News

Investors who profit as oil workers face repression

The companies that this month helped to jail trade union leader Nurbek Kushakbayev are linked, via Kazmunaigaz, Kazakhstan’s state-controlled oil and gas firm, to Chinese and international capital.

Free Nurbek Kushakbayev! Support independent workers’ organisation in Kazakhstan!

Trades unionists have launched an international campaign for the release of Nurbek Kushakbayev, who was jailed this month for his part in organising strike action in the western Kazakhstan oil field.

Kazakhstan: Union Leader Sentenced to Prison

The ITUC has denounced the sentencing of Nurbek Kushakbayev, Deputy Chairperson of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Kazakhstan, to two-and-a-half years in prison in connection with calls for a strike at the Oil Construction Company.

The Astana City Court No. 2 of Almaty District added a €75,000 fine for “damages” to the prison term.

Three years imprisonment for documenting forced and child labor

Alternative Turkmenistan News (ATN) reporter Gaspar Matalaev remains imprisoned on false charges of fraud, despite his family’s hope that he would be released in December and again in February, when others charged with the same offense were given presidential pardons. Matalaev likely remains imprisoned due to his work monitoring state-sponsored forced labor in Turkmenistan’s cotton harvest.

Kazakhstan: Repression of Independent Trade Unions

The ITUC has written to the President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, to demand the release of imprisoned trade unionists and an end to repression of the ITUC-affiliated Confederation of Independent Trade Union of Kazakhstan KNPRK and its affiliates.

Kazakhstan: state threat to shut down independent trade unions

Kazakhstan’s main independent trade union confederation is fighting for its life, as a court reviews a “justice” ministry bid to have it shut down.

The legal onslaught on union organisation comes after a four-year drive against opposition political parties and independent media. Nevertheless the workers’ movement is not beaten: strikes, even where organised outside the law, are forcing employers and state authorities alike to back off.

Tajikistan: Migrant workers’ rights and the 2018 World Cup

On 26-27 August 2015 leaders and activists of the Building Materials Workers Union of Tajikistan came together from different regions in the country to discuss migrant workers’ rights protection and pre-departure training.