On 24-25 May, the Chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions of Kazakhstan, Satybaldy Dauletalin, paid a working visit to Aktobe region. During the visit, the head of the FTUK familiarised himself with the activities of a number of industrial enterprises, where he met with labour collectives and social partners.
The first site visited was the Aktobe Ferroalloy Plant, the largest iron and steel works in Kazakhstan. The flagship of the metallurgical industry has 4 smelting shops, a converter shop, a slag processing shop and auxiliary facilities. The company’s main activity is production of ferroalloys. The main consumers of the products are China, Europe and the USA.
Currently, the company employs 4,140 people, all of whom are members of the primary trade union organization, which is part of the branch trade union “QAZAQMETAL KASIPODAGY”.
Chairman of FTUC Satybaldy Dauletalin familiarized with the content of the collective agreement, development of social and labour relations between social partners at the enterprise, visited 1 smelting shop and 4 workshops of the plant, where he held a meeting with the labour collective.
Yerzhan Abdulabekov, director of the plant, said that the plant relies on nurturing its own staff. According to him, the introduction of the “kaizen-team” tool made it possible to consider, support and implement more than one innovative idea proposed by employees. For example, thanks to the idea of a young master technologist, Berik Tatiev, the plant was able to increase its furnace capacity to 75 Megawatts, with plans to increase it to 80.
“Kaizen is a whole complex affecting the possibility of continuous quality improvement, development and use of technologies, implementation of corporate culture, increase of labour productivity, development of leadership among the employees themselves,” explained the head of the enterprise.
Abilkayir Sotkarov, Chairman of the Trade Union Committee at the Aktobe Ferroalloy Plant, described the relationship with his employer as one of partnership and constructive.
Employees also spoke about problems with the Chairman of the FTUK. Smelters with 10 years of experience Azamat Suleimenov and Zharas Bekbosynov noted that the factory workers were concerned about early retirement for metallurgists. According to them, their working conditions are no less hazardous and unhealthy than those of the miners.
The Chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions, Satybaldy Dauletalin, listened to the expectations of metallurgists and emphasised that in the Year of Safe Labour, declared by the Federation of Trade Unions, the issue of social protection and ensuring safe working conditions for employees of Kazakhstani enterprises, including metallurgists, is one of the most important directions in the activities of trade unions.
“The issue of early retirement for people working in hazardous conditions, including metalworkers, has moved forward thanks to the tireless demands of our unions. The relevant calculations are currently underway within the working group and options are being considered. In the near future, our social partner, the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, intends to submit specific proposals. The Federation of Trade Unions, as the initiator of the solution to this problem, is keeping the situation under control,” stressed Satybaldy Dauletalin.
The chairman of the FPCC said that the Federation of Trade Unions and its affiliates had strengthened cooperation with the social partners on other topical labour issues. All proposals from the trade unions were included in the package handed over to the social partners at national level.
“On the instructions of the head of state, the government has begun developing a minimum wage methodology. Trade unions have put forward their proposals and the process is currently under consideration. In addition, we continue to work for the speedy ratification of ILO Convention 131 on the minimum wage and the mandatory annual indexation of wages. The relevant package of amendments and additions to labour and trade union legislation has already been passed by the Federation of Trade Unions of Kazakhstan to its social partners”, said the Trade Union Federation Chairman.
By the way, it should be noted that Satybaldy Dauletalin, Chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions of Kazakhstan, started his career as an assistant turner at the Aktyubinsk Ferroalloy Plant.
As a reminder, Aktobe Ferroalloy Plant was the first in the country to implement the “People’s Control” social project, thanks to which employees who have been injured at work are involved in monitoring the production process to identify unsafe situations for the health and lives of their colleagues. The project is now operating successfully in several dozen enterprises across the country. The Federation of Trade Unions intends to promote the introduction of “People’s Control” in all enterprises with hazardous working conditions.
Media Centre of the Federation of Trade Unions of Kazakhstan