The Chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions took part in an expanded meeting of the Coordinating Council of representatives of territorial structures of branch trade unions of the Kostanay region dedicated to the results of the work of trade union organizations in the region for the first half of 2021.
The meeting was also attended by Deputy Chairmen of the FTURK Gulnara Zhumageldieva, Nurlan Uteshev, Chairman of the Trade Union Center of Kostanay region Irina Aronova as well as chairmen of trade unions branches, local trade unions and primary trade union organizations.
In the main report about the results of the work of the Trade Union Center of Kostanay region Irina Aronova noted that within the framework of the Strategy of the FTURK for 2020-2025 the territorial association is aimed at ensuring decent work and social justice.
“There are 14 territorial structures of branch trade unions in Kostanay region, there are 1414 primary trade union organizations with a total number of more than 100 thousand people. So in the first half of this year, 6 primary trade union organizations were created. The coverage of trade union membership of employees at enterprises and organizations in the region is 30.2 %, ” Irina Aronova said.
According to her opinion, important areas of social partnership are the solution of issues of wage arrears, labor safety and health, labor conflicts, the release of employees and the general situation of labor relations in the region as a whole.
On March 25, 2021, a regional agreement was signed between the Akimat of Kostanay region, the regional association of employees and the association of employers for 2021-2023.
Special attention is paid by the trade unions of the region to work to reduce the risks of social tension.
“There are no labor conflicts registered in our region today, however, our goal is to identify at an early stage the causes that contribute to the emergence of the conflict and their timely prevention. One of the examples is the joint resolution of the issue with the branch of the Branch Trade Union of Agricultural Workers in the Kostanay region on the payment of salaries to members of the trade union of “SKOS Zarechnoye” LLP in the amount of more than 30 million tenge. To date, the issue has been resolved, the salary has been paid, ” Irina Aronova said.
Among the key areas of work, she also highlighted the work with collective agreements.
In the region, the coverage of collective agreements is 61.1% – 8781 collective agreements out of 14374 operating enterprises.
Meanwhile, Irina Aronova talked about a decrease in the level of industrial injuries in the region.
“For 6 months of this year, in comparison with last year, at the enterprises of the region, the number of accidents at work decreased from 63 to 48 cases, or by 23.8%. There are 807 production councils in the trade union organizations of the region, ” the chairman of the Trade Union Center said.
On the initiative of trade unions, on May 19, the social partners approved the Program “The Safe Work” for 2021-2023.
Besides, Irina Aronova spoke about the activation of the work of the Legal Clinic, the Reconciliation Center and public reception rooms.
“During 6 months of this year we received about 220 appeals including on issues of non-payment of wages, illegal dismissal and other issues of a labor nature,” she said.
Tatyana Bulgatsevich, the chairman of the branch of the NGO “Branch Professional Union of Healthcare System Employees “SENIM”, outlined a number of problematic social and labor issues of medical workers including remuneration.
The main concern according to her opinion is caused by low wages for employees of medical organizations who do not have a medical education. Along with this issue, the need to change the system of calculating wages to employees on the basis of the established Basic official salary of 17,697 tenge which has not changed since 2015, she noted.
Tatyana Bulgatsevich also touched upon the issues of occupational safety of medical workers.
“Healthcare workers diagnosed with COVID-19, both sick and dead, are not covered by insurance against industrial accidents and occupational diseases because COVID-19 is not included in the list of occupational diseases and does not relate to accidents. It is necessary to amend the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On compulsory insurance of an employee against accidents in the performance of his labor (official) duties” by adding a biological factor-the disease COVID-19″, the speaker highlighted.
The chairman of the branch of the Branch Trade Union of Agricultural Workers in the Kostanay region, Zauresh Zhumabekova, also noted the problem of low wages in the industry.
“Currently, 48 conciliation commissions have been established at enterprises with the participation of trade union organizations of our branch where 12 individual labor disputes have been considered. As part of the work of these commissions, legal assistance was provided to more than 24 employees,” Zauresh Zhumabekova said.
The chairman of the trade union committee of the Management of mining machinery and equipment (URTO) repairing organization of the trade union of employees of SSGPO and related enterprises, Alexander Shakhvorost, depicted in detail about the measures of social support for employees.
According to his data, the trade union organization has 17,195 trade union members in its ranks. The trade union asset of JSC “SSGPO” has more than 200 people mainly the chairmen of district trade union organizations.
“Since January 1, 2021, a new Collective Agreement has entered into force. In the new version of the document, the list of payments and benefits provided by the employer has been significantly expanded. Separate sections are devoted to the improvement of employees, guarantees and compensations related to training, as well as for participation in sports and cultural events,” Alexander Shakhvorost added.
After having heard all ideas of the members of the Co-council, the Chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan Satybaldy Dauletalin highly appreciated the work of trade unions of the Kostanay region highlighting the potential of the professional leaders of the region.
“The trade unions of the Kostanay region are a large combat-ready group of authoritative leaders who know how to act especially in a crisis,” the Chairman of the FTURK pointed out.
Satybaldy Dauletalin focused the participants’ attention on the priority areas of activity of the Federation of Trade Unions and its member organizations.
First of all, he noted the importance of maintaining social stability in society.
“Our task is to identify the processes taking place in labor collectives in a timely manner, to clearly establish a social dialogue and use all the tools to protect trade union members,” the Head of the FTURK told.
Speaking about the situation with labor conflicts, he recalled that the main reason is the disagreement of employees with the level of remuneration.
“Since the beginning of the year, there have been more than 50 labor conflicts in the country. There were no trade unions in most enterprises. Nevertheless, trade union organizations actively participated in the settlement of all disputes through negotiations. Today, the Federation of Trade Unions raises the question of the need to simplify the procedure for legislative consideration of collective claims of employees. It does not meet international standards”, Satybaldy Dauletalin added.
The Chairman of the FTURK announced a number of measures taken by Trade Union Federations to increase the income level of employees.
“Currently, the Federation has two working groups designing the development of amendments to the Labor Code and the Law “On Trade Unions”. The first direction is to increase the minimum wage. It is necessary to part with such a concept as “the working poor”. A working person should not be poor! The employee must be free, creative and receive a decent salary. We must seek mandatory legislative consolidation of the annual indexation of wages and the ratification of the ILO Convention No. 131″, the Chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions said.
In conclusion, he urged his colleagues to support actively the work of primary trade union organizations and strengthen social partnership.
“Primary trade union organizations are the most important link in the structure of trade unions. They need special attention. The FTURK builds work on unity and solidarity. We are all a single organization and we will act in solidarity and strive to improve the quality of working life of employees,” Satybaldy Dauletalin added.
Noting that at the XXVI Congress of the Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan 2021 was declared the Year of Primary Trade Union Organizations. Today, the FTURK consists of 16,178 primary trade union organizations, with a total number of 1,638,182 trade union members.
Media Center of the Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan.