Renowned political analyst Dosym Satpayev, in light of the tragedy at the mine, heavily criticized the government’s approach to «ArcelorMittal Temirtau» enterprises.
Word for word:
«For a long time, AMT enterprises and mines resembled a combat zone, where people perished not from bullets and bombs, but from the greed of owners and the long-standing indifference of the authorities. The recent tragedy at the «ArcelorMittal Temirtau» mine, which led to significant human casualties, is a link in a long chain that extends back to the time of the first president, who handed the country over to his oligarchs and unscrupulous foreign investors.
Hostage Miners?
They were given the opportunity to extract resources and profits from the country in exchange for loyalty and a share of the profits. But nobody cared about the lives of people and their working conditions. Miners became hostages to the greed of foreign owners and the indifference of officials who were also interested in coal extraction by any means, even at the cost of human lives, as the majority of electricity and heat in Kazakhstan is still produced by old coal-fired power plants. The same ones that neither oligarchs nor corrupt officials wanted to modernize for 30 years.
For many years, the state did not monitor compliance with labor legislation at all. We have just under 300 labor inspectors for the entire country. Therefore, in a year, we can inspect no more than 3% of the enterprises. Moreover, according to statistics, the majority of Kazakhs engaged in hazardous labor work at enterprises in the Karaganda and Mangystau regions.
It’s not surprising that in 2020, in the Global Workers’ Rights Index, Kazakhstan was among the 10 worst countries, alongside India and the Philippines.
What Are the Authorities Doing?
Despite the fact that over the course of almost 30 years, more than 100 miners have died at AMT enterprises, the government took no measures to protect the lives of our citizens. Furthermore, for 30 years, the authorities deliberately destroyed independent trade unions, with active support from oligarchs, which could effectively protect these labor rights. In our country, trade unions were either cornered by domestic and foreign investors or turned into a tool of control over workers by enterprise administrations.
Unanswered Questions
But another question arises: why, as of last year, didn’t the authorities start the process of severing the investment cooperation with «ArcelorMittal Temirtau»? Especially considering that last year, after another series of accidents and casualties at AMT enterprises, on the orders of the second president, a government commission was established to address all issues related to miner safety. But nothing happened.
The authorities only started moving after another tragedy at the «Kazakhstanskaya» mine this year. They even stated that in 2023, nearly a thousand violations of industrial safety requirements were identified at AMT enterprises.
Once again, a question arises: if these violations were identified, and experts recognized a huge number of safety issues in the mines, effectively turning them into minefields, why did miners continue to descend into them? Why didn’t they suspend work in the mines and at AMT enterprises? At the same time, miners, with the support of the investor, could continue to receive their full salaries while order was established at these mines and enterprises and safety was improved.
Moreover, if this suspension would have impacted coal production, Lakshmi Mittal should also have been required to procure coal for Kazakhstan from other countries while his facilities were not operational. After all, he owed payments a long time ago. But the country’s leadership did not take this step, as coal production had to continue at any cost until another tragedy occurred.
Collective Responsibility
Therefore, in this dire situation, collective responsibility lies with everyone: Lakshmi Mittal and the Kazakhstan government at both the central and local levels.
Now society expects not only a specific plan for terminating the investment agreement with AMT and the personal responsibility of Mittal, but also a comprehensive plan to change the situation at all enterprises in Kazakhstan.
After all, for many years, officials of all levels have enjoyed discussing the value of constructive labor and how Kazakhstanis should become a hardworking nation to live in a «society of universal labor.» But for many years, individuals engaged in constructive labor in Kazakhstan were at the lowest rung of the food chain, as foreign investors and domestic oligarchs often had more favor with the authorities than their own citizens with their labor rights. Without changing this situation and without the emergence of independent trade unions, tragedies will continue to occur with both old and new investors.
The state always defines the rules of the game. Investors either play by them or withdraw. But if these rules do not include the protection of the interests of ordinary workers, and local authorities despise this protection, then investors will perceive it as a green light.»
(Note: «ArcelorMittal Temirtau» is a steel and mining company operating in Kazakhstan.)
