On Thursday, July 27, Chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan Satybaldy Dauletalin met with trade union activists of oil and gas and oilfield service enterprises of the country, with whom he discussed topical issues of industry workers and priority areas of work of the Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
The meeting was attended by representatives of Embamunaigas JSC and Embamunaienergo JSC, Ozenmunaigas JSC, Turgai Petroleum JSC, Caspian Oil JSC, Maten Petroleum JSC, Aksayavtotrans JSC, KKBK Great Wall LLP, Oil Services Company, Kumkol Trans Service LLP, Munai Kolik LLP, SBP Kazmunaigas-Burenie LLP, Zhaikmunaigas OGPD, Zhylyoymunaigas OGPD, Dossormunaigas OGPD, Kainarmunaigas NGDU, Magistralny LLP Vodovod” and other enterprises.
Welcoming colleagues, Satybaldy Dauletalin first of all noted that all the multifaceted activities of the Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan are aimed at ensuring effective protection of the rights of workers.
In this context, he focused on the measures taken to improve the professional level of trade union personnel.
“In a number of cases, one of the reasons for the violation of the rights and interests of employees is the lack of necessary knowledge of the law and the skills to apply it. There is also the problem of insufficient awareness of the trade union activists about the key tasks of the trade union movement, including the organization of the work of primary trade union organizations. It is important that our personnel be highly qualified in order to conduct a constructive dialogue with social partners,” Satybaldy Dauletalin emphasized.
The idea of the unity of member organizations, the development of trade union activities, as well as strengthening the role and status of trade unions at all levels was a red thread in the speech of the Chairman of the FPRK.
“The Federation of Trade Unions is the largest public organization in the country in terms of numbers and democratic principles, with a 117-year history of protecting the rights and interests of ordinary workers. Members of the Federation of Trade Unions are about two million employees of Kazakhstani enterprises and organizations, united in 16,000 primary trade union organizations. Improving the standard of living of ordinary workers and the quality of labor relations primarily depends on the unity and mutual understanding of all members of the trade union,” said the Chairman of the FPRK.
According to him, one of the important tools for maintaining social stability is building a constructive social dialogue and concluding a collective agreement that takes into account the pressing problems of employees of an enterprise.
“The Federation of Trade Unions has carried out a detailed analysis of labor disputes over the past 2.5 years. During this period, we recorded 272 collective labor disputes. Of these, 171, that is, 63%, are issues that were resolved through negotiations. Little is known to the public that this is a direct merit of the trade unions, which, through considerable effort, had to reach a consensus with the employer. In addition, despite the fact that 57% of 272 enterprises did not have a trade union, our affiliates were directly involved in resolving 96% of the total number of labor disputes, defending the interests of workers,” said the Chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Speaking about the mechanisms for resolving conflicts, Satybaldy Dauletalin noted that 241 labor disputes were submitted for consideration by tripartite commissions on social partnership.
Along with this, the trade unions held 1080 training seminars on the consideration of methods for resolving labor disputes, held 207 labor consultations, as part of an action initiated by the Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
“What is employment counseling? We are talking about a two-way exchange of information, a joint search for ways to solve problems. On the one hand, the employer transmits information related to production management to trade unions, on the other hand, it receives information from trade unions related to working conditions. The system of joint consultations should help reduce labor conflicts, eliminate protracted conflicts between the parties,” said the Chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
As Satybaldy Dauletalin emphasized, the main causes of labor disputes are the problems of low wages, poor working conditions and the unwillingness of the employer to negotiate.
“This is one of the factors of our self-consciousness, the mentality that we must change all together and increase the social responsibility of business,” the Head of the FPRK believes.
Among the urgent problematic issues of the full development of social partnership, he called the absence of an association of employers in the country.
“Trade unions have repeatedly raised the problem of the lack of republican representation of employers with the government, which does not allow building a system of effective tripartite relations,” said Satybaldy Dauletalin.
According to him, given the importance of tripartite participation, the Federation of Trade Unions provides possible advisory support to the established National Confederation of Employers “Paryz”.
Touching upon the problem of low wages, the chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions stressed that today the formation and approval of the wage system is in the hands of the employer.
“We have initiated a number of proposals to enshrine in the Labor Code the norms for annual indexation of wages, and also proposed to oblige the employer to consult with the representative of the employee on the formation of a wage system. A logical question is, from what indicators is the minimum wage calculated – 70 thousand tenge? In this matter, we found the support of the President of the country, who set the government the task of adopting the Methodology for calculating the minimum wage. This is one of our important achievements, since each employee must understand how his salary is formed,” added the Chairman of the FPRK.
As for indexation issues, Satybaldy Dauletalin said that only 10% of more than 150,000 collective agreements provide for indexation of workers’ wages. However, the indexation requirement should be the same for everyone, he believes, and it should be applied primarily to employees with an income level below 300 thousand tenge.
An equally important problem in our society is the unreasonable difference in wages.
“In some cases, the incomes of top managers representing the employer and the employee differ by 50 or more times. And this difference cannot be explained by any coefficient of labor participation and the level of responsibility. From the point of view of world practice, such disproportions indicate trouble in the labor market. In order to eliminate this injustice, the Federation of Trade Unions proposed to introduce a legislative norm to establish the maximum level of the ratio of the salary of a manager and ordinary workers in a multiple of one to 10 and no more,” said the Chairman of the FPRK.
An important support for employees in solving social and labor problems was the work of the FPRK Legal Clinic and its regional branches, which provide 24/7 free legal assistance to trade union members, as well as direct communication with employees within the framework of trade union projects.
“During the operation of the Legal Clinic, 7,000 requests were received from citizens, 1,400 legal consultations were provided, and 2,155 mediation agreements were concluded. Over the past 2.5 years, trade unions have held 546 training seminars for trade union activists,” said the Head of the FPRK.
In addition, in order to establish feedback with employees, 1234 meetings of the FPRK leadership with labor collectives were held, 29 personal visits of the Chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions to the regions were made.
“It is important for us to always be in direct contact with ordinary workers. It is important for people to be heard. Each meeting is an acquaintance with the situation in the primary trade union organizations and the search for ways to solve the problems of workers,” Satybaldy Dauletalin emphasized.
At the end of the meeting, the Chairman of the FPRK Satybaldy Dauletalin shared the results and plans in the framework of international cooperation.
He announced the restoration of full membership of the Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan as part of the International Trade Union Confederation, spoke about joint initiatives among the members of the Council of Trade Unions of Central Asian countries.
Along with this, the Chairman of the FPRK informed about the forthcoming creation of the Organization of Trade Unions of Turkic Countries.
“In order to consolidate actions to protect the social, labor, professional, economic rights and interests of workers, the National Trade Union Centers of the five Turkic states – Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan expressed their intention to sign an Agreement on the creation of a new structure. We discussed this issue with all parties for a year and a half. The Federation of Trade Unions has received an invitation to sign the Agreement, which is scheduled for July 28-31 in Baku. We aim to strengthen the cooperation of the trade unions of the Turkic states and jointly promote trade union initiatives,” added the Chairman of the FPRK.
At the end of Satybaldy Dauletalin called on the participants of the meeting to strengthen trade union unity together and persistently achieve the solution of all the above tasks.
The participants of the meeting highly appreciated the initiatives of the Federation of Trade Unions, expressing their trust and readiness to consistently follow the course outlined in the FPRK Activity Strategy “In unity towards justice and development.”
Media Center of the Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan