Oil workers in Kazakhstan go on strike

RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS - In Brief 17 Dec 2023 by Alex Teddy
On December 11 hundreds of people stopped work at West Oil Software in north-west Kazakhstan. West Oil Software provides logistics for oil and gas companies. Manghystau Region, where the strike is taking place, has been the scene of similar strikes over the past 20 years. The police have tried to hassle people into going back to work. So far the police have arrested only a handful of strikers. Strikers have been threatened with losing their jobs but so far management has calculated that it cannot afford to replace highly skilled people and only fired 7. A court ruled the strike is illegal. Almost all strikes in Kazakhstan are declared to be unlawful. 500 people have stayed outside the company's HQ in temperatures of minus 20 Celsius. They want their salary system to be the same as KazMunayGas, which is the national oil and gas company. They also want their equipment upgraded.  The country makes most of its money through oil and gas. But only a tiny elite gets most of the wealth, and the workers feel exploited. The government was very jumpy on December 16 - Independence Day. However, it passed without a serious incident. This was also the anniversary of the Zheltoqsan Massacre of 1986.  The authorities have sometimes responded brutally to protests, such as at Zhanaozen in 2021, which led to national unrest, with hundreds of people shot by the police.

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