In Astana under the leadership of the Chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan Satybaldy Dauletalin was held a meeting of the General Council of the FTURK, which considered the current results of the implementation of the Strategy of the FTURK for 2020-2025 “In unity to justice and development”.
Members of the General Council of the Federation of Trade Unions discussed and analyzed the progress made in the implementation of the strategy, including in the protection of social and labor rights of workers, the development and strengthening of social partnership, as well as improving working conditions and remuneration.
Mirbolat Zhakypov, Chairman of the sectoral trade union of workers of state, banking institutions and public services “Kyzmet”, shared information on the implementation of the strategy of the FTURK activity in his sector.
According to him, at present the number of members of the trade union “Kyzmet” is 97 016 people, and by the end of the year in the branch it is planned to increase the trade union membership in more than 100 thousand people.
Speaking about the achievements in the field of social partnership, Mirbolat Zhakypov said that in March 2022 between the trade union “Kyzmet” and the Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan for Public Service signed an industry agreement for 2022-2024 years. Since 2022, 969 agreements have been concluded in the industry, including 69 regional industry agreements of regional, city and district levels.
“Industry agreements of different levels are the starting point and the basis for signing collective agreements, which are more detailed and can provide real improvements in working conditions and remuneration and social and labor relations. For example, the branch of the sectoral trade union in West-Kazakhstan region achieved 25% bonuses for archivists working in rural areas”, – emphasized the chairman of the sectoral trade union.
Among the most significant achievements of the trade union organization was noted the increase of allowances from 15 to 60% for employees of state institutions providing special social services, as well as the increase in salaries for employees of the Population Service Center.
In addition, as the speaker said, last year during meetings with experts of the World Bank on the reform of the system of remuneration of civil servants, the sectoral trade union raised a number of problematic issues, including those related to the abolition of the basic salary and the application of the minimum wage in the calculation of wages, raising the minimum wage to the ILO standard, equating medics and teachers of medical and social institutions to the status of medics and teachers of the ministries of health and education, etc.
The trade union pays great attention to increasing the attractiveness of trade union membership, successfully implementing in a number of regions the project “Trade Union Partner”, providing various services with a trade union discount from 5 to 50%.
In turn, the Chairman of the sectoral trade union of workers of chemical, petrochemical and related industries of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kerim Primkululy, presenting the results of its activities, said that to date the efforts of the pro-organization are focused on the following strategic objectives: ensuring a decent level of remuneration, ensuring industrial safety and prevention of social and labor conflicts.
“To date, two sectoral agreements have been signed – in the oil and gas, oil refining and oil and gas chemical industries for 2023-2025 and in the chemical industry for 2024. By the end of this year, work will continue on the conclusion of the Sectoral Agreement in the chemical industry for the following years, taking into account the new methodology for calculating the minimum wage in sectors of the economy”, – said Kerim Primkululy.
An important result of the work of the sectoral trade union within the framework of social partnership was the increase of the minimum tariff of the first category for employees of the oil and gas chemical industry by 30%, as well as for employees of the chemical industry by 21%.
Along with this, the sectoral trade union managed to fix the indexation of wages of workers in the industry based on the annual inflation rate, as well as to establish additional social benefits and guarantees over and above those provided by the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
In order to improve the welfare of workers, he noted the importance of accelerating the process of ratification of ILO Conventions No. 102 “On the establishment of minimum social standards”, No. 131 “On the establishment of minimum wages”, No. 154 “On the promotion of collective bargaining”.
On the situation in the social and labor sphere of the capital informed the chairman of the Trade Union Center of Astana Tolegen Kunadilov. According to his data, the number of trade union members in the capital is 107 thousand people, representing 520 primary trade union organizations from 10 sectoral structures.
Speaking about the work within the framework of social partnership, he said that in April this year signed a city agreement for 2024-2026 years. The coverage of collective bargaining regulation at the enterprises of the city where trade unions operate is 96 percent.
He made a special emphasis on the issues of safety and labor protection at the enterprises of the city.
“In 2023, 60 cases of industrial injuries were registered – 43 employees were seriously injured, 17 people died. In the first half of 2024, 23 facts were registered, including 9 fatalities and 15 serious injuries. In 56 cases, the accident investigation commission established 100% fault of employers. It should be noted that there are no trade union organizations at the facilities where fatal accidents occurred,” Tolegen Kunadilov said.
A significant innovation in the work of the capital’s trade unions was the connection of the hotline phone of the Trade Union Center to the information distribution system of the Interdepartmental Unified Situation Center (I-komek).
Today in Astana there are 1125 industrial councils on labor safety and health, in which 1453 technical inspectors carry out their activities. At the moment 38 enterprises have implemented the program of the International Social Security Association “VizionZero”, which employs about 17,027 people.
As for the work on prevention and resolution of labor disputes, Tolegen Kunadilov noted that on a systematic basis social partners analyze social tensions and discuss the map of risks of labor conflicts.
“In 2023, 2 collective labor disputes were registered in Astana. As a result of participation of the Trade Union Center in the negotiation processes, part of the issues were resolved in favor of employees. In addition, a special working group was created on the issue of ensuring compliance by employers of labor legislation and ensuring working conditions of employees”, – said the speaker.
In addition, according to his information, trade union centre is actively implementing the practice of labor consultations, thanks to which it was possible to prevent labor disputes and protests in a number of labor collectives in the capital.
Significant results have been noted in the field of implementation of the Gender Policy. In order to protect women’s labor rights and interests, approval of additional benefits and compensations has been introduced to ensure the rights of women working under collective bargaining agreements. In addition, at the suggestion of the Trade Union Center, the Federation of Trade Unions, together with the city maslikhat, has resolved the issue of increasing social support measures and increasing the coverage of needy citizens, including working women with many children.
Having familiarized themselves with the current situation and the results of the work of trade union organizations, the members of the General Council approved the measures taken within the framework of the implementation of the Strategy of the Federation of Trade Unions for 2020-2025, and also recommended to continue work in all priority areas.
Summarizing the results of the meeting, Chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions Satybaldy Dauletalin highly appreciated the results of the activities of affiliated organizations to protect the social and labor rights and interests of trade union members, emphasizing the importance of unity of trade unions in achieving the goals and interests of workers.
He noted that, relying on the principles of solidarity, trade unions, have a significant impact on improving working conditions and the lives of workers.
“Over the past years, the Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan has repeatedly raised pressing issues of the labor sphere: a systematic increase in the minimum wage, the development of a methodology for the formation of minimum wage , the creation of safe working conditions, fair labor relations and fair treatment of the Man of Labor. Today we can confidently say that over the past 4 years at the initiative of trade unions the minimum wage has increased 2 times – from 42,500 to 85 thousand tenge. A long-standing trade union initiative to develop a methodology for determining the minimum wage has been implemented. For the first time in the country, the Program for Increasing the Income of the Population was adopted. With the adoption of the Safe Labor Concept, we moved from the BIoT compensation model to a risk-oriented model that meets international standards”, – emphasized the Chairman of the FPPC.
In addition, he recalled the decision to transfer the powers of state labor inspectors from local executive bodies to a separate agency – the Committee of State Labor Inspection.
As emphasized by Satybaldy Dauletalin, this initiative of the trade union is a significant step in the implementation of ILO Convention No. 81 “on labor inspection in industry and commerce”, aimed at strengthening control over compliance with labor legislation in the country’s enterprises.
“As a result of active actions of the Federation of Trade Unions social partners are taking measures to adopt the National Program of decent work”, – said the Chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions of RK.
It should be noted that this issue was initiated by the Chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions Satybaldy Dauletalin at the meeting of the National Kurultai and on behalf of the Head of State included in the action plan of the consultative and advisory body.
Chairman of the FTURK also informed his colleagues about the important results of the working trip to Geneva, where the delegation of the Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan took part in the 112th session of the International Labor Conference of the ILO.
Among the important points of the visit, the Head of the FTURK noted the negotiations with the Director-General of the ILO Gilbert Ungbo, during which an agreement was reached on the visit of the head of the international organization in Kazakhstan at the invitation of the leadership of the Federation.
No less significant moment of the working visit, he said, was the signing of the Roadmap for promoting decent work in Kazakhstan between the social partners of the country and the International Labor Organization.
Noting the importance of the issue of ensuring social stability, including in enterprises with foreign participation, the head of the FTURK reported on the outcome of negotiations with Vice-Chairman of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) Wei Dichun. According to him, colleagues from China accepted the invitation to visit Kazakhstan and learn from the experience of social partnership trade union organizations and employers of Kazakh-Chinese enterprises.
In conclusion, Chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions Satybaldy Dauletalin assured colleagues that the Federation of Trade Unions will continue to develop international dialogue and cooperation with social partners in the interests of trade union members and urged colleagues to work together to strengthen trade union unity and persevere to achieve the solution of all these problems.
As part of the agenda, the members of the General Council also approved the report of the Asset Management Directorate on the work done in 2023, as well as measures to further improve the trade union project “People’s Budget”.
Media Center of the Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan