Kaz Munay Gas - 2011 Strikes

2011 Strikes

In August, 2011, the company was four months into a wildcat strike at Uzenmunaigas. On August 2, Zhaksylyk Turbaev, a trade union member working for an oilfield service company in Zhanaozen, was killed. On August 24, 2011, the 18-year-old daughter of an elected member of the strike committee was found dead and apparently murdered, according to the striker. Zhansaule Karabalayeva was found in the countryside near the oilfield in Western Kazakhstan with multiple injuries, according to her father, Kurdaibergen Karabalayev, in a telephone interview on August 27. Bulat Abilov, an opposition politician, said "I don't think this is unconnected to the strike." "The local chief of police, quoted in a local paper, said the killing was not related to the strike. The company spokesman declined comment," according to one report. Earlier, in July, the singer Sting had cancelled a concert after he was briefed on the strike by Amnesty International. Earlier in August, "a labor lawyer, Natalya Sokolova, was sentenced to six years in jail for 'organizing illegal gatherings'" at the smaller Karazhanbas field, which is also on strike. The two strikes were causing a 6% output drop in production, according to a company spokesman. On August 26, KMG EP fired around 900 striking workers and replaced them with new recruits from the area. The company said that production at Uzen had stabilized. Karazhanbasmunai, a joint venture between KMG EP and China’s Citic, also fired around 500 workers. On August 31, Interior Ministry spokesman Nurdilda Oraz said in the Kazakh capital, Astana, that the police "did not associate" the "common crime" of Karabalayeva's murder with the father's activities. In the same report, the KMG EP press office said the father "was not the trade union chairman and had never been a strike activist. He worked as an engine driver for the company before being on July 27 this year." Into mid-September, 2011, daily protests by angry protestors, many of whom used to work at Uzen, continued in Zhanaozen's main square "in a rare display of popular dissent". On December 16, 2011, at least 10 protesters were killed as police opened fire on the demonstrations. Army units and armoured personnel carriers were sent in by the Interior Ministry to quell the ensuing protests, which saw government and Uzenmunaigaz buildings set alight by demonstrators.