As part of the campaign “How do you live, primary?”, First Deputy Chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan Mukhtar Tinikeev met with members of the local trade union “Energia” JSC “Almaty Electric Stations”. The meeting was attended by members of the local trade union, representatives of the employer, chairman of the NGO “Kazakhstan Branch Trade Union of Power Engineers” Orazbek Bekbas.
Opening the meeting, the chairman of the Trade Union Center of Almaty, deputy of the city Maslikhat Zauresh Umirbayeva reported on the situation in the metropolis, noting that all branches of branch and local trade unions conduct daily monitoring of social and labor relations at enterprises.
“To date, there are no risks of hotbeds of social tension at enterprises where trade unions are present: wages are paid on time, the situation at enterprises is stable, under the control of trade union committees. In the Year of Safe Work announced by the FPRC, various safety and labor protection measures, seminars, round tables, training seminars are planned and conducted in all branches of industry and local trade unions, and an analysis of occupational injuries is carried out monthly,” Zauresh Umirbayeva said.
Its chairman Serik Tymbasbayev reported on the work of the local trade union “Energia” JSC “Almaty Electric Stations” to protect the legitimate rights and interests of trade union members in matters of employment, remuneration and recreation, labor protection.
Yuri Shashkin, Head of the Department of Labor and Wages of JSC AlES, Chairman of the company’s conciliation commission, presented slides on the terms of the Collective Agreement of JSC AlES for 2022-2025, adopted in July 2022, in the areas of social protection and remuneration. He noted that AlES JSC, in accordance with the terms of the Collective Agreement, guarantees and annually carries out the indexation of wages of the Company’s employees in proportion to the average value of the inflation corridor from January 1.
Thus, during 2021-2023, the dynamics of indexation of wage levels and its minimum value for the company amounted to 46.4%. In addition, the payment of social benefits for temporary disability in the amount of the average salary, but not more than 30 MCI per month. Payment for attracting employees to work on weekends and holidays in double the amount. In addition, the employer transfers funds in the amount of 0.5% of the VAT to the settlement account of the NGO “Local Trade Union “Energia”.
Speaking on behalf of the employer, Yuri Shashkin thanked the local trade union “Energia” for responsible and constructive cooperation in solving the common task of social partnership – ensuring social stability in the workforce of JSC “AlES” on the basis of objective consideration of the interests of all parties.
Aisulu Irzhanova, Chief Specialist of the Department of Industrial Safety and Labor Protection of JSC “AlES”, told about how issues of safety and labor protection are solved in the company. She noted that in 2022, the technical inspectors for labor protection of JSC AlES conducted 167 inspections of workplaces, 329 violations of labor protection and safety requirements were identified. All identified violations have been eliminated. For material incentives and encouragement of technical inspectors, by the decision of the company’s Industrial Safety and Labor Protection Council, starting from the first quarter of 2023, payments are made to technical labor protection inspectors in the amount of 5 monthly calculation indices 1 time per quarter on an ongoing basis.
Head of Human Resources Management of JSC “AlES”Daria Shayzhanova spoke about the activities of the youth organization established in 2013. The purpose of the creation was to attract young people to the social and corporate life of the company.
The chairman of the Kazakhstan Branch Trade Union of Power Engineers, Orazbek Bekbas, who spoke during the meeting, gave a positive assessment of the activities of the local trade union, its close interaction with the employer, the result of which was the current collective agreement providing for large benefits and payments to the company’s employees.
“I will strive to raise the wages of power engineers, and so that it is not lower than the average wage in the country,” the chairman of the republican branch trade union of power engineers assured.
Summing up the meeting, the First Deputy Chairman of the FPRC focused on the main activities of the Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
“Over the past year, more than 80 labor conflicts took place in Kazakhstan, mainly in the west of the country, where the cause of conflicts was the level of wages of employees. There is such an indicator – the Keitz index. This is the ratio of the minimum wage to the average salary, it reflects the level of social inequality in the incomes of citizens. For comparison: in Kazakhstan it is 23%, in Russia – 24% – these are the lowest indicators, and in developed countries such as South Korea 57%, France 55% and in the USA 32%. Wages should be such as to ensure a decent standard of living not only for the employee himself, but also for his family. Today we must admit that only trade unions deal with the problems of labor collectives. In 2022, trade unions managed to influence the adoption of important decisions by the state – on behalf of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, a program was adopted to increase the incomes of the population, the minimum wage was increased and will continue to grow, finally, a long-standing trade union initiative was launched to develop a methodology for determining the minimum wage, including its indexation. I would like to emphasize that the implementation of the initiative of trade unions to increase the size of the minimum wage has become a reality precisely because the President publicly and unequivocally supported the position of trade unions,” Mukhtar Tinikeev said.
He supported his colleague, the chairman of the branch trade union O.T.Bekbas, on the issue of raising wages for power engineers: “in order to preserve industry specialists, so that there is no outflow of qualified personnel, it is necessary not only to modernize outdated equipment, but also, first of all, to raise wages. On this issue, Orazbek Telbayevich and I met with the former Minister of Energy.”
Noting the importance of the meetings held within the framework of the campaign “How do you live, primary?”, Mukhtar Tinikeev thanked the members of the local trade union “Energia”, representatives of the employer for the great joint work carried out to protect the rights and interests of employees.