Striking Oil, Striking Workers Violations of Labor Rights in Kazakhstan’s Oil Sector

163 Pages·1.87 MB·English

H U M A N
Striking Oil, Striking Workers
R I G H T S
Violations of Labor Rights in Kazakhstan’s Oil Sector
W A T C H
Striking Oil, Striking Workers
Violations of Labor Rights in Kazakhstan’s Oil Sector
Copyright © 2012 Human Rights Watch
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America
ISBN: 1-56432-937-2
Cover design by Rafael Jimenez

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SEPTEMBER 2012 ISBN: 1-56432-937-2

Striking Oil, Striking Workers
Violations of Labor Rights in Kazakhstan’s Oil Sector
Summary ........................................................................................................................................... 1
Ersai Caspian Contractor LLC .................................................................................................... 5
KarazhanbasMunai JSC ............................................................................................................ 6
OzenMunaiGas ......................................................................................................................... 7
Recommendations ........................................................................................................................... 11
To the Government of Kazakhstan ........................................................................................... 11
On the right to freedom of association .............................................................................. 11
Enforcement of rights-respecting business conduct .......................................................... 12
Cooperation with international mechanisms ..................................................................... 12
Effective inspections and investigations ........................................................................... 12
On the misuse of overbroad criminal laws ........................................................................ 13
To Kazakhstan’s International Partners, Including European Union Member States and the
United States Government ...................................................................................................... 13
To the International Labour Organisation ................................................................................ 14
To National Companies and Foreign Companies Investing in Enterprises In Kazakhstan ........... 14
Methodology ................................................................................................................................... 16
I. Background .................................................................................................................................. 19
Oil and Gas: Backbone of Kazakhstan’s Economy ................................................................... 19
Oil Companies in Kazakhstan ................................................................................................. 22
Corporate Responsibility ........................................................................................................ 23
Kazakhstan’s Labor Movement .............................................................................................. 26
II. Freedom of Association under International and Kazakh Law ....................................................... 31
International Labor Standards ................................................................................................ 32
Prohibition on Employers’ Interference with Freedom of Association ................................. 33
Kazakhstan Labor Law ............................................................................................................ 34
Protection and Redress .................................................................................................... 35
Restrictions on Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining .................................... 35
Freedom of Association .................................................................................................... 36
Collective Bargaining ....................................................................................................... 37
Restrictions on the Right to Strike ..................................................................................... 39
Consequences for Participating in an Illegal Strike ............................................................ 41
III. Violations of Freedom of Association and other Rights in Kazakhstan’s Oil Sector ...................... 44
Interference with Union Activity and Strike at KarazhanbasMunai Oil Company ....................... 44
Failed Efforts at Mediation ................................................................................................ 45
Violent Attack on Union Members ..................................................................................... 47
Interference in the Election of a New Union Leader ........................................................... 48
Escalation of Tensions and the Initiation of the Strike ....................................................... 50
Strike and Its Aftermath .................................................................................................... 51
Violations of the Right to a Fair Hearing in Cases against Oil Workers ................................ 52
May 24 Attempt to Access Union Office ............................................................................. 55
June 5 Protest March ........................................................................................................ 56
Case of Natalia Sokolova .................................................................................................. 59
Threats against and Harassment of Karazhanbas Union Members ..................................... 61
Wage Dispute and Strike at OzenMunaiGas Oil Company ....................................................... 62
Wage Dispute between Workers and OzenMunaiGas Management .................................... 63
Strike and Immediate Repercussions ................................................................................ 65
Riot Police Violently Disperse Peaceful Strikers................................................................. 67
Case of Akzhanat Aminov ................................................................................................. 70
Threats, Harassment, and Violence against Oil Workers and Their Families ....................... 71
Interference in Union Activity and Strike at Ersai Caspian Contractor ....................................... 77
Ersai Caspian Contractor Restricts Karakiya Union Chairman’s Access to Workers ............. 77
Karakiya Union Sues Ersai Caspian Contractor for Unlawful Interference ........................... 79
Ersai Caspian Contractor Restricts Union Activities, Refuses to Negotiations .................... 80
Threats and Harassment of Karakiya Union Members ....................................................... 82
Another Attempt to Enter into Mediation with Ersai Caspian Contractor Management ........ 85
Workers Go on Strike ....................................................................................................... 86
Strike Committee Members Arrested, Karakiya Union Suspended .................................... 88
Other Attempts to Disrupt the Peaceful Strike .................................................................. 90
Mass Dismissals at OzenMunaiGas, Ersai Caspian Contractor, and KarazhanbasMunai and Its
Affiliate Companies ............................................................................................................... 92
Ersai Caspian Contractor and OzenMunaiGas Claims regarding Mass Dismissals ............. 96
Violations of Freedom of Assembly of those Supporting the Oil Workers .................................. 97
Detention of Opposition Activists in Zhanaozen ............................................................... 98
Detention and Beating of Bakyt B. ................................................................................... 98
Detention of Activist Galym Ageleuov ............................................................................. 100
Detention of Opposition Party Activists in Aktau ............................................................. 100
IV. Strike Aftermath: Violent Clashes and Politically-Motivated Arrests ......................................... 101
December 16 Zhanaozen Violence ........................................................................................ 101
Crackdown on Outspoken Oil Workers and Political Opposition Activists ............................... 103
V. The Role of Ersai Caspian Contractor, KarazhanbasMunai and OzenMunaiGas ........................... 107
Public Commitments and Responsibility to Protect Human Rights ......................................... 108
VI. The Role of Kazakhstan’s International Partners ....................................................................... 112
Statements by International Partners on Labor Rights Violations ........................................... 114
Failure to Turn a New Leaf: Kazakhstan’s OSCE Chairmanship ............................................... 114
Enhanced Partners: European Union-Kazakhstan Relationship ............................................... 115
Germany ........................................................................................................................ 116
United Kingdom .............................................................................................................. 117
Close and Longstanding US-Kazakhstan Ties .................................................................. 118
Kazakhstan’s Other International Partners ...................................................................... 119
Acknowledgements........................................................................................................................ 121
Appendix ....................................................................................................................................... 122
Acronyms

ATS ArgymakTransService LLP
CEACR Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recom-
mendations
CFA Committee on Freedom of Association
CITIC China International Trust and Investment Corporation
FDI Foreign Direct Investment
FPRK Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan
ICCPR International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
ICESCR International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
ILO International Labour Organisation
ITUC International Trade Union Confederation
ITUCK Independent Trade Union Center of Kazakhstan
JSC Joint Stock Company
KBM KarazhanbasMunai JSC
KMG EP KazMunaiGas Exploration Production
KMG NC KazMunaiGas National Company
KSPK Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Kazakhstan
OMG OzenMunaiGas
TMS TuplarMunaiService LLP
Map of Kazakhstan and Mangystau Region. © 2012 Human Rights Watch

Summary

Thousands of workers employed in Kazakhstan’s oil and gas sector downed their tools in
May 2011 in three separate labor strikes at companies operating in the petroleum sector in
western Kazakhstan. While the labor disputes preceding the strikes developed inde-
pendently of one another, workers and labor unions representing them considered the
strikes at all three companies last-ditch efforts to resolve long-standing workers’ grievanc-
es over issues such as low pay and interference by company management in trade union
activity. In response to the strikes and in the course of workers’ efforts to resolve labor
disputes by other means prior to striking, Kazakh authorities and the three companies
variously violated workers’ fundamental rights, including freedom of association, collec-
tive bargaining and expression, and the right to strike.

This report, based on interviews with oil workers in Kazakhstan’s petroleum sector who
participated in strikes in western Kazakhstan in 2011, documents human rights violations
by companies and Kazakh authorities in the months preceding and during the strikes at
the oil service contractor Ersai Caspian Contractor LLC and at the oil exploration and
production companies KarazhanbasMunai JSC and OzenMunaiGas. The three strikes
lasted from one and a half to seven months starting in May 2011. The protracted strikes
were unprecedented in oil-rich Kazakhstan, a country that promotes itself as providing a
stable investment climate and being a reliable trade partner.

Kazakhstan is the largest country in Central Asia and boasts the fastest growing economy
in the region, fueled by its large reserves of natural resources such as oil, gas, coal and
uranium. In the last decade, Kazakhstan has annually drawn billions of dollars in foreign
direct investment, including from the United States, Great Britain, and Russia, most of
which pours into its oil and gas sector. Oil sales have accounted for nearly 40 percent of
total government revenue in recent years. As of January 2011, Kazakhstan has the world’s
eleventh largest amount of proven oil reserves, the bulk of which can be found in western
Kazakhstan, a semi-arid region along the Caspian Sea.

In particular, this report documents how the three companies and the Kazakh government
violated the rights of oil workers to freedom of association, the right to organize and bargain
collectively. Ersai Caspian Contractor LLC and KarazhanbasMunai JSC restricted union
1 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | SEPTEMBER 2012