As part of the republican action “How are you, primary?”, which has been continued for the third year, representatives of the labor collectives of the railway industry of the Zashchitinsky junction (EKR) met with the leadership of the Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
The meeting, held online, was attended by First Deputy Chairman of the FPRK Mukhtar Tinikeev, Chairman of the republican branch trade union of railway, automobile, air and water transport workers Orazgali Akhmetbayev, Chairman of the Territorial Association of Trade Unions of East Kazakhstan Temirbek Kasymzhanov, representatives of the employer – director of the branch of JSC “KTZ-Freight Transportation” Vladimir Babichenko and Sayan Syzdykov – the chief manager of the functional direction on remuneration of the Department of Human Resources Management of JSC “National Company “KTZ”, as well as, at the invitation of labor collectives, the head of the Labor Relations Control Department of the State Labor Inspectorate of East Kazakhstan Region Galiya Toktasynova.
The head of the Territorial Association of Trade Unions of the East Kazakhstan region Temirbek Kasymzhanov, having introduced the participants of the online meeting, gave the floor to the director of the branch of JSC “KTZ-Freight Transportation” Vladimir Babichenko, who briefly acquainted the guests with the activities of the enterprises of the Zashchitinsky hub, and voiced the issues that concern workers of all 8 labor collectives railway industry in the region.
Aigul Zhailaubayeva, a representative of the sectoral trade union in the region, spoke with explanations of problematic issues that require the assistance of the higher bodies of trade unions.
She mentioned that the reason for the repeated meeting with the leadership of the Federation of Trade Unions, with the participation of the employer, was the initiative of employees who are dissatisfied with the different interpretation of the law on the monthly “environmental allowance” and the provision of annual additional paid leave to employees of the railway industry working and living in radiation risk zones, as well as the current absence of a “hot grid” (early retirement) for a number of categories of workers in the industry that existed before. She said that earlier, at a meeting of the labor collective of the Oskemen Operational Locomotive Depot with the leadership of the Federation of Trade Unions, these issues were discussed and sent to the employer and the leadership of the Republican Branch Trade Union to assist.
Currently, the employer has not made an addition to the collective agreement, and the “environmental allowance” and additional annual paid leave are provided only to persons who have a “victim’s certificate”, although the law and the regional (regional) agreement provide for the extension of this measure of social support to all employees of the organization outside depending on the presence of a “certificate of the victim”.
In confirmation of the speaker’s words, employees of several railway enterprises spoke, who expressed dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs with additional payments to employees. In turn, the representative of the Office of the State Labor Inspectorate of the East Kazakhstan region, Galiya Toktasynova, who took part in the meeting, informed that this provision of the regional agreement on social partnership is mandatory for all employers in the region, and is implemented by amending the collective agreements of enterprises.
Sayan Syzdykov, a representative of the central office of the Employer, having confirmed the appeal of the trade union on this issue, explained that the appeal is being considered by the company’s management, and at the moment no final decision has been made on the legitimacy of the claims. He also said that on the issue of early retirement of certain categories of industry workers, the company’s management, together with the republican industry trade union, is considering the development of a new provision, and at the moment there is a program for early retirement of workers of pre-retirement age who are subject to reduction.
Summing up the meeting, the First Deputy Chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Mukhtar Tinikeev, assured that the Republican Branch Trade Union would once again hold negotiations with the central office of the Employer on consideration and positive resolution of the problematic issues raised at the meeting, and information on the decisions taken would be brought to the attention of the employees of enterprises. In addition, he said that the Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan, for its part, will take control of the negotiation process, since increasing the social well-being of a working person is one of the priorities of the trade unions.
He said that the FPRK is in active dialogue with the sectoral ministries to reduce the retirement age for categories of workers in various industries working in harmful and difficult working conditions.
Concluding the meeting, Temirbek Kasymzhanov thanked the participants for an open and constructive dialogue, and expressed hope that in the near future the issues of labor collectives would be resolved positively, assuring that the territorial association of trade unions of the East Kazakhstan region, for its part, was ready to provide all possible assistance.