Kazakhstan must respect workers’ right to strike29 January, 2024Around 500 workers in Kazakhstan’s oil industry have been on strike since December last year. They now face dismissals, interrogation and intimidation.
Kazakhstan: IndustriALL demands safety improvements after three killed at ArcelorMittal1 September, 2017Three workers were killed and another three seriously injured on 31 August at JSC ArcelorMittal Temirtau’s Kazakhstanskaya mine in the Karaganda region of Kazakhstan.
Kazakh trade unions sue ArcelorMittal for not respecting collective agreement20 September, 2017The Metallurgical Workers' Union Zhaktau and Mineworkers’ Union Korgau at ArcelorMittal Temirtau in Kazakhstan initiated a lawsuit against the company for failure to conclude a new collective agreement and for not respecting social benefits and guarantees of employees.
Trade union confederation in Kazakhstan faces dissolution9 December, 2016Five years after 17 striking oil workers were shot dead by riot police in Kazakhstan, trade union rights remain under severe repression in the country.
Kazakh court rejects union leader’s appeal for justice6 October, 2017The Shymkent city court refused to satisfy the appeal of the trade union leader Larisa Kharkova sentenced to a four-year restriction of her freedom based on “power abuse” accusations as chair of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Kazakhstan.
Global unions speak up for Kazakh trade unions23 May, 2017Amin Yeleusinov, chair of the Trade Union of Oil Construction Company was sentenced on 16 May to two-years imprisonment in Kazakhstan. The trade union leader dismissed all charges against him as unjust.
ArcelorMittal prosecutes Kazakh unions after underground protest9 February, 2018ArcelorMittal filed lawsuits against two unions and a rights organization in connection with a strike at company mines in Karaganda at the end of 2017, despite previously committing to not prosecuting workers for their participation in the strike.
Two oil union leaders arrested in Kazakhstan24 January, 2017Trade union rights are rapidly deteriorating in Kazakhstan. On 21 January, police in Aktau arrested two union leaders from the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan (KNPRK). The KNPRK was recently dissolved by authorities.
Kazakhstan: union leader, prisoner of conscience, is released29 May, 2018Nurbek Kushakbayev, deputy chair of the KNPRK and labour inspector of the trade union of Oil Construction Company (OCC), was released from prison in Pavlodar, Kazakhstan on 28 May. His colleague Amin Yeleusinov, former chair of the OCC trade union, was released a week ago.
Kazakh Oil Construction Company cracks down on union activists7 April, 2017**UPDATED** On 7 April the court of Astana sentenced Nurbek Kushakbayev to two-and-a-half years in a corrective labour colony for his calls to hold a strike. This is the first time a union leader has been prosecuted through the recently adopted Criminal Code. The judge has also satisfied the OCC’s demand to collect KZT 25 million (US$80,000) from Kushakbayev for alleged harm caused to the company.IndustriALL has joined a campaign against the criminalization of union activities in Kazakhstan.
