There are certain protesting traditions, that local elites and dark sides avail themselves of rather skillfully, to intimidate authorities – says famous Political Observer Daniyar Ashimbayev in his Telegram-Channel.

Literal Translation:

Arguments Among Companies

“…Tentatively speaking, Company A would win oil tenders for several years.  Last year, Company A had to share profits with Company B.  To avoid conflicts, Company B employed workers from Company A.

This year, Company A wins a tender and offers employment to people working for Company B, but under same old conditions.  All of a sudden, people on the ground go Banzai and demand to either that the contract is given to them, or that they are employed with the Customer (the one who announced the tender).  Because the last condition is unrealistic and unfulfillable, due to limited number of vacancies and specifics of employment, they raised the question of tender cancellation.

It is clear, that when workers shift from Company B to Company A, the old labor conditions are observed, but owners and managers lose their profits. 

This is when somebody deploys 200 workers to Astana, covering all travel expenditures, including railroad tickets, catering, per diems, means of communication, tents, sleeping bags and others

In Astana, those workers receive the same proposal – employment with Company A, but under old conditions.  Visitors refuse, get apprehended by police for illegal public gathering and then are sent back home with the government covering all corresponding travel expenditures. 

Money, Not Work!

Honestly speaking, this situation is not about either strike, or labor conflict.  In the home town of the workers, meanwhile, local population organized a big meeting, during which they demanded employment with the Customer, an oil and gas producing company.  Which means, they wanted employment in violation of formal procedures, quotas and without their work experience and qualifications taken in account. 

Among those protesters, there were a lot of individuals who relocated to Zhanaozen to work in oil and gas sector.  Many of them are Kazakhs, who repatriated to Kazakhstan from Karakalpakstan.

They do not want work in other industries. Neither did they agree to work on rotation in other regions. They are unwilling to re-train and relocate to other provinces of Kazakhstan.

They ignore arguments of the authorities, that the Customer operates a “brown-field”, which means an oilfield that is old and almost depleted. There are vacancies in the municipal services sector, civil construction and service sector, but those protesters are reluctant to go there. At the same time, they are well aware of the fact that

Zhanaozen has a “tradition of protests”, they may refer to to intimidate authorities. And there are interests of local elites and dark sides,

which may use protests to pursue their own goals – for example manipulate the oil and gas tenders. Besides, there are enough provocation agents, who are not capable of mobilizing local voters, but are ready to inflate protests for their own benefit.