...This report, based on interviews with oil workers...who participated in strikes in western Kazakhstan in 2011, documents human rights violations by companies and Kazakh authorities...at...Ersai Caspian Contractor LLC [joint venture of ERC Holdings and Saipem] and at...KarazhanbasMunai JSC and OzenMunaiGas...[T]his report documents how the three companies and the Kazakh government violated the rights of oil workers to freedom of association, the right to organize and bargain collectively. Ersai Caspian Contractor LLC and KarazhanbasMunai JSC restricted union leaders’ access to company territory and denied workers space to hold general meetings. KarazhanbasMunai JSC failed to recognize the election of a new acting union chairman. All three companies dismissed hundreds of workers after they participated in peaceful strikes...Security forces brought the strike at OzenMunaiGas to an abrupt end...[P]olice opened fire, killing at least 12 people and wounding dozens of others...Three other individuals died, and dozens of police were wounded in the clashes...37 oil workers and others were tried on charges of organizing or participating in the unrest...[T]he court...sentenced 13 of them to prison terms...Human Rights Watch sent letters to the three companies whose workers went on strike...Human Rights Watch received responses from...Ersai Caspian Contractor LLC and OzenMunaiGas...KarazhanbasMunai JSC...did not respond [also refers to TulparMunaiService and ArgymakTransService]. [The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited KarazhanbasMunai, TulparMunaiService and ArgymakTransService to respond but they did not do so.]