An expanded meeting of the Coordinating Council of the Trade Union Center of the West Kazakhstan region was held with the participation of the Chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan Satybalda Dauletalin.
During the meeting, the results of the activities of trade union organizations of the West Kazakhstan region for 2021 were considered, which were reported to the participants by the chairman of the Trade Union Center of the West Kazakhstan region Aigul Esekenova.
According to the Trade Union Center, there are 10 branch, 14 local and 1022 primary trade union organizations in the region, which include more than 72,000 trade union members.
Last year, 40 new primary trade union organizations were created in the West Kazakhstan Region with coverage of 810 new trade union members.
Social partnership in the region is carried out within the framework of the Regional Agreement for 2021-2023, signed on April 29, 2021.
According to Aigul Esekenova, the Trade Union Center pays special attention to improving the quality of collective agreements, as well as monitoring the fulfillment of their conditions.
Within the framework of the social partnership, work is being carried out to monitor social tensions in the region.
“The risks of labor conflicts are constantly considered at meetings of the Anti-Crisis Headquarters, meetings of the tripartite commission on social partnership and regulation of social and labor relations with the hearing of the heads of enterprises of the region,” Aigul Esekenova said.
Legal assistance to trade union members is provided by the branch of the Legal Clinic and the Reconciliation Center at the Trade Union Center of the West Kazakhstan region.
“Mediators and trade union lawyers of the region provided about 1,700 legal consultations. The branch of the Legal Clinic considered about 900 appeals of trade union members on issues of compliance with labor legislation, wages, work of conciliation commissions and material compensation to employees,” the chairman of the Trade Union Center said.
Aigul Esekenova also said that within the framework of the action of the FTURK “How are you, primary?” last year, 17 online meetings were held with the labor collectives of the region, in which more than 2,000 members of the trade union took part.
“The action allowed ordinary members of the trade union to directly discuss topical issues and ask questions to the leadership of the Federation of Trade Unions, deputies of the Majilis of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan, civil servants and employers,” the chairman of the Trade Union Center of the West Kazakhstan Region stressed.
Speaking about labor protection measures, the chairman of the Trade Union Center said that there are 428 production councils at the enterprises of the West Kazakhstan region, which include 733 technical inspectors for labor protection.
“In order to ensure safe working conditions, 121 enterprises of the region have implemented international and national standards for occupational safety and health (OHSAS 18001, ILO-SUOT). Certification of production facilities according to working conditions was carried out at 31 enterprises. 1,780 managers and specialists of enterprises have passed a knowledge test on safety and labor protection issues,” Aigul Esekenova said.
According to her, 55 industrial accidents were registered in the region last year, including 7 fatal cases
The Chairman of the FTURK Satybaldy Dauletalin urged not to allow neglect in matters of occupational safety.
“Most deaths and accidents occur at enterprises where there are no trade unions. The share of accidents at enterprises with trade union participation is one third. This is the result of the activity of trade unions. Of all accidents, 70% are caused by the employer. In case of any fatal accident at the enterprise, it is necessary to create a Roadmap to eliminate all causes of the incident. It is necessary to conduct special control in this direction and bring these issues to the discussion of the trilateral commission,” the Head of the FTURK instructed.
During the meeting, the chairman of the local trade union of employees of Batys Su Arnasy LLP, Azilya Ilikpaeva, spoke about the implementation of the collective agreement at the enterprise.
According to Azilya Ilikpaeva, the collective agreement in Batys su Arnasy LLP was signed on March 29, 2019. The collective agreement provides for an annual adjustment of the established tariff rates and salaries, taking into account inflation, determined by the current legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
The contract also provides for allowances and surcharges for overtime work, work on holidays and at night.
Among the social guarantees, it is provided for the allocation of one-time financial assistance to employees upon marriage, for the burial of an employee and his next of kin, material and charitable assistance, the provision of payments for health improvement, etc.
Meanwhile, Azilya Ilikpaeva stressed that the collective agreement ends in March this year. At the same time, she expressed concern about the possibility of excluding a number of social guarantees from the future collective agreement, due to the current difficult financial situation at the enterprise.
In addition, she said that in 2021, the labor inspectorate of the West Kazakhstan Region issued an order that the collective agreement of the partnership should apply to all employees, regardless of trade union membership.
At the same time, as the chairman of the trade union committee stressed, the document itself reflects the condition of having a trade union membership to join the collective agreement.
Answering the question, the Chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions Satybaldy Dauletalin again outlined the clear position of the Federation of Trade Unions that the collective agreement should apply only to trade union members.
“The collective agreement should apply only to those employees who participated in its conclusion. Therefore, the position of the FTURK is clear here, and we demand that the collective agreement applies only to trade union members. The monetization of collective agreements of a number of enterprises testifies to the broad material benefits for employees-members of the trade union from the fixed social benefits and guarantees,” the Chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions stressed.
The chairman of the local trade union of employees of the company “KPO B.V.” made a report on the work of the chairman of the trade union Mars Khairullin.
He spoke about the negotiation process preceding the conclusion of the collective agreement for 2022-2024.
According to him, as a result of long intense negotiations, the employer met halfway on many controversial issues.
Thus, the new collective agreement of the company “KPO B.V.” provides for a general increase in wages not lower than the amount of inflation, an additional general increase in wages by 5%, a bonus for signing a Collective agreement in the amount of 100% of the BZP, a bonus based on the results of vaccination – 157,000 tenge, a premium in the field of OT, TB and the OOS according to the results of 2021 and other guarantees.
“The work of the KPO Trade Union Committee will continue, including on issues of medical care, mandatory occupational pension payments and other important programs of the company,” the chairman of the local trade union assured.
Following the meeting, Chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan Satybaldy Dauletalin set a number of important tasks for the trade union organizations of the region to protect the rights and interests of the Labor Person.
He placed special emphasis on the content of the regional agreement. As stressed by Satybaldy Dauletalin, it is necessary to update the regional agreement by excluding a number of declarative norms from it.
He also expressed the opinion on the need to improve the quality of collective-contractual regulation and instructed to intensify work on monitoring and examination of collective agreements.
“As the analysis showed, only 10% of collective agreements reflect the issue of wage indexation. We must work on the quality of collective agreements. At the same time, the norms of labor legislation make it possible to manipulate issues of labor relations. It is necessary to revise the Labor Code and turn it to face the Man of Labor,” said the Chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions.
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.
“We have submitted to the Government a number of proposals to improve the wage system, including mandatory wage indexation; ensuring the participation of trade unions in production management, including negotiations on wages and the wage system as a whole – without fail. In order to create mechanisms for the influence of employees on decisions made by the employer when determining the remuneration system, the Federation proposed to supplement article 107 of the Labor Code. We believe that the employer’s acts defining the payment systems should be issued taking into account the views of employees’ representatives. Proposals have been made to simplify the procedure for making claims of employees in the event of a collective labor dispute, and to strengthen state control and supervision of labor relations,” Satybaldy Dauletalin said.
The head of the FTURK also spoke about proposals to increase the minimum wage, revise the methodology for calculating the food basket, revise the procedure for assigning temporary disability benefits, eliminate the wage gap, etc.
One of the proposals of the FTURK concerns the legislative regulation of the norm on mandatory labor consultations between the employer and employee representatives.
As stressed by Satybaldy Dauletalin, labor consultations will allow openly and promptly solve topical issues of labor relations in organizations.
Media Center of the Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan