Hundreds of workers at Kazakh-Chinese oil company are on strike for better pay and more labour rights. Leading trade union activist Sokolova is arrested as hundreds are threatened with firing. Government authorities appear unwilling to negotiate.

Astana (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Labour troubles might get worse in Kazakhstan after the meeting on 3 June between Manghystau Oblast Governor Qyrymbek Kosherbaev and striking workers from the Qarazhanbasmunai Oil Company ended in failure.

Workers told Radio Free Europe that the meeting was “not fruitful” because the governor did not meet them to discuss their grievances but simply to tell them that their strike was illegal.

Hundreds of the striking oil workers had also gathered outside the regional governor's office to demand higher wages and the immediate release of jailed trade union activist Natalya Sokolova on 2 June.

The oil company, a joint venture between state-owned KazMunaiGas (KMG) and China’s CITIC Group, which exploits the Karazhanbas oil field, was hit by a strike by 700 workers over wages and independent unions that began almost a month ago. Some workers have since gone on hunger strikes.

Uncertainty still prevails even though KMG announced that most workers are back to work, a claim other sources deny.

Sokolova, a trade union activist who provided the striking oil workers with legal assistance, was found guilty on 24 May of "organising an unsanctioned mass gathering" in front of police headquarters in Aqtau on 21 May.

She was sentenced to eight days in jail. On her release on 1 June, the authorities brought a new criminal case against her for “igniting social hatred”.

Police visited her flat on 31 May and confiscated her two mobile phones, her son's personal computer, and boxes of documents.

In a press release, Governor Kosherbaev said workers’ demands were sent to President Nursultan Nazarbaev and that Ms Sokolova “organised illegal public gatherings by the workers, which caused possible lay-offs and economic damages to the company.”

Output at the KazMunaiGas (KMG) Karazhanbas oil unit has “suffered insignificantly” with a loss of US$ 1.7 million due to a workers’ strike, a KMG spokesman said on Thursday.

The field produces around 36,000 barrels of crude per day, according to average output in 2010.

Things might get worse for workers after some of them said they received warning letters from their employer about their possible firing for their absence at work.

For Kazakh Labour Minister Gulshara Abdykhalykova the Qarazhanbasmunai oil workers' demands are "baseless and illegal."

• kazakhstan
• oil
• workers
• strike
• crackdown