Georgia

Date
Feb. 21, 2018

Step forward on consultation but not on health and safety

Georgia

The Georgian Trade Union Confederation has welcomed the government's ratification of the International Labour Organisation convention on tripartite consultation. The GTUC says that it had been pushing for this for many years and it should now provide the basis to develop social dialogue in the country. However, unions there continue to face major challenges not least the failure of the government to re-establish an effective labour inspection regime. Some 460 workers have died and 796 have been injured since the labour inspectorate was abolished in 2006.

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Dec. 19, 2016

Unions want to see higher minimum wage and proper enforcement

Georgia

(December 2016) To coincide with a meeting of the EU-Georgia Association Council, trade unions have raised a wide range of concerns on social issues. In particular, unions want to see a much higher minimum wage set by law and with proper enforcement mechanisms. The current minimum wage is extremely low with no real labour inspectorate to ensure implementation.

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Apr. 25, 2016

Possible progress on safety but not on working hours

Georgia

The Georgian Trade Union Confederation (GTUC) has welcomed positive statements from the government about setting up a labour inspectorate but warns it will pull out of talks if the proposed agency is not given any real enforcement powers. Meanwhile, the GTUC has been critical of the new labour code's provisions on working time. The labour code sets a 40-hour working week but a 48-hour week for "special regimes". The problem is that the government has listed the sectors that may be covered by this category and the GTUC argues that this opens up virtually the whole of the economy to having a 48
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Apr. 25, 2016

EPSU and PSI protest over firefighter rights

Georgia

EPSU-PSI LetterEPSU and PSI have written to the Labour Ministry and authorities in Tbilisi to protest about the employment and working conditions of firefighters. Firefighters have been mounting protests since 12 February and some have started a hunger strike. Among the firefighter demands are: dismissal of the Director of the Emergency and Urgent Services Agency; an end to persecution of elected union leaders and intimidation of union members; annulment of the termination of employment of the workers who have been fired on the basis of false accusations; and improvement of working conditions
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Apr. 25, 2016

Some progress on labour code

Georgia

Following general elections last year, the new government has taken some steps towards improving the labour code. The code had been changed in 2003 leaving it providing few protections for workers or trade unions. Unfortunately, the revised code still includes unreasonable restrictions on the right to strike, while working hours, maternity protection and compensation for overtime and night work are insufficiently regulated. The Georgian trade union movement was consulted over changes but some key amendments were withdrawn following lobbying by national and international employer organisations
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Apr. 25, 2016

Pressure on European Commission to investigate trade union rights abuse

Georgia

The ITUC and ETUC have repeated their call on the European Commission to open a formal investigation into trade union rights in Georgia under the procedure linked to the Commission’s trade preference scheme. The Confederations originally wrote to Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht in June but he responded in August to say that the Commission was using its contacts with the Georgian authorities to raise the issue of trade union rights and that an investigation was not appropriate. Since then the AFL-CIO confederation in the USA has convinced authorities there to examine the situation in Georgia
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