New Labour Law May Disappoint

The lower house of the Kazak parliament has passed a new Labour Code that would extend the powers of the country’s trade unions. NBCentralAsia commentators caution that labour relations will not be regulated effectively until genuinely independent trade unions emerge. Nor does the document make it clear what penalties apply to employers who break the rules.



The lower house or Majilis approved the draft Labour Code on November 9 after a second reading, and sent the document to the upper house of Senate for review. The bill first went to parliament back in December 2004, and since then it has undergone more than 1,000 amendments.



Parliament was prompted to push ahead with ratification by the tensions that followed the death of 41 miners in an explosion at a mine owned by Mittal Steel Temirtau, and also by a recent clash between Turkish expatriates and Kazakstan nationals working in the Tengiz oilfields, caused by discrimination felt by the latter group.



These two incidents led the Aimak parliamentary caucus, headed by Dariga Nazarbaeva, to come up with its own draft of the Labour Code, proposing a stronger role for trade unions at plants with dangerous production processes, a cap on working hours, and a minimum hourly wage. Aimak’s proposals were incorporated into the final version of the bill.



Positive changes in the new legislation include increased employer liability for safety, 24 days’ mandatory annual leave, and a requirement to pay temporary disability benefit.



Labour and welfare minister Guljan Karagusova highlights other improvements such as the restrictions placed on government interference in labour relations and the stronger role assigned to trade unions.



Valery Kozhevnikov, an advisor to the head of the Kazakstan’s Trade Union Federation, says the bigger role assigned to the unions will help them engage in collective wage bargaining with employers.



Some NBCentralAsia analysts point out that there are very few really independent unions, and this may dilute the effects of the new legislation.



“Despite 15 years of market economics, the old-style communist trade unions and the old approaches still persist,” said Valentina Svirukova, head of the Civic Alliance of Kazakstan. “Whatever the new Labour Code prescribes, there is a need for new trade unions to emerge, and this will need some significant political changes to happen.”



Another weakness of the labour bill is that its provisions amount to recommendations rather than binding rules. For example, there is no mechanism for holding employers to account if they fail to comply with their obligations with regard to discrimination, pay, and working hours.



(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)