Government wants employers to provide assistance for strikes in Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan’s authorities are going to make it easier for labor collectives to go on strike. They prepared a set of amendments to the national legislation on regulation for workplace conflicts.

According to MP Ekaterina Smyshlyaeva, the draft law is going to oblige employers to give room for their employees to negotiate with an employer and public officials before going on strike. It is expected that the move will let workers better understand their right of assembly.

«The decision whether a labor collective should go on strike or not must be made by the majority,» said the deputy.

Another novelty of the draft law is the «one-hour warning strike,» which can be carried out before arbitrage and signal that a collective’s intention to strike is quite serious.

«If an enterprise has both a trade union and elected representative, the final decision to strike must be made by a single body,» she added.

On the other hand, any labor arbitration must include representatives from all interested parties to «make this entity a more active part of the process.»

Smyshlyaeva also noted that so many meetings and strikes have happened since the beginning of the year in Kazakhstan.

«The vast majority of these incidents were just blown up from people’s discontent and frustration because no negotiations had happened. As a result, we call these strikes illegal and no solutions for workers’ problems are offered. This is not good for all of us and this process needs improvement,» she said.

In order to improve the situation, the authorities suggested adding amendments to the labor legislation, and Mazhilis approved the draft law in its first reading.

In November, 200 workers of Kazphosphate went on strike because of offensive statements by the head of the digital transformation department. Right after the incident, the official was fired.

In August, 400 workers of Kazakhmys’s contractor went on strike. They demanded a 50% raise and to make their company a part of the Kazakhmys corporation once again.