More than 280 oil workers in the Aktobe region have not received a 20% ecological surcharge on their salaries for seven years. Following a labor inspection order, Gas Processing Company must pay employees over one billion tenge, but the company is challenging the decision in court, reports infohub.kz.
Gas Processing Company operates in the Baiganin district, classified as an ecological disaster zone of the Aral Sea region. Under the law, workers in this zone are entitled to an additional 20% salary surcharge. The labor inspection found that 280 employees did not receive this surcharge from January 2019 to May 2026. Over seven years, the arrears totaled 1,019,502,993 tenge.
Workers themselves admit they long did not understand why the payment was missing. Only last year did they begin openly demanding an explanation. 'We didn't get the ecological surcharge for seven years. The workplace assessment was unclear; we weren't informed of its results. From 2025, we started asking management questions and demanding our rights. Now pressure has increased. The company has become unstable. We work in production in an ecological zone. We ask for help from higher authorities,' said compressor equipment operator Kamil Epifanov.
At the beginning of 2026, workers formed a trade union. Subsequently, a 20% ecological surcharge and a 10% indexation were included in the collective agreement. Currently, the surcharge is being paid, but workers demand compensation for previous years.
Trade union chairman Dastan Myrzin noted that relations with management worsened after the union's formation and demands for back pay. 'Workers have many complaints. All demands are based on the law; no one is making anything up. At the start of the year, we formed a union and signed a collective agreement. We introduced a 20% ecological surcharge and 10% indexation. After the surcharge payments began, pressure on the workers increased. We only demand ecological surcharges for the years they were not paid,' he said.
Workers contacted the labor inspectorate, which conducted an unscheduled inspection. Inspectors identified violations and noted issues with the assessment procedure – workers were not included in the commission. The company was ordered to pay the arrears by July 31 and was fined. However, Gas Processing Company disagreed with the findings and sued the labor inspectorate.
'A complaint was received, an inspection was conducted. The labor inspectorate issued an order to pay ecological surcharges and imposed a fine. Now the company disagrees and has taken the matter to court,' said the acting head of the Aktobe region labor inspectorate, Talgat Iskaryn.
Gas Processing Company processes associated gas at the Kozhasai field in the Baiganin district. In 2018, the company built a gas processing plant and cooperated with KazTransGas. Since 2016, tax payments related to its activities have amounted to about 16 billion tenge.
The company has three founders: DanKo Commerce, Orizzonte Solido Group FZE, and Sardar Gaz. These entities are linked to former QazaqGaz head Kairat Sharipbayev. For example, DanKo Commerce, according to adata.kz, is headed by Yerzhan Yelgezekov, whose name appears in other companies connected to Sharipbayev's business. Orizzonte Solido Group FZE is controlled by Sharipbayev's son Daniyar Kairat. Sharipbayev is known as the former head of the national gas company and the common-law spouse of Dariga Nazarbayeva.
Thus, the fate of the billion tenge now depends on a court decision. If the inspection order is deemed lawful, the company must pay the debt to 280 employees.