drilling “KazMunaiGas” was devoted to increasing the income of the working population in the structure of Kazakhstan’s GDP in the light of the instructions of Nursultan Nazarbayev at the Congress of the party “Nur Otan” to improve the welfare of Kazakhstan.
On behalf of the Confederation of trade unions of Mongolia, addressed the conference, the Secretary-General of this organization, Gardencourt Adya. He briefly spoke about the development of the trade Union movement in Mongolia, which started in 1917.
At the moment, according to Hortensia Adya, Mongolian trade Union struggle for wage increase. This process would have been frozen, like many other social expenditures, in 2014, when the Mongolian authorities adopted the International monetary Fund program due to the economic crisis.
“And the Mongolian trade unions have been fighting and struggling to change the IMF program in recent years, and have achieved some results. The IMF and the government have adopted the requirements of trade unions to increase the wages of workers in the budget sectors since 2018. Last year, the wages of budget workers increased from 8 to 43% on average, and since the beginning of this year by 10%. And also increased the pension”, – said the head of the Confederation of trade unions of Mongolia.
The conference was also attended by Deputy Akim of Almaty Yerlan Aukenov and representative of the Turkish Republic Timurtas Osman
In his report, the Deputy Mayor Of Almaty E. Aukenov stressed the high importance of trade Union organizations in the working life of the city. “The international labour organization was established at a difficult time and has proved its necessity over the years. After a hundred years, the protection of workers ‘ rights and the prevention of social explosions remain unshakable today. From myself I can say that on the example of the city of Almaty it is so. Many social problems we are already solving through the interaction of the state and trade unions. We are taking concrete steps to address these issues. In the last six months alone, we have increased the number of collective agreements signed by 11.4 thousand (14 thousand).
As a result, we have risen from 17th to 13th place in the ranking (coverage growth from 2.7% to 20.7%). By the end of the year, it is planned to increase coverage to 35 thousand and cover more than 50% of enterprises. Thanks to the coordinated robot between the Union city and the social partners today, the city creates favorable conditions social employment”,- said E. Aukenov.
Director of the Department of international relations of the Confederation of trade unions of civil servants of the Republic of Turkey Timurtas Osman in his speech thanked the organizers of the international conference and congratulated the audience on Nauryz holiday . “Kazakhstan was one of the first to organize an event dedicated to the 100 ILO and for this special thanks to the FPRK and the Republic of Kazakhstan, I want to invite you to our event which will be held in April, I will be glad to see you again,” Timurtas Osman said. At the end of his speech, he called on trade Union organizations to strengthen cooperation in the implementation of common trade Union tasks.
Also in the program of the International conference “the role of trade unions in social and labor relations: Dialogue between East and West” will be held a round table on “trade Unions: theory, practice and new challenges of the time” and a two-day seminar “Industrial relations, labor and social security”, organized jointly with the Japanese international labor Fund JILAF.