In 2021, there was a sharp increase in the number of social and labor conflicts in Kazakhstan. In particular, if in 2019 their number did not reach even 10, then in 2021, according to various sources, their share increased several dozen times. What this can lead to and what should be done in order to resolve them, – writes sociologist, participant of CABAR.asia-2021 School of Analytics Aiman Zhussupova in an article, specifically for CABAR.asia
A complex of factors must be attributed to the causes of social and labor conflicts, despite the fact that the people on strike entitle the low level of wages as the reason. As practice shows, an increase in the level of wages alone does not lead to a decrease in the level of social tension at enterprises where workers are on strike. Working conditions are also among the factors influencing their occurrence, as well as the quality of management, which is of no less importance, the requests for which today are of a fundamentally different nature. At the same time, the effectiveness of trade unions, called upon to regulate labor relations in the country, remains low.
In 2021, there was a sharp increase in social and labor conflicts in Kazakhstan, which can be seen in the context of the dynamics of recent years. In this vein, if we proceed from open sources, then in 2012 – 21 conflicts were registered, in 2013 their number was 28 cases, in 2016 this number was 4. For 2017-2020, about 20 conflicts were registered. (according to other data, in 2019 there were 9 labor conflicts in the republic, in 2020 – 11 conflicts).
Whereas in 2021, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev announced the data that 150 labor conflicts have been recorded in the Mangystau region alone since the beginning of the year. Moreover, over 130 of them are in the oil and gas sector. The oil-producing region accounts for 80% of all labor disputes.
At the same time, it is quite difficult to provide clear statistics on the number of social and labor conflicts, since it can be assumed that information about them does not always come to the public field, and, often, is of a fragmentary nature.
However, it cannot be argued that social and labor conflicts affect only employees of large industrial enterprises, among the people on strike were employees of budgetary institutions and workers employed in the platform economy (Wolt employees).
Causes of social and labor conflicts in Kazakhstan
If we talk about the reasons, then at the forefront, according to the declarations of the workers on strike themselves, are the issues of wages.
This fact is quite understandable: 2020 turned out to be a critical year, aggravating the already difficult economic situation in the country: devaluation, inflation, and rising prices, which affected the deterioration of the social well-being of the country’s population. At the same time, to date, the indexation of wages is provided for only in 10% of Kazakhstani enterprises. In general, the size of wages in manufactured products in Kazakhstan is several times lower than in developed countries.
Thus, economic reasons, aggravated by objective circumstances associated with the general situation in the country, lie on the surface of the growth of social and labor conflicts in the country. Nevertheless, it should be understood that the overall situation is much more complicated, we are talking about a complex of factors that affect the growth of strikes in Kazakhstan in the aggregate. Within the framework of this work, the hierarchy of factors that caused such a rapid increase in the number of social and labor conflicts in Kazakhstan will be analyzed, and an answer will be given to the question – to what consequences their development can lead.
A separate and most important issue that will be considered in the course of the work is what are the most optimal ways of resolving social and labor conflicts in the country and the likelihood of their application, as well as what factors influence this process.
What are other reasons for the growth of social and labor conflicts in the country? First of all, in addition to the low level of wages, working conditions in Kazakhstan are an important factor. According to the Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan, there is an increase in the number of violations of workers’ rights in the country. So, in 2020, the number of accidents at the enterprises of the republic increased by 5.8% (1330 accidents), the number of victims increased by 5.1% (1503 people), the increase in mortality increased by 15.6% (208 people died). In 78% of fatal accidents, the fault of the employer was determined. Of 192 enterprises with fatalities, only 58 (30%) have trade union organizations.
The public resonance, in particular, was caused by the death of six miners in the mines of ArcelorMittal in November 2021. According to experts, the situation was due to a low degree of protection, outdated equipment and mines. Prior to that, in 2008, 30 miners died at the Abay mine due to methane emissions in the face.
In terms of regions, the largest share of workers employed in unfavorable working conditions falls on regions with industrial specialization – Mangistau (54.5% of the employed) and Karaganda (37.2%) regions.
At the same time, the level of state control over the observance of labor legislation is weak. Today the number of state labor inspectors is only 256 – one inspector for 23 thousand employees. Whereas, according to the recommendations of the International Labor Organization (ILO), in order to effectively carry out their functions, their number should be 1 inspector for no more than 10 thousand employees. State labor inspectors in Kazakhstan cover only 3% of enterprises and organizations with inspections per year.
Despite the fact that issues of wages and working conditions are one of the main causes of labor conflicts, the vast majority of conflicts are provoked precisely by the refusal of the administration to negotiate on this issue. That is, the management factor is of no less importance among a number of reasons due to which there is an increase in social and labor conflicts.
There is a critical gap between top management and workers in industrial relations, ineffective communication between the administrative and managerial and production staff. Experts state that today in Kazakhstan the culture of behavior in crisis situations and work with crises is not built and systematized . Thus, management today is one of the main factors in the development of social and labor relations, ultimately determining the effectiveness of the organization.
One of the reasons influencing the occurrence of labor conflicts is also the inequality in wages of local and foreign workers.
Thus, the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Population of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Kazakhstan revealed 476 facts of creating unequal conditions in wages back in 2019. According to data for 2020, the largest number of foreigners work in the construction sector – 8623 people (45%). The mining industry employs 2,213 people (12%), in agriculture, forestry and fisheries – 55 (0.3%), professional, scientific and technical activities involve 1,557 foreigners (8%), in the manufacturing industry – 1 397 (7%) .
At the end of 2019, according to the results of an audit by the Ministry of Labor and the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Kazakhstan, 930 facts of violations in 95 enterprises were revealed among enterprises that attract foreign labor. The main part of the violations concerned the inconsistency of the qualifications of foreign workers with the declared ones. At the same time, 27 companies admitted about 470 facts of imbalances in wages.
Considering this factor, since 2019, the quota for attracting foreign labor has been reduced by 40% – from 49 thousand in 2019 to 29 thousand in 2020. The Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Population of the Republic of Kazakhstan believes that “the adoption of a quota will help protect the domestic labor market from unskilled foreign labor and employ more Kazakhstani personnel.”
Also, based on the results of the audit, it was decided that enterprises with a staff of more than 250 people, where more than 30 foreigners work, will be regularly checked, and labor inspectors will be able to promptly respond to any violations, including disparities in wages and social welfare. conditions .
Indicative in this respect are the results of an expert survey conducted by the Eurasian Center for People Management, devoted to the analysis of social and labor conflicts in Kazakhstan.
Among the options for answering this question that were indicated in the "Other" category, the following were most often mentioned:
- Lack of protection from the state
- Fear of job loss as a result of robotization (automation)
- Doubt or lack of awareness about the effectiveness of using other methods of resolving emerging disagreements
- People have nowhere to go to work, there are few vacancies in their specialty, the economy is not diversified
The role of managerial factors in the emergence of social and labor conflicts
Whereas in the context of managerial factors that determine the occurrence of labor conflicts, experts, as the main determining factor, denote the ineffectiveness of communications between administrative and managerial and production personnel (75%) and low managerial competencies of managers (72.7%), this also includes the authoritarian style of leadership (38.6%).
Experts, whose field of activity includes the analysis of labor relations in Kazakhstan, as one of the reasons for the emergence of social and labor conflicts in the country, highlighted nepotism, lack of transparency in personnel appointments.
Of course, in order to understand how widespread, the problem of nepotism associated with an opaque personnel policy and inconsistency in the qualifications of the position held, it is necessary to conduct separate studies. Nevertheless, it is indicative that the problem of favoritism and nepotism was spreading and a fight was declared against it even at the level of civil servants, who, in fact, are always in sight. It can be assumed that in large companies this problem is more hidden, shadowy in nature; nevertheless, its presence and impact on social and labor conflicts in the country are also emphasized by experts who took part in the ECPM expert survey (38.6% of the surveyed experts).
Separately, experts highlighted such factors as the lack of effective monitoring systems for early warning of labor conflicts, as well as the lack of an effective industrial ideology.
In this vein, it is worth noting that psychological factors, their influence on the emergence of social and labor conflicts in the country are still not perceived as significant even at the level of the expert community.
Nevertheless, as international studies show, often employees, even being satisfied with the material working conditions, but not feeling loyalty and involvement in the work of the company, implement their activities at least half-heartedly.
Experts specializing in corporate culture emphasize that it is important for any person to understand that they have realized themselves professionally in life. While for employees, and, as research shows, even for the owners of the company, it is vital to understand, to know that the efforts that they put into daily work contribute to the development of the company, and, in a more global sense, serve the development of the whole society. This factor is of particular importance today, with the growth of the spread and influence of social networks, and, as a consequence, the importance of the voice of each individual.
Thus, among the defining reasons for the emergence and growth of social and labor conflicts include not only economic factors, but also issues related to the quality of management, or, in fact, factors of a psychological nature.
In the context of managerial and broader psychological factors, the impact of COVID-19 and the related pandemic, as a result of which employees of many companies today work in a state of stress, anxiety, pain from the loss of loved ones, uncertainty about tomorrow. All of this creates long-term frustration. Head of ECPM Erbol Ismailov emphasizes that today this fact is completely not considered when measuring social attitudes in the industrial environment and among the population as a whole. In particular, he emphasizes that in 2021 the protest is higher than in the past, when everyone was scared and lived in the hope that everything was about to end, and we would return to the previous regime. “But as uncertainty continues, it creates an emotional swing, leads to burnout and professional deformation, pushes people to conflict,” Ismailov emphasizes.
Effectiveness of trade unions in Kazakhstan
Trade unions are of great importance in the context of constructive settlement of labor conflicts. Nevertheless, trade unions, which were relatively strong in the early 1990s, are no longer real defenders of workers' rights and are becoming overly bureaucratic institutions.
This is evidenced by the current inaction of the republican associations - the Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan (FTURK), the Kazakhstan Confederation of Labor (KCL) and the Commonwealth of Trade Unions of Kazakhstan "Amanat". In fact, the wave of strikes that has been growing since 2021 in the country occurs spontaneously, without their participation. All three associations were not in demand by workers at all phases of the emergence, deployment, and settlement of labor conflicts in defending labor rights and protecting the interests of people on strike.
Today the trade unions of the country have 2 million people: 40% of the number of employees, for example, in 1990 there were 7.4 million people in the ranks of the trade unions.
It is significant that in the Global Index of Observance of Workers' Rights for 2020, Kazakhstan entered the 10 worst countries in the world in relation to workers, along with India and the Philippines.
A survey of ECPM industry experts showed that only about 10% consider the activities of trade unions to be effective. More than 60% say that trade unions in our country do not play a significant role and they are just a tribute to traditions, they only play a decorative role.
What is the reason for the low efficiency of trade unions? Firstly, 86% of the chairmen of primary trade unions are not liberated from work and perform on a voluntary basis. The loyalty of the chairmen of trade unions does not allow for an equal social dialogue with the employer. In turn, the dependence of trade unions on employers leads, among other things, to a low level of trust in their activities on the part of workers, and first of all, young people. The low level of interest of the younger generation in the activities of trade unions leads, among other things, to an increase in the average age of union workers, the lack of candidates for the transfer of experience.
A separate issue requiring further study is the professionalism of trade union workers, the issues of transparency of the activities of Kazakhstani trade unions, which are also factors affecting the level of trust and interest in their activities on the part of employees of enterprises.
What measures could help improve the efficiency of trade unions in Kazakhstan? According to experts, first of all, we are talking about bringing the legislation on trade unions in line with the standards of the International Labor Organization (71.1%).
Separately, it is worth dwelling on the impact of social networks in the context of the development of social and labor conflicts, which have an impact not only on protest consolidation, but also allow employees to directly convey all their demands. At the same time, as practice shows, workers are increasingly appealing not to the employer or local authorities, but directly to the country's leadership. As Kazakhstani experts emphasize, this factor at least affects the reputational risks for the authorities, since in this case they act not so much as arbitrators or mediators, but as direct participants in conflicts.In this context, social networks are a factor that has exposed the problem of the decline in the importance of trade unions. At the same time, it is the trade unions, which as an institute, while implementing their activities on a systematic basis, are aimed at upholding the social and economic rights of workers, including the articulation of their interests, that is, to resolve emerging contradictions in a constructive manner, without bringing the situation to the "pivotal point".
Consequences of social and labor conflicts
What are the consequences of the growth of social and labor conflicts today in Kazakhstan?
First, we are talking about protest consolidation, which can lead to uncontrollability of the process, figuratively speaking the protest of “all against all”, a high level of the likelihood of politicization of social and labor conflicts. And in this context, they can spill over into other spheres of public relations, which causes particular concern in multi-ethnic societies, to which Kazakhstan belongs.
Secondly, the growth of social and labor conflicts, of course, affects the growth of social tension, the general stability of the settlement, which is especially important for single-industry towns, where the systemic company is often the only employer.
Of course, considering the threats of the growth of social and labor conflicts, it is worth highlighting the employers and the authorities, local and central, separately.
In particular, for the employer, the situation is fraught with destabilization of the activities of enterprises, a decrease in labor productivity. Whereas for the authorities, in addition to destabilizing the social situation, we are also talking about reputational losses.
At the same time, it cannot be argued that the increase in the number of social and labor conflicts is a negative phenomenon; rather, we can state the inevitability of this process associated with a number of reasons, including not only economic, but also psychological. And in general, as theorists emphasize, conflicts are an inevitable process; rather, it is about the effectiveness of mechanisms that can effectively regulate the process, implement a preventive policy, and remove emerging contradictions. These goals are intended to be realized by the trade unions, however, the wave of strikes that has been growing since 2021 in the country occurs spontaneously, without their participation.
Conclusions and recommendations
Silence of the ongoing social and labor conflicts, on the contrary, will aggravate the situation, as local experts emphasize, there is already a confrontation between labor and capital in Kazakhstan, which is beginning to prevail in industrial relations and social attitudes. As a result, in the eyes of the population workers on strike become a kind of defenders and guardians of their interests.
It can be predicted that while maintaining the previous approaches, both in management and in relation to working conditions, ignoring inflation and the absence of indexation of wages, an increase in the number of social and labor conflicts in the country is inevitable.
What should be done in this situation, based on the understanding that the threats of extreme confrontation between workers and management will not lead to positive decisions for either side? First of all, it is necessary to talk about the development of trade unions in the country, whose activities today are largely sham in nature.
Another important factor in this regard is the revision of management approaches, a departure from the previous command-hierarchical relations. The significance of this factor is reinforced by the changes, which, in fact, are of a global nature. We are talking about the growth of legal literacy of the population, the growing demand for representation and participation in general, which is due to the development of social media, the info-communication revolution. Thus, according to the latest data from the World Values Survey, the demand for participation is growing in the country, that is, the number of Kazakhstanis is growing who previously did not consider it acceptable for themselves to participate in any types of civic or political activity, but now consider this phenomenon as possible. In particular, if earlier 2.5% of Kazakhstanis took part in peaceful strikes, then in 2018 - 18.2% of Kazakhstanis stated that they consider this step acceptable.
A separate important recommendation in this vein is the introduction of early monitoring systems. In particular, we are talking about the management of conflicts in organizations, which is a strategy of personnel policy, which presupposes the presence of principles, methods, programs and socio-economic mechanisms that allow diagnosing the causes of organizational and socio-labor conflicts and minimizing the destructive consequences of conflict interaction.
In Kazakhstan, one of the successful examples of this kind of monitoring systems is the Index of Social Stability of Enterprises, (the author's patented ECPM technique), which is a multifactorial assessment of the level of social stability of an organization, including indices of engagement, social well-being, and social tranquility of personnel, as well as the level of social development of the organization.
Of course, any monitoring implies not a one-time measurement, but systematic work, which is ultimately aimed at improving interaction between employees and employers, creating a trusting and mutually beneficial system of relationships, which ultimately has a positive effect on labor productivity, not to mention other factors.