Over 150 employees of Keppel Kazakhstan on strike in Aktau

Over 150 employees of Keppel Kazakhstan went on strike in Aktau requesting a salaries raise, Lada writes. The employees have refused to work and lined up near the main entrance of the company's building. The protesters requested to talk to the company's management, but nobody came out to talk to them in the end. The employees' main claim includes a salaries raise, permits for compensatory leaves, right for overtime and suspension of dismissals they deem illegal. "When I got employed, my wage was 35 thousand tenge ($233) and they promised me to pay more. Right now I'm making 60 thousand tenge ($400), while the foreign workers earn much more at the same position. Besides, we are not always allowed to take compensatory leaves. If we take some time off during the week for a good reason, we are not allowed to work back that time during weekends. And this is important for us with our low salaries: the more we work the more we can earn," the employee of Keppel Kazakhstan Alma Nurgaliyeva said. Recently dismissed employees also joined the strike. "We are employed with the 3-month probation period. The net salary for this period is a little over 26 thousand tenge ($173). We agree even to that, because we have to feed our children. We work overtime for three months and work at nights, so that the employer sees that we can and want to work. Then they just fire us after the three months are over without any explanations," Nurseit Aldashev fired from the company 5 days ago said. Management of Keppel Kazakhstan has refused to comment the strike.