Aqtobe Plant with Over Two Thousand Employees Could Face Closure

The Aqtobe Plant of Chromium Compounds (AZHS) is the largest industrial enterprise in the region. On Monday, its workers went on strike, causing an uneasy situation. An Orda.kz correspondent has looked into the matter.

The workers who were on strike demanded their bonuses be raised. In September, a pay cut hit their wages. The workers said that such compensation was not enough to support their families. Attempts to resolve the issue with management resulted in a dilemma — employees had one option: quit if they were not satisfied with their wages.

Government agency officials attended the gathering. The deputy regional Akim vowed to facilitate a solution. On Wednesday, an order was signed to pay the bonuses: the plant took out a 100 million tenge loan.

What Happened?

The strike revealed the underlying problem: the company was experiencing an acute soda ash shortage. The raw material and chrome ore are used to produce chrome anhydride for woodworking and galvanizing. The shortage is due to the delay in soda deliveries from Russia, specifically from Bashkortostan. The raw material is delivered to Aqtobe by rail from there.

Radiy Fakhretdinov, Deputy Chair of the Plant's Board, explained that the enterprise depends on a single supplier, Bashkir Soda.

Due to the worsening situation in the Kursk region, many crews from Siberia and the Southern Urals were moved to the western part of Russia to transport cargo. And as we are told, they do not have crews and diesel locomotives to transport cargo, Fakhretdinov said, quoting government officials.

This weighed down the production in the Aqtobe region.  

The regional authorities are attempting to establish soda supplies from Uzbekistan; however, Fakhretdinov says these volumes won't cut it.

Unfortunately, the problem has not been solved. The only manufacturer that can sufficiently provide us is Bashkir Soda. There are capacities in Uzbekistan, when the problems began in August, we entered into negotiations with them. Now these negotiations are ending with the help of the regional Akimat. Thank you. The maximum that they can give us is two thousand tons. We currently need at least eight to 10 thousand tons, added the deputy chairman of the plant's board

The Chair of the Board of JSC AZHS, Alexey Khimich, stated that the situation is troublesome.

The issue is not being resolved. There is no soda, the plant will be completely shut down. Russia does not provide soda. We need 300 tons per day, now we only have reserves for five days,
 noted Khimich.

The plant now operates at partial capacity, with some employees on forced leave. The enterprise, which has been operating since 1957, employs more than 2,000 people. The average salary at full capacity was 365,000 tenge (roughly 736 USD), but it has now fallen to 265,000 (roughly 535 USD).

The production facility, which provides export supplies to the United States, has halted operations. The company's main sales markets are South Korea, Japan, China, and Europe.

Original Author: Yelmira Yerzhanova