"Receiving Threats" - Striking Oil Workers Claim to Receive Anonymous Calls

In Zhanaozen, the Drilling Operations Management Company workers have been striking for the seventh day. Oil workers reported receiving threats from unknown people. An Orda.kz correspondent spoke with them.

One of them, Muratbay Zhumagaliyev, says more than a thousand people are striking.

The workers have set up a tent camp, and the strike continues around the clock.

Unknown people are calling us and saying that if we don't stop the strike and disperse, things will get bad for us. They called and threatened us several times. They demanded that I send the guys off. But no one is keeping them here by force. Everyone is there voluntarily, Zhumagaliyev told an Orda.kz correspondent.

He stressed that he does not plan to contact the police because of the anonymous calls. He noted that the workers intend to continue the strike until their demands are met.

We have only five demands. We want a sixth category added to our ranks, and also for the children of pensioners and those who have lost their health at work to be hired instead of them. If oil workers cannot support a family, let their children do so. Raise wages by 30% depending on the difficulty of the work. Because here one person works instead of two or three, being a stoker, a driver, and so on. We need to raise their wages or hire another person. At other similar enterprises, for example, KaraJanBasMunay, four people do the amount of work that one person does here,says Muratbay Zhumagaliyev. 

Meanwhile, a video emerged where the OzenMunayGas Board Chair, Zhanbolat Saimaganbetov, uses inappropriate language with workers. As Muratbay Zhumagaliyev explained, the incident occurred at a meeting of trade union representatives with the company's management.

 KazMunayGas has already commented:

A conversation has already been held with OMG's general director to prevent similar incidents in the future. We regret the incident that occurred, which involved an inappropriate statement. It allowed emotions to run high. In turn, we call on the employees of the Drilling Operations Department to remain calm and engage in a constructive dialogue, without provocative statements and actions, KMG reported.

As noted by the national company, before the incident, the strikers made their way into engineering and tech workers' offices and demanded that they join their efforts.

OzenMunayGas is lagging on the production plan.

Failure to meet planned targets will impact the company's financial position. In this regard, we urge the employees of the Drilling Operations Department to come to work, the company concluded.

The strike in Zhanaozen began on November 12.

Their demands include the return of the independent wage system, which was abolished in 2013, an increase in wages, the employment of workers' children, and a solution to the city's unemployment problem.

Original Author: Dinara Bekboaleva