INTERVENTION ON KAZAKHSTAN, CONVENTION 87 – DAG B. JONSRUD, YS NORWAY
Madam Chair,
I will speak on behalf of the trade unions in the Nordic countries and Estonia.
We express our deep concerns about the recent developments in Kazakhstan limiting freedom
of trade union activities and open the possibility for the government bodies to intervene with
trade union activities.
The newly adopted national law, seriously limits the opportunities for trade union movement
of the country. In particular articles of the law related to the freedom of internal trade union
activities, such as the ability of trade unions to define their own structure, put forward
demands and realise their right to strike as well as the problems regarding the union
registration by the state bodies, reorganization and liquidation make it difficult to exercise the
union rights.
In accordance with the law the sector trade union should now be established by not less than
half of the total number of employees or organizations in the industry, or should have
structural subdivisions in more than half of the regions, cities of national significance, as well
as in the capital. This makes it very difficult to form these upper-level organizations, and
again in practice may lead to the existence of only one such organization. Madam Chair, We
fear the law may lead to trade union monopoly at both the enterprise and sector level.
The free exercise of the right to establish and join organizations implies the right of workers
to freely decide whether they wish to associate or become members of a higher-level trade
union structure. In other words, the question as to whether to join a higher-level trade union is
a matter that should be determined solely by the workers and their organizations. This is not
the case in Kazakhstan as the law have high thresholds to establish a higher-level organization
by making it almost impossible to form confederations.
The need to re-register creates risks for existing union organisations that might not fit the
criteria defined by the law. These risks were communicated to the government by the ITUC
and by the Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Kazakhstan (CFTUK).
Unfortunately, these risks became Realty. On 25 May the Ministry of Justice decided to
refuse to re-register the CFTUK. I read some of the reasons for refusal:
- In violation of the article 39 of the law on non-commercial organization the
competence of the highest decision body is not fully explained;
- In line with requirements of the sub-points 8 and 9 of the point 1 of article 9 of the law
of Republic of Kazakhstan on trade unions it is necessary to foresee in the Charter a
procedure for informing union members about income and expenditure and the
procedure for payment of membership dues and their utilization.
- It is necessary to concretize the procedure for creation of executive bodies – special
regional structures, which are foreseen by the chapter 9 of the Charter and to
concretize establishment strike and other funds of the association.
That is clear violation of the Convention 87, which provides workers with a right to formulate
their charters and structures of their unions.
We request the government to immediately remedy the situation and register CFTUK, which
can fall outside the legal sphere as from 1 July if that is not done. I join other speakers and
demand withdrawal of the restrictive criteria in the law that limits freedom of association as
well as registration procedure that give the government to decide whether a union can exist or
not.
Madam Chair,
Nordic and Estonian workers enjoy the right to form and join trade unions of their own
choosing and to bargain collectively. This protects us from monopolization of Unions and
secures plurality of trade unions in the Nordic countries.
We urge the Government of Kazakhstan to ensure the right of workers to freely join and
establish trade union organizations, and to organize their activities free of interference by
public authorities. This has to be ensured both in the laws and practice. The free and
independent unions must further be given the space and the possibility to represent their
members’ interests and protect their rights.
We appeal to the Government to take its membership in ILO seriously and enforce all the
recommendations of the CAS and amend the Law to ensure conformity with the Convention
87.
Thank you for your attention