Workers at Kazstroiservis during their successful protest action. Photo by KNPRK.Kazakhstan’s main independent trade union confederation is fighting for its life, as a court reviews a “justice” ministry bid to have it shut down. The legal onslaught on union organisation comes after a four-year drive against opposition political parties and independent media. Nevertheless, the workers’ movement is not beaten: strikes, even where organised outside the law, are forcing employers and state authorities alike to back off.
The Justice Ministry’s case against the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Kazakhstan (KNPRK) opened in Shymkent, in the south of the country, on 5 December.
The ministry is also urging the liquidation of industrial affiliate organisations representing mine workers, medical staff and domestic workers. The KNPRK (formerly the Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Kazakhstan, KSPK) is the largest grouping of industrial and local union organisations outside the “yellow” state-linked Federation of Trade Unions of Kazakhstan (FPRK).
