Unpaid Wages Worth Billions of Tenge Await Workers in Kazakhstan
Tackling the Pay Gap: Kazakhstan Struggles with Over a Billion Tenge in Unpaid Wages
Casting a grim picture, recent data unveils a whopping sum of unpaid wages totaling over one billion tenge, leaving more than three thousand individuals bereft of their hard-earned cash. This alarming revelation was shared at a Parliament meeting, with Senator Andrei Lukin proposing the implementation of a unified labor contract tracking system to prevent further wage arrears.
According to the Senator, the past year has seen the protection of the rights of 15,000 workers, as per reports by Almaty.tv. To tackle the issue, Lukin emphasized the need for regular monitoring of social tension and labor conflict risks, assessing the social stability index for each enterprise, and addressing the concerns of problematic enterprises with targeted resolutions. He also called out the essential impact big and city-forming corporations have on regional socio-political situations.
Senator Baktijan Jumagulov sheds light on a different concern—the poor quality of school textbooks. The quality issues, he says, stem from the minimal salaries of specialists who develop educational materials. He elaborates, "With such a salary, can we demand high quality? This is twice below the average salary in our country."
Though specific measures from the government regarding wage arrears remain inconsistent in the search results, there are known strategies to combat this issue:
- Improving Payroll Systems: Modernizing payroll systems for accurate and timely wage payments, potentially adopting a system that compensates on a completed work basis.
- Strengthening Labor Laws: Reinforcing labor laws to safeguard workers' rights and ensuring compliance on prompt wage payments by employers.
- Support Programs for Employees: Implementing initiatives to aid employees grappling with wage arrears, such as financial assistance or counseling services.
- Communication and Transparency: Engaging in transparent discussions with workers and unions to share updates on efforts to resolve wage arrears and tackle concerns.
As for addressing social tension, it's crucial to tackle the core issues causing unrest, including economic instability and lack of employment opportunities, while maintaining open communication with key players in the labor sector.
The financial implications of the unpaid wages crisis in Kazakhstan extend beyond general-news, reaching into the realm of politics, as Senator Andrei Lukin proposes implementing a unified labor contract tracking system to prevent further wage arrears. Moreover, Senator Baktijan Jumagulov acknowledges that the poor quality of school textbooks is partially influenced by the low salaries of educational material specialists, linking wage issues to political and educational affairs.
