Hundreds of workers of the oilfields service company Burgılau in Mangistau oblast did not come to work today at the set time, having put forward their demands to the employer. The talks between the workers and the representatives of the firm (employer) amid the presence of local authorities were conducted on raised notes.
The workers of the oilfields service firm, Burgılau, early on Thursday, July 28, refused to come to work. Hundreds of shift workers that were supposed to work the drilling rigs, assembled next to the Janaozen bus station, from where they are usually picked up by busses and taken to the reserves. The employees of the oilfields company announced that they are protesting against the reduction of working hours and salary levels. According to the statements of those gathered, the employer cites the crisis and the lack of funds, although the plan that dictates the development of the drilling volume is being timely accomplished.
The workers stated that the employers is pursuing and discharging from work the activists, that are acting on behalf of the collective. The workers demanded the dismissal of the general director of the company Burgılau, Ashat Sariyev, who, according to them, is organising the persecution.
“They are reducing our hours. 2200 persons work at the company. In the first semester, 66 persons were fired”, says a man that introduced himself as Akılbek Nurlıbayev, operator’s assistant.
The gathered workers expressed their lack of trust in the company’s workers’ union, demanding that Saduakas Bekkaliyev, who, as they say, the workers elected as their union’s leader, be permitted to work.
Saduakas Bekkaliyev was not among the workers: according to them, he was taken to the police station for interrogation. The workers are saying that the police summons those of their colleagues that are trying to go public with their problems at work. The workers said that they are protesting for the fourth day in a row, yet the employer and the local authorities have been ignoring their problems this whole time up until they received a visit from out-of-city media.
The CEO of Burgılau, Ashat Sariyev, having arrived on location, told the medias that the information about persecution at the workplace does not correspond with reality.
“This is all false. There is a labour dispute here. This mass [of workers] is being raised by Bekkaliyev Saduakas”, told Ashat Sariyev to the journalists.
The CEO of Burgılau said, that in order for the new workers’ union leader to start working, it is necessary to comply with the procedures and to organize a plenum with the participation of the delegates of all departments of the company, Burgılau. In response, the workers declared that they recognize the plenum that they held earlier during which Saduakas Bekkaliyev was elected chairman of the union.
The workers were visited by the vice-akim of Janaozen city, İsahan Sagimbayev, accompanied by the vice-chairman of Manigstau Oblast’s Workers’ Unions’ Soviet and by the representative of the Mangistau branch of the Workers’ Union of the Gaz and Petrol Industries of Kazakhstan. The talks between the authorities and the workers were conducted on raised notes. The workers of the oilfields service company accused the local authorities of idleness. The representatives of the authorities called for negotiations in a relaxed atmosphere.
Azattık was conducting a live broadcast from the scene:
After almost two hours of protesting, Saduakas Bekkaliyev, whom the workers are calling the elected leader of the union, arrived on scene. Arriving after being interrogated by the police, he said that all of the workers’ demands will be formulated in writing and handed over to the company management and to the local akimat. After this, the workers got into the busses and went to their workplace.
Burgılau company provides exploration services and drilling services for hydrocarbon deposits.
Translated from: http://socialismkz.info/?p=16524
Originally published on 28.07.2016 by socialismkz.info
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