From March 14 to March 16 of this year, the delegation of the Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan headed by Chairman Satybaldy Dauletalin is on a working trip to the Mangystau region.
The first event with the participation of the FTURK delegation was a meeting with social partners at the site of the Akimat of the Mangystau region. The event was attended by representatives of three sides of the social partnership – management Federations of trade unions, akimats of the region, employers of the largest enterprises and professional leaders of the region.
Welcoming the participants of the meeting, Akim of Mangystau region Nurlan Nogayev noted that despite the progressive development of social and labor relations in the region, there are urgent issues on their improvement and the adoption of effective measures by social partners on the agenda.
More detailed information about the situation in the social and labor sphere was provided by the head of the Department of the State Labor Inspectorate Aliger Inkarov.
According to him, since the beginning of this year, 53 collective labor disputes have been registered at the enterprises of the region, 20 of which were accompanied by protests of workers in the form of suspension of work.
“As of today, 34 labor disputes have been fully resolved, 19 more remain under monitoring. Moreover, 17 enterprises are demanding the nationalization of these enterprises and an increase in wages. Meetings of the regional trilateral commission will be held with the participation of the heads of these enterprises,” Aliger Inkarov said.
Addressing the participants of the meeting, Chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan Satybaldy Dauletalin said that according to the monitoring of the FTURK, 86 percent of workers’ demands relate to wage increases, then issues related to working conditions and employers’ refusal to negotiate with employees were noted.
“If employers responded to employees’ demands in a timely manner, most labor conflicts could have been avoided. A labor dispute is, first of all, a two–way dialogue between an employer and representatives of employees – trade unions. But, unfortunately, in practice, our employers often step aside from this process and leave the solution of these problems to the discretion of regional leaders. We consider this practice categorically unacceptable for maintaining stability in society,” stressed Satybaldy Dauletalin.
According to the Chairman of the FTURK, labor consultations conducted by trade unions together with employers make it possible to effectively develop social partnership within one labor collective.
“We are talking about bilateral joint consultations, information exchange. On the one hand, the employer transmits information related to production management to trade unions, on the other – receives information from trade unions related to working conditions. The system of joint consultations contributes to the reduction of labor conflicts, the exclusion of protracted confrontations between the parties. Employers should perceive trade unions as social partners, not opponents,” stressed Satybaldy Dauletalin.
He also said that the FTURK is developing the institute “Enbek elshisi”. “Enbek elshisi” are people whose civic position and life experience allow them to conduct negotiations at a professional level with both employers and employees of enterprises in order to prevent social tension and possible labor conflicts. These are not necessarily high-ranking managers, they are authoritative personalities, including employers, professional activists, public figures and journalists.
Satybaldy Dauletalin also focused the attention of the meeting participants on the main proposals of the FTURK to the Government of the country.
“We have made a number of proposals to improve the wage system, including mandatory wage indexation; ensuring the participation of trade unions in production management, including salary negotiations on a mandatory basis; simplifying the procedure for putting forward workers’ claims in the event of a collective labor dispute and strengthening state control and supervision of labor relations,” the head of the Federation of Trade Unions said..
He also focused on issues that require solutions and joint work of social partners in this direction. Among them are the modernization of the work of the regional trilateral commission on social partnership, the actualization of the regional trilateral agreement and collective-contractual regulation of labor relations in the region.
According to the analysis of the FTURK, 1,563 collective agreements have been concluded in the Mangystau region at 10,788 enterprises operating in the region, the coverage is 14.5%.
Satybaldy Dauletalin recalled that collective agreements lay down norms and obligations that contribute to the sustainability of labor collectives, increase the material well-being of workers. According to him, at many enterprises, the content of the collective agreement is declarative, which underlies the root causes of social tension in labor collectives. At the same time, he gave an example of a collective agreement, which he called indicative of the role and effectiveness in solving social issues.
“Collective agreement of Mangistaumunaigas JSC for 2020-2023. Calculations were made, the so-called “monetization” of this collective agreement. Thus, 2.5 billion tenge has been allocated for social benefits and guarantees, which is 1,400,000 tenge per employee,” the Chairman of the FTURK noted.
The social partners agreed with the arguments of Satybaldy Dauletalin. Akim of Mangystau region Nurlan Nogayev stressed that the social partners of the region support the efforts of the Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan to improve the system of social and labor relations.
“Labor disputes should be resolved in the legal field, through a constructive dialogue between the employee and the employer. To do this, it is important to intensify explanatory work among the labor collectives of enterprises, company managers and trade union leaders,” Nurlan Nogayev said.
The parties agreed that strengthening social stability at enterprises and in the region as a whole is possible only through joint actions of social partners represented by trade unions, employers and government agencies.
Media Center of the Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan