To protect the domestic labor market, the quota for attracting foreign labor has been reduced in the region.
This year, the quota for foreign specialists has been reduced from 17,000 to 10,567.
The question of the disparity in the wages of foreign and Kazakh workers has been raised more than once. As informed the head of state labour Inspectorate of Atyrau region Igilik Aubakirov, audits covered 43 companies and identified 109 discrimination against Kazakh workers in terms of wages, 167 cases of execution of foreign employees working in professions not corresponding to the issued permit, as well as 114 non-compliances with the education of foreign workers to posts.
For example, the salary of a local supervisor (for lifting operations) is 750 thousand tenge, while in similar positions foreign workers - from 1.1 to 3.4 million tenge –that is 4 times more.
Similarly, a local employee in the position of an engineer for control and measuring devices and automation has an official salary of 307 thousand tenge, while a foreign employee in a similar position has 1.3 million tenge.
- To eliminate violations, 24 proposals were made to employers, 264 administrative cases were initiated, fines were imposed for a total of 96 million 500 thousand tenge, and letters were sent to the authorized body for revocation and further non – renewal of 262 issued permits for attracting foreign labor, - Igilik Aidarovich informed.
The Chief State Labor Inspector noted that the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan has made changes to the risk assessment criteria for the procedure for attracting foreign labor, which makes it possible for the labor inspectorate to conduct inspections within the framework of annual preventive control according to a plan developed taking into account previously identified violations.
According to the results of the risk assessment by the labor inspectorate, 10 large enterprises in the region that attract foreign labor (30 or more) are included in the Preventive Control Plan for 2020. In the course of inspections of enterprises, the issues of discrimination in terms of remuneration and working and living conditions, as well as the quality of elimination of previously identified violations, are investigated. This year, the quota for attracting foreign labor compared to 2019 was reduced by 38%, that is, by 6,433, from 17,000 to 10,567.
– This year, 141 inspections were carried out at the enterprises, and 192 violations of the law were revealed. 89 prescriptions were issued for various violations of the requirements of labor legislation, 66 people were brought to administrative responsibility, administrative fines were imposed in the amount of 15.1 million tenge – " I. Aubakirov said. – Most of all violations in the field of labor relations. There are violations in the field of labor safety, in terms of employment of the population.
By the way, last year the akimat of the Zhylyoy district in the territory of the Tengiz shift settlement allocated a room for the work of labor inspectors. To control Tengiz, the department assigned specific state labor inspectors who visited the Tengiz site on a regular basis. Now, due to the strict quarantine, the visit to the Tengiz field is limited, respectively, the visit is carried out only as necessary. Most often, employees of the oil and gas sector of the region ask questions related to working conditions and wages during the state of emergency and quarantine, including the dismissal (reduction) of employees, the announcement of downtime, the provision of leave without pay.