Urgent Plea from Kazakhstan for Solidarity

[Xxxx Xxxxxx <xxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxx>]

The following appeal comes through the Committee for a Workers'
International of which Socialist Alternative and Labor Militant are
members.
Messages of support can be emailed to Socialist Alternative at
socialist@xxxxxxxxxx
and we'll forward them to the comrades in Kazakhstan. Othewise, there is

a snailmail address at the bottom of this message.

Socialist Alternative
http://www.angelfire.com/on2/socresist
socialist@xxxxxxxxxx

>Dear Comrades
>Spoke to Ionur today, he is leading a strike at his factory, he asks
for
>urgent messages of support.
>
>Thy can be sent email to me by saturday.
>
>
>Rob
>
>Strike at the "Metallist" Factory in Uralsk Kazakhstan
>
>One of the consequences of the bombing of Serbia and now of Chechnya
has
>been an increase in orders for small arms. This has led to a strike at
the
>Metallist factory where CWI member Ionur Kurmanov is Co-Chair of the
strike
>committee. He explains the reasons for the strike.
>
>"Workers have not been paid for three years. Instead of wages, they
>sometimes pay us in kind or issue poor quality products for us to use.
But
>at the same time, the management has been building cafes and expensive
>dachas for themselves. They have had expensive repairs to their homes
done,
>paid for by robbing raw materials from the factory for sale. Tens of
workers
>have died in this time as a result of hunger, stress or the lack of
money
to
>buy medicines.
>But in June and July, to fill these new orders, management  expected us

to
>work for 12-14 hours a day on old equipment, breaking the labour law.
They
>refused to give us safety glasses or water. The canteen was shut.
>In the end, our patience run out. A strike was declared on 1st
September.
>Although we are not allowed to strike officially as ours is an arms
factory,
>a strike committee was elected. We immediately sent telegrams of
support to
>other workers on strike in Kazakhstan and the meeting warned the KNB
(ex
>KGB) not to take any action against myself or any other members of the
>strike committee who have been facing persecution".
>
>Support can be sent to 417000 Republic of Kazakhstan, Uralsk, ul.
Udrinskaya
>d.1/1 kv. 9. Pozhidaevy VT
>
>