Trade Union of Workers in the Mining and Metallurgical Industry

During 1898–1905, the greatest number of wage workers were concentrated at the coal mines (pits) and ore mines in Kyzyl-Kiya and Tash-Kumyr. Here, mutual aid funds, partnerships, and groups of workers were established on a handicraft-production basis, aiming to provide mutual assistance to employees and their families.

These were the first labor unions formed by the initial tiers of industrial workers in the region—“the first swallows” of the trade union movement in our country—emerging at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries at the coal mines in Kyzyl-Kiya. At that time, miners united into trade unions to protect their rights, including reducing the number of working hours in a day shift, increasing wage levels, and so on.

In 1905, a fully fledged trade union movement of Kyrgyzstan was born at the Kyzyl-Kiya mine. A group of workers decided to contribute monthly payments to a shared fund in order to help those in need. Over time, the group also took on the task of fighting for better working conditions.

In the spring of 1905, mine workers at the mining enterprises in Kyzyl-Kiya and Sulukta made demands. These demands were not only economic (as they were in 1902, when they demanded the abolition of fines and overtime work) but also political—freedom of speech and assembly, the right to organize workers’ unions, and a shorter workday. As a result, some of their demands were met. All of this allowed workers to gain their first experience of mutual support in the struggle for their rights.

Second Stage -1917–1990: this was the period of building a socialist system in the Republic as part of the Union-wide Soviet state.

In August 1917, the 1st regional congress of representatives of mining and metallurgical enterprises of the Turkestan region took place, deciding to create a unified professional (trade) union of miners in Turkestan. In September, the 2nd congress of representatives was held, at which a central board of the Turkestan miners’ trade union was elected. Representatives from our unions—Dekanov from Sulukta, Voronin, and Edrenkin from Kyzyl-Kiya—participated in this congress.

Between 1918 and 1920, trade unions were established in almost all districts. Among the first large trade unions organized on a production basis were those of builders, metalworkers, printers, tanners, garment workers, medical and sanitary workers, and land and forestry workers.

From 1918 to 1925, trade unions actively participated in the struggle for the establishment and consolidation of Soviet power, in the defeat of foreign interventionists and internal counterrevolution in Central Asia, and in the restoration of the national economy. They gained experience in organizational and educational work among the masses.

During the Great Patriotic War (World War II), the republic’s trade unions devoted all their activities to the needs of the front, supplying the army with ammunition, clothing, and food, participating in the conversion of factories to military production, in the relocation of enterprises to the republic, and in the training of labor personnel.

In the post-war Soviet years, several large enterprises operated in the sector—the Kadamjay Antimony Plant, the Haidarkan Mercury Plant, the Kyrgyz Mining and Metallurgical Combine, the Sumsar Mine, and others. Their trade union organizations were directly part of Kirgizsovprof (the Kyrgyz Council of Trade Unions).

At that time, the trade union organizations of the mining and metallurgical industry, like other trade union organizations of the Kirghiz SSR and all the republics of the Soviet Union, carried out their work in close connection with the Communist Party of the Soviet Union’s (CPSU) main priorities. At practically every meeting—whether congresses, plenums, presidiums, or other events—the decisions made by the CPSU Central Committee were widely discussed. Trade unions actively participated in all events held by the ruling party.

From the 1950s to the 1980s, there was a further, albeit limited, expansion of trade unions’ rights and their influence on the socio-political life of society. At the same time, the trade unions effectively became a public-state organization, rigidly integrated into the administrative-command system. Serving as a “transmission belt,” they took on everything the party assigned—from organizing socialist competitions, implementing cost accounting, to distributing scarce goods.

In 1984, the Kyrgyz Republican Committee of the Metallurgical Industry Workers’ Union was formed. The core of the union association then consisted of trade union organizations that had been directly subordinate to Kirgizsovprof: the Kyrgyz Mining and Metallurgical Combine (in the workers’ settlement Orlovka), with more than 5,000 employees; the Kadamjay Antimony Plant; the Haidarkan Mercury Plant, each employing about 3,000 workers; URS (department of workers’ supply), the Sumsar Mine, and the Vtortsvetmet and Vtorchermet enterprises (secondary non-ferrous and ferrous metals). The total number of trade union members was about 14,000 people.

On May 5, 1984, an organizational conference and the first organizational Plenum of the industry trade union were held.

By the late 1980s, it became clear that a restructuring (“perestroika”) of the political and economic system was underway in the USSR. The hegemony of the CPSU was collapsing, giving way to political pluralism, and the country was preparing to transition to a market economy. The congress of Kirgizsovprof decided to abolish the council and establish the Federation of Trade Unions of Kyrgyzstan.

During the collapse of the USSR, the Republican trade union went through very difficult times. Due to the abrupt break in economic ties, loss of raw material sources and markets, and lack of working capital, many enterprises closed, while others were barely surviving.

In the early years of the sectoral trade union, it was led by O.A. Tokhtanazarov, T.I. Dzhakipov, and A.A. Dzhienbekov. These leaders managed to cope with the challenges of the transition period and preserve the sectoral trade union.

Processes of reorganizing management methods and reforming the trade union movement in the new conditions also affected the sectoral trade unions. Sectoral union associations of sovereign Kyrgyzstan were formed. In 1990, the founding Congress of the Trade Union of Workers in the Mining and Metallurgical Industry of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan was held. Muratalimov Muratbek Myrzalimovich was elected chairman of the union.

Third Stage: Activities of the MMTUK (Mining and Metallurgical Trade Union of Kyrgyzstan) in the Period of Sovereignty

At the beginning of the 1990s, the liquidation of enterprises and mass layoffs left a huge number of highly qualified, experienced specialists unemployed. Trade union membership declined sharply. The authority of trade unions fell significantly. Construction of housing and social facilities ceased. On the contrary, the privatization of sanatoriums, health centers, and children’s camps began, as happened with the “Chaika” camp of the Kyrgyz Mining and Metallurgical Combine. The amount of government funds allocated for worker health resorts was significantly reduced, which in turn reduced the number of workers who could receive health and wellness services.

Industry giants such as the Kadamjay Antimony Plant, the Haidarkan Mercury Plant, and the Kyrgyz Mining and Metallurgical Combine experienced severe crises and were on the verge of bankruptcy. Many enterprises were included in the “HIPC” program, which multiplied existing problems.

In addition, trade unions faced new aspects of interaction with enterprise management under market conditions. They now had to deal with new types of managers—businesspeople whose main goal was to make more money, often by cutting costs related to human resources.

Thanks to proactive initiatives by certain trade union leaders, the Republic’s Mining and Metallurgical Union integrated into international sectoral trade union associations—“Soyuzmetall” (the Trade Center of Metallurgical Workers), the International Eurasian Federation of Metallurgical Workers’ Unions, and the International Metalworkers’ Federation (now the global union IndustriAll). This significantly strengthened the MMTUK’s position.

In 2005, a new Charter of the sectoral trade union was adopted, giving it a new name—the Mining and Metallurgical Trade Union of Kyrgyzstan (MMTUK).

On June 3, 2010, the 5th Congress of the MMTUK set a completely new direction for the union’s development. It was decided to transform the sectoral union from a service model to an organizational model, in which every member of the union takes an active role in the work of the representative organization, with everyone sharing responsibility for decisions and actions. The focus was on “organizing,” i.e., establishing a new form and content of trade union work, bringing in every worker to actively and directly participate in the union’s activities.

The staff of the MMTUK Central Committee was significantly expanded from 5 to 12 people. Today, the central apparatus employs legal and technical inspectors, economists, and accountants. There are also two representatives of the Central Committee—one for the coal industry and one for the southern region. Emphasis has been placed on attracting young, proactive, and ambitious specialists.

Contact Information: (996-312) 61-32-29, 61-32-24
Address: 207 Chuy Avenue, Room 505, Bishkek