“HOW DO YOU LIVE, PRIMARY?”: THE LEADERSHIP OF THE FTURK MET WITH THE STAFF OF THE BOARDING SCHOOL “AK NIET” OF THE EAST KAZAKHSTAN REGION

As part of the campaign “How do you live, primary?”, took place  an online visit to the primary trade union organization of employees of the KSU “Boarding School “Ak Niet” of the Department of Education of the East Kazakhstan region. The event was attended by Deputy Chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nurlan Uteshev, Chairman of the Branch Trade Union of Education and Science Workers Aigul Mukasheva, deputy of the Majilis of the Parliament Ekaterina Smyshlyaeva, Chairman of the Trade Union Center of East Kazakhstan Temirbek Kasymzhanov, Chairman of the Local Trade Union of Education and Science Workers of East Kazakhstan Nazgul Kasenova, director of the MSI  “Boarding School “Ak Niet” Krivitskaya Svetlana, chairman of the primary trade union organization Kulzira Turusbekova, as well as employees of the institution.

Chairman of the Trade Union Center of East Kazakhstan Region Temirbek Kasymzhanov noted that the Federation of Trade Unions pays special attention to the work of primary trade union organizations.

“As part of the implementation of the FTURK  Activity Strategy for 2020-2025 “In Unity for Justice and Development”, 2021 has been declared the Year of the Primary trade union organization. In February of this year, the republican campaign “How do you live, primary?” was launched, during which trade union members have the opportunity to address problematic issues to the leadership of the Federation of Trade Unions, deputies of the Majilis of the Parliament, employers and representatives of state bodies. On October 8, 2021, the Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan held a Forum of primary trade union organizations dedicated to the celebration of the 30th anniversary of Independence of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Day of Trade Unions of Kazakhstan,” Temirbek Kasymzhanov said.

Speaking about the work done, he said that for 10 months of this year, the Trade Union Center and branches of Branch trade unions held 5 republican and 34 regional trade union actions.

According to the chairman of the Trade Union Center, 19 primary trade union organizations have been created in the region this year, the number of trade union members has increased by 1,310 people.

In total, there are 1,446 trade union organizations operating in the East Kazakhstan region. The number of trade union members is 133,423.

Svetlana Krivitskaya, director of the MSI “Boarding School “Ak Niet” of the Department of Education of East Kazakhstan Region, told the meeting participants about the work of the institution.

According to her, the regional Municipal state institution “Boarding School “Ak Niet” of the Department of Education of the East Kazakhstan region was opened in 2016 and is intended to provide special social services to children with disabilities.

The contingent of pupils in this academic year is 85 children, with a design capacity of 100 people.

The institution’s activities are carried out in several directions: educational, implementation of additional educational programs of various directions, including in the areas of vocational education; upbringing and comprehensive development of children and teenagers  with disorders of the musculoskeletal system, vision, hearing and speech with preserved intelligence; psychological, medical, pedagogical and correctional support.

Special conditions have been created for the implementation of the tasks set at the boarding school: a barrier-free environment, information technology classrooms, specially equipped speech therapist, typhlopedist, defectologist, physical therapy room and other state-of-the-art medical equipment. The boarding school provides five meals a day.

In addition, pupils are given the opportunity to choose their future profession: “Office work”, “Accounting and audit”, “Computer operator”, upon completion receive certificates .

“The new type of institution “Ak Niet” gives a real chance to children with special needs to feel confident in the future, as well as their successful socialization and preparation for independent adulthood,”  emphasized the director of the boarding school.

She placed special emphasis on the importance of developing social partnership.

“An important role and place in the system of social partnership is assigned to trade unions based on the trust of collectives. First of all, I am a trade union member. Having become the director of the school a few years ago, my position has not changed: the trade union is the voice of employees, and only parity, social partnership between the employer and the trade union committee is the main thing in our work, we are allies, not opponents,” Svetlana Krivitskaya stressed.

At the same time, she noted the need to increase the motivation of trade union membership and increase the authority of trade unions in general.

“Our primary trade union organization does a lot for employees and in the direction of leisure and recreational work. I believe that primary needs  to pay more attention to issues of intra-union professional development in order to be competent in the field of law. It is important to provide members of the trade union committee with regulatory and legal documentation,”  considers the director of the institution.

She also made a number of proposals for conducting explanatory work with young people.

“There is an experience of creating Youth councils or commissions in some primaries, we have such a task, which is to take care of improving the skills of young employees, providing methodological support, assistance for continuing education, holding various actions such as “Join a trade union!” and more. Today, interaction with the media is required on issues of expanding the range of publications on trade union topics; constant informing of the collective through visual material, holding “days of the trade union committee”, “days of trade union information”, etc.,” pointed the director of the boarding school “Ak Niet” .

As the chairman of the Local Trade Union of Education and Science Workers of East Kazakhstan Region Nazgul Kasenova said in her speech, the Local trade union unites more than 31 thousand trade union members from city and district organizations.

The priority areas of work of the Local Trade Union are the training of trade union workers and professional assets, the implementation of trade union control over compliance with labor legislation and the activities of the legal Service, the Legal Service regularly carries out inspections and visits to the districts to provide legal assistance and conduct public receptions and information and methodological hours.

The total economic effect of the legal service over the past 4.5 years has amounted to over 400 million tenge.

Nazgul Kasenova also spoke about measures to develop social partnership.

“On April 1, 2021, was signed  a regional sectoral agreement on social partnership for 2021-2023 . This Agreement is supplemented by a number of norms that improve the situation of teaching staff – employees of educational institutions working in the territories affected by nuclear tests at the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site, regardless of the availability of an environmental certificate, are entitled to additional pay and additional paid leave. Drivers of motor vehicles receive 50% of the official salary for maintenance, short-term repairs and locksmith work. Since 2019, all teaching staff of East Kazakhstan region receive a health improvement allowance for the actual academic load. Previously, this benefit was mainly paid at the rate of one rate. To date, in the region, all teaching staff in rural areas are compensated for the purchase of fuel and utilities; all employees of educational organizations undergo a medical examination at the expense of the employer,” Nazgul Kasenova said.

According to her, on October 15, 2021, an Addendum to the regional industry Agreement was registered, to which a number of important additions were made.  Meanwhile, the speaker focused on topical issues that need to be solved.

“One of the important problems is the salary of medical workers of educational organizations. The Decree of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated March 30, 2021 No. 174 amended the Decree of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan No. 1193 dated December 31, 2020, concerning an increase in wages, including for medical personnel of educational organizations. In accordance with the amendments, the salaries of medical workers of educational institutions have been increased since January 1, 2021, and, accordingly, it is necessary to recalculate the salaries of these categories of workers starting from January 1, 2021. Funds should be allocated from the republican budget to finance the increase in wages, but no payments have been made so far. According to information, about 780 medical workers have salary arrears of over 700 million tenge. And this is not a problem of one organization, but of all educational organizations in the region,” said the chairman of the Local Trade Union.

The chairman of the primary trade union organization Kulzira Turusbekova informed about the work of the trade union committee of the institution.

According to her, the full-time number of employees of the organization is 80 people, all employees are members of the trade union.

The trade union committee of the institution works in such areas as the Public Commission for Labor Protection, the Production Council, the Conciliation Commission for the Resolution of Individual Labor Disputes, the Commission for the Organization of Cultural and Sports and recreational Work, as well as the Commission for Work with Youth.

“The first Collective agreement has been concluded since the opening of the boarding school in January 2017. Since May 26, 2021, a new collective agreement for 2021-2023 has been adopted. In the current collective agreement, on the basis of a regional agreement, we have introduced a clause on the payment of health benefits to unskilled technical workers for the main vacation, which was previously paid as financial assistance,” Kulzira Turusbekova said.

As the chairman of the primary trade union organization emphasized, the trade union and the administration of the institution pay constant attention to the moral and psychological climate in the team, the culture of negotiation on the regulation of social and labor relations.

“For 5 years there has not been a single case of labor dispute, conflict and appeal to the conciliation commission,” said the chairman of the Trade Union Committee.

After hearing the speeches of the participants, the chairman of the Branch Trade Union of Education and Science Workers Aigul Mukasheva noted the high level of development of social partnership at the boarding school “Ak Niet”.

“Thanks to the development of social partnership, all problems in the industry are being solved in a timely manner. Union members see the fruits of this work. At the Sectoral level, we closely cooperate with the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan. For two years we have been talking about the need to raise the salaries of medical workers working in educational organizations. Colleagues from the regions shared the news that at present, in some regions, wages are already being recalculated for this category of workers, taking into account wage increases from January 1 this year. I think this victory took place thanks to the development of social partnership,” Aigul Mukasheva said.

According to her, this year the Branch Trade Union returned about 191 million tenge to education workers. After the intervention of trade unions, 24 illegally dismissed workers were restored to their jobs.

Summing up the meeting, Deputy Chairman of the FTURK  Nurlan Uteshev noted the productivity of the meeting.

He also assured that the issue raised by the labor collective of the Boarding School “Ak Niet” will be taken over by the Federation of Trade Unions.

“Our meetings within the framework of the campaign “How do you live, primary?” bring real results. Such a format gives a deeper understanding of the tasks and problematic issues in the work of primary organizations and labor collectives,” said Nurlan Uteshev.

He thanked the trade union organization, the administration and the staff of the boarding school for a well-coordinated dialogue.

Media Center of the Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan.