On Wednesday, February 2, Chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan Satybaldy Dauletalin took part in an expanded meeting of the Coordinating Council of the Trade Union Center of Almaty.
During the meeting, the results of the activities of the trade unions of the city of Almaty in 2021 were considered and tasks for 2022 were defined.
In her report on the work of the Trade Union Center for the past year, the Chairman of the Trade Union Center of Almaty, Zauresh Umirbayeva, spoke about measures to implement the tasks outlined in the Strategy of the FTURK for 2020-2025.
According to her, trade union organizations of the city actively participated in competitions and projects of the Federation of Trade Unions.
So, within the framework of the FTURK campaign “How are you, primary?” in 2021, 65 meetings were held with primary trade union organizations of the city, including with the participation of the leadership of the Federation of Trade Unions.
“The action allowed ordinary members of the trade union to openly raise topical issues before the leadership of the FTURK, deputies and employers. The most frequently asked questions were the issues of salary increase, its indexation. Based on the results of meetings with labor collectives, in all cases it was possible to find compromise solutions with employers,” Zauresh Umirbaeva stressed.
Among the priority areas of the Professional Center’s work, she noted measures to develop social partnership.
“On April 20, 2021, a Regional trilateral agreement for 2021-2023 was signed. Thanks to the efforts of professional leaders in the field of education, the regional sectoral agreement between the Department of Education of the city of Almaty, the city local trade union “Ұстаз” and the Almaty City organization of the branch Trade Union of Education and Science Workers provides for standards for the payment of downtime, including for reasons beyond the control of the employer and employee, in full. In the republican industry agreement, this norm provides for payment in the amount of 50% of wages,” the chairman of the Trade Union Center stressed.
In total, according to her, 25 meetings of the regional tripartite commission were held last year, during which the Trade Union Center initiated consideration of such issues as the prevention of occupational injuries, the conclusion of collective agreements.
According to the Trade Union Center, the coverage of the existing enterprises of Almaty by collective agreements is 31.7%, with the national average of 46.4%.
“Trade union committees on the ground are working to improve the quality of the content of collective agreements. Amendments have been made to collective agreements, acts of the employer on the organization of work of enterprises during an emergency, on preventing mass release of workers, improving the financial situation of working mothers with many children and low-income families,” Zauresh Umirbaeva said.
Meanwhile, the special importance of occupational safety issues was noted. As reported, the state of working conditions and labor protection at enterprises cannot be considered satisfactory.
Last year, 104 accidents occurred in Almaty, as a result of which 107 people were injured, 8 of whom died.
At the same time, only 20 cases of minor injuries occurred at enterprises with trade union participation.
“The trade unions of the city took part in the investigation of all the facts of injuries, material assistance was provided to the victims. The Trade Union Center, together with social partners, adopted the regional program “Safe Work” for 2021-2023. 582 industrial safety and labor protection councils have been established at the enterprises of the city, where 815 technical labor inspectors control,” the chairman of the Almaty Trade Union Center said.
The participants paid special attention to the issues of prevention and resolution of labor conflicts.
According to Zauresh Umirbayeva, the Almaty Trade Center participates in the work of the monitoring group.
“In 2021, the risk of social tension was recorded at 13 enterprises, but the occurrence of a labor conflict was not allowed. The main factors of the current risks were issues of wages, the release of employees and disagreement with the terms of the employment contract. There are no trade union organizations at these enterprises. At enterprises where trade unions are present, there are no risks of hotbeds of social tension,” Zauresh Umirbaeva noted.
Within the framework of providing legal assistance to trade union members, trade union organizations of the city participate in the process of collective bargaining, conduct legal consultations. On the basis of the Professional Center, there is a helpline, a reconciliation center “Татуласу орталыгы” and a public reception of the “Legal Clinic”.
During the meeting, the chairman of the city local trade union “Ұстаз” Serikzhan Bayguttinov, the chairman of the branch of the branch trade union of employees of state, banking institutions and public services “Қызмет” Danagul Khinkulova and the chairman of the local trade union “Серіктес” Sabrzhan Kali made accompanying reports on the protection of the rights and interests of workers by industry.
Summing up the meeting, the Chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions Satybaldy Dauletalin set a number of priority tasks for the members of the Coordinating Council.
The head of the FTURK reminded the members of the trade union movement that the welfare of the Working Person is at the heart of all trade union activity.
“We should consider all our activities through the prism of people’s social well-being. The Federation of Trade Unions compares its steps with the real needs and needs of an ordinary worker. The issue of transparency of our activities is one of the main issues for trade unions. Today, trade unions are aimed at ensuring transparency of income and expenses, ensuring the electability of professional leaders and holding regular meetings with labor collectives. We systematically inform the members of the trade union about the results of our activities,” said Satybaldy Dauletalin.
In the light of the increase in the standard of living of workers, the Chairman of the Federation noted the importance of strengthening the role of primary trade union organizations and improving the quality of collective agreements.
“The task of trade unions is to help the primary link to conclude high-quality collective agreements as much as possible. It is necessary to teach people how to negotiate and participate in the negotiation process themselves. The Federation of Trade Unions is developing standards for the conclusion of collective agreements, which will reflect the most important social guarantees. Workers should feel the real support of trade unions,” added Satybaldy Dauletalin.
The head of the FTURK announced a number of initiatives of the Federation of Trade Unions on legislative regulation of issues of improving the welfare of workers and called on colleagues to strengthen trade union unity in promoting systemic measures to form a new socio-economic policy of Kazakhstan.
“The President of Kazakhstan has taken the initiative to introduce a new economic policy. Trade unions should really participate in this process,” said Satybaldy Dauletalin.
As noted, the Federation of Trade Unions proposes to revise the mechanisms for determining the wage system. According to Article 107 of the Labor Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, an employee’s salary is established by an employment contract in accordance with the employer’s current wage system, which is determined by the terms of labor, collective agreements and acts of the employer.
“Despite the fact that collective agreements should include provisions on the remuneration system and acts of the employer, in practice this mechanism has low efficiency. In organizations where there are no trade union organizations, there is an influence of the employer on the employee and the declarativeness of the concluded collective agreements. Today, out of 154,635 collective agreements concluded in the country, only about 25-30 thousand have been signed by trade unions. The content of the rest raises questions. We propose to make additions to the Labor Code on the publication of acts of the employer defining the system of remuneration, in agreement with the representatives of employees,” the Chairman of the FTURK stressed.
A separate block of FTURK proposals is aimed at eliminating gaps in the system of determining the minimum wage.
Satybaldy Dauletalin stressed that it is necessary to develop appropriate methods and ratify ILO Convention No. 131 “On the establishment of Minimum Wages with Special consideration for Developing countries.”
“Since this year, the amount of the minimum wage has been increased to 60 thousand tenge. This measure affected more than 1 million people. The question is that there is no methodology for forming the size of the minimum wage in the country. There should be clear and clear rules for the formation and approval of this indicator. We need to gradually move towards international standards,” the Chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions believes.
Along with this, the Federation of Trade Unions has taken the initiative to regulate by a Decree of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan the procedure for determining the sizes of inter-category and industry-specific increasing coefficients.
The set of proposed measures is also related to the legislative regulation of the issues of wage indexation, reduction of the income difference between the employee and the employer, revision of the amount of social benefits for temporary disability, as well as the participation of employees in the management of the enterprise and the consolidation of the employee’s right to suspend work due to delayed wages.
Media Center of the Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan