Page 6 - FSUOGM Week 08 2022

FSUOGM COMMENTARY FSUOGM

Kazakhstan: No end in sight for

protests in western region

Oil workers and state employees want higher salaries, and the unemployed wants jobs

KAZAKHSTAN THE west of Kazakhstan is in ferment once outsourcing companies.
more. Mangystau regional governor Nurlan Noga-
Only six weeks after protests in the yev has been at a loss to deal with any of these or
Mangystau region triggered a chain reac- earlier protests.
tion of nationwide rallies that culminated When people came onto the streets in
with deadly unrest in the city of Almaty, oil Zhanaozen in early January in a show of anger
workers have come out onto the streets with at the sudden spike in prices for car fuel, he
demands for higher pay. addressed the picketers in person, only to be
In Zhanaozen, employees of Uzenmunaigas, snubbed. This time around, he has stuck to
a subsidiary of a state-owned energy company issuing a statement through his office’s website
upon which the town’s economy depends almost pledging to provide jobs.
entirely, have been on strike since February 15. “Problems will be solved, but not immedi-
They have two main demands: more pay and ately. It takes time,” he said in the February 15
an end to prosecutions and the alleged physical statement.
abuse of people detained over their involvement The capital too is showing some signs of
in last month’s protests. nerves over the fact that public discontent
“The detainees are not terrorists. We want in the west will not abate. On February 17,
an end to the torture and for them be released! Nogayev spoke with Tokayev, who delivered
The authorities must pursue political reforms,” a “number of specific instructions” on the
a rally ringleader, Orazbai Tursynbai, told RFE/ socio-economic development of the Mangystau
RL’s Kazakh service, Radio Azattyk. region.
Tursynbai was a prominent figure in the Tokayev appears for now to be buying time.
months-long Zhanaozen worker protests in 2011 “Despite the measures we have taken, the dis-
that ended in a deadly clampdown by police in satisfaction of workers is growing, this must be
December that year. Fully 16 people died after spoken about openly. All the needs of the work-
police opened fire on protesters. ers must be carefully studied. Their legitimate
The protest mood in Mangystau is spreading interests must be respected. We need to build a
beyond just the energy sector, whose workers constructive dialogue between trade unions and
have traditionally displayed most resolve in their company owners,” he said at a government meet-
confrontation against employers. ing on February 8.
On February 14, local state-employed veter- Allusions to the role of trade unions may
inarians recorded a video message threatening engender the bitterness rather than mitigate
to stop working from March 1 unless their sal- it. Kazakhstan’s authorities have been waging
aries are increased. Their complaints included a sustained battle against independent unions
the charge that even the best-qualified and most and sought to compel workers instead to enroll
experienced vets are earning salaries of no more in organisations closely aligned to the state. The
than $200. government has latterly demonstrated some
Drivers for the Mangystau regional govern- signs of willingness to yield from its hardline
ment have likewise complained about their low position, although rights activists worry it has
pay and called for their salaries to be doubled. not gone far enough.
Then there are the unemployed. Groups of Toleutai Rakhimbekov, an analyst at a gov-
Zhanaozen residents have been gathering out- ernment-affiliated think tank, wrote on Face-
side the city hall for weeks pleading to be given book that it was past time that the government
jobs in oil companies. A group involved in a devote more attention to the distant provinces.
picket on February 14 recorded a video mes- “Low incomes, unemployment, and the peren-
sage urging the end to a freeze on the hiring of nial rise in prices for foodstuffs” is leading to the
new staff in the oil and gas industry. They also underdevelopment of rural communities and
appealed to President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev the agricultural sector, he wrote.
to visit the region and deal with people’s discon- “Apparently, January 2022 taught us nothing,”
tent directly. he concluded.
Uzenmunaigas imposed a moratorium on Almaz Kumenov is an Almaty-based
new hires in 2015. The stated money-saving journalist.
strategy of its parent company, KazMunayGaz This article originally appeared on Eurasi-
(KMG), has been to farm out more work to anet here. ™

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