Chairman
Zholdoshev Talgat Kachkynbaevich
Professional Union of Railway Workers and Transport Builders of the Kyrgyz Republic
The foundation for the creation of the Trade Union of Railway Workers and Transport Builders of the Kyrgyz Republic derives from the railway workers’ union of pre-revolutionary Russia, organized in 1905, and of the Soviet Union.
On 8 August 1924, the first train arrived at Pishpek station. This date is considered the beginning of the Kyrgyz Railway’s operations. Undoubtedly, in those distant times, among the railway workers who built the tracks and operated the trains on that section, there was a trade union organization that, together with the Communist Party, addressed many complex issues of the era. Therefore, 8 August 1924 is recognized as the birthday of the Kyrgyz Railway Workers’ Trade Union.
During the first pre-war five-year plans, and in the difficult years of the war—when a large amount of cargo was arriving in Kyrgyzstan, including evacuated factories and plants from Russia, and trains carrying wounded soldiers, while food, equipment, and troops were being sent from Kyrgyzstan to the front—train brigades of the People’s Commissariat of Communication Routes (NKPS) were formed. Railway workers in Kyrgyzstan, under the leadership of the party and trade unions, honorably fulfilled their labor duties despite hunger, cold, and hardship. Elderly people, women, and teenagers worked on the railway alongside the remaining workers, carrying this heavy burden and demonstrating exemplary discipline, organization, and diligence.
In May 1949, the Pishpek Division was formed as part of the Turkestan-Siberian Railway, and the Pishpek “Raiprofsosh” was established. Its first chairman was Pyotr Vasilyevich Kalmykov, a locomotive engineer at the steam locomotive depot. Subsequently, chairpersons of the “Raiprofsosh” and “Dorprofsosh” included Georgy Ivanovich Sidorov, Maria Stepanovna Chigrina, Vladimir Grigoryevich Gaidai, Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Pugachev, Aleksandr Klementyevich Sukhodolsky, Vladimir Fedorovich Chaikovsky, Aleksandr Afanasyevich Dovbiy, Saty Soodonbekovich Soodonbekov, and Elvir Stepanovich Kopanev.
In 2001, Robert Mirgaziyanovich Mazitov was elected chairman of the Trade Union of Railway Workers and Transport Builders of the Kyrgyz Republic and continues in that position.
At a conference on 5 July 1992, a resolution was passed to form an independent trade union of railway workers and transport builders of the Bishkek Division of the railway. The Charter of the new trade union was approved, and “Programmatic Principles of Trade Union Activities” were adopted, whose primary goal is to ensure the social protection of labor collectives.
On the basis of a Presidential Decree of the Kyrgyz Republic dated 28 October 1992, the Management of the Kyrgyz Railway was created. Under an agreement between the Kyrgyz and Uzbek Republics, on 1 October 1994, sections of the former Central Asian Railway located in the Osh and Jalal-Abad Regions were transferred to the Kyrgyz Railway, leading to the creation of the Southern Division of the railway and a Unified Trade Union Committee, whose chairman—Otakeldi Khaldarovich Teshebayev—was elected at that time and continues to serve to this day.
In connection with the changing status of the Kyrgyz Railway, a new Charter of the Trade Union of Railway Workers and Transport Builders of the Kyrgyz Republic was prepared and approved at a trade union conference on 10 January 1997, and registered by the Ministry of Justice on 3 March 1997.
On the basis of the new Law of the Kyrgyz Republic “On Trade Unions,” on 4 August 2004, by decision of the trade union conference, the Trade Union of Railway Workers and Transport Builders of the Kyrgyz Republic underwent re-registration at the Ministry of Justice on 28 December 2004 under a revised name: the Republican Sectoral Association of Trade Unions “Trade Union of Railway Workers and Transport Builders of the Kyrgyz Republic” – “Kyrgyzprofsozh.”
Within the Trade Union of Railway Workers, there are 41 trade union organizations with over 4,000 members—these include all branches and stations of the railway, as well as the trade union organizations of Technical Lyceum No. 97, the Sanitary-Epidemiological Station, the Railway Hospital, and the Bridge Detachment.
More than 1,500 non-working railway veterans are also registered with the trade union.
On 14 April 1993 in Ashgabat, the Trade Union of Railway Workers of the Kyrgyz Republic was admitted to the International Confederation of Trade Unions of Railway Workers and Transport Builders (ICTURW). On 1 January 2002, the Trade Union of Railway Workers and Transport Builders of the Kyrgyz Republic joined the Federation of Trade Unions of Kyrgyzstan (FTU), and on 18 June 2008, it became a member of the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF).
The International Transport Workers’ Federation includes trade unions of railway workers, aviators, motorists, and seafarers. It organizes large-scale events and various campaigns to protect workers worldwide on the basis of trade union solidarity and unity.
The Trade Union of Railway Workers and Transport Builders of the Kyrgyz Republic carries out its activities on the basis of the Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic, the Labor Code of the Kyrgyz Republic, the Law “On Trade Unions,” the Law “On Collective Agreements,” the Union Charter, and the Collective Agreement.
Contact information: +996 312 92-73-14
Our address: 79 L. Tolstoy Street, Bishkek