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Moscow, 17 May 2002
Bro Ken Georgetti Dear Brother Georgetti, I am writing to you on behalf of the General Confederation of Trade Unions, GCTU, a regional organisation affiliating trade union centres in the Commonwealth of Independent States and industrial Trade Union Internationals of the region. We would like to inform you of the situation that has evolved in the relations between the trade union organisation and the management of the Nefteorgsyntez Plant in Shimkent, Kazakhstan. This plant, one of the biggest in the country, with a 2000-strong trade union organisation, has been managed by Canada's Hurricane Hydrocarbons Ltd since March 2000. Three years ago, following a hard protracted struggle by the union and the work collective, the enterprise agreed to start negotiations with the aim to sign a new collective agreement. However, all attempts to amend the collective agreement so as to make it meet the realities of the current economic situation in Kazakhstan have failed. The result is that over the last three years the workers' wages have not been raised, although the inflation rate in the period 1998-2001 amounted to 133 per cent. The bargaining process reached a deadlock after the Hurricane's management had rejected even those paragraphs in the collective agreement whose fulfilment would not have cost them very much. Those included allowances to women on maternity leave, pay rises, etc. Moreover, in defiance of the Republic of Kazakhstan's legislation and ILO conventions, the management are cutting the jobs of women on maternity leave, and sacking elected union leaders. The announced restructuring plans may make redundant almost two-thirds of the personnel, without any other job offers. The company managers are trying to make the employees believe that any resistance on their part will be in vain. The workers are blackmailed and intimidated to make them leave their jobs "at their own free will". The company has been deaf to all demands and proposals by the trade union organisation. The interference by the National Union of Workers in the Chemical Industry and the Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan has produced no results. In this context, the General Confederation of Trade Unions appeals to you, dear Colleagues, to use whatever possibilities you may have to exert pressure on the central management of Canada's Hurricane Hydrocarbons Ltd and thus help the employees of its Kazakhstan subsidiary defend their legitimate rights and get normal social dialogue going.
Fraternal greetings, |
