Georgia
The ITUC affiliate in Georgia is the Georgian Trade Union Confederation (GTUC).
Georgia ratified Convention No. 87 on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise (1948) in 1999 and Convention No. 98 on the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining (1949) in 1993.
Legal
Freedom of association / Right to organise
Freedom of association
The right to freedom of association is enshrined in the Constitution.
The right to freedom of association is regulated by a Labour Code.
Anti-Union discrimination
The law prohibits anti-union discrimination, but does not provide adequate means of protection against it.
Barriers to the establishment of organisations
- Excessive representativity or minimum number of members required for the establishment of a union
- Section 2(9) of the Law on Trade Unions provides that the minimum membership requirement for establishing a trade union is set at 50 workers.
Categories of workers prohibited or limited from forming or joining a union, or from holding a union office
- Others categories
- Art.3 Labour Code (2013) defines employees as persons working on the basis of an employment contract which has to be in written form after three months of employment. This implies that informal and precarious workers are not within the scope of the labour law.
Right to collective bargaining
Right to collective bargaining
The right to collective bargaining is recognised by law.
Restrictions on the principle of free and voluntary bargaining
- Authorities’ power to intervene in the preparation of collective agreements
- Section 48(5) of the Labour Code related to discussion and resolution of collective labour disputes provides that, at any stage of a dispute, the Minister can terminate conciliatory procedures.
Right to strike
Right to strike
The right to strike is enshrined in the Constitution.
The right to strike is recognised by law but strictly regulated.
Barriers to lawful strike actions
- Compulsory recourse to arbitration, or to long and complex conciliation and mediation procedures prior to strike actions
- In case of a dispute over collective employment relations, the right to strike or lockout is acquired 21 calendar days from the moment of sending the written notification to the Minister (Art.49 Labour Code).
- Other undue, unreasonable or unjustified prerequisites
- Art.48 of the Labour Code determines that a collective labour dispute can only between an employer and a group of least 20 employees.
Ban or limitations on certain types of strike actions
- Restrictions with respect to the objective of a strike (e.g. industrial disputes, economic and social issues, political, sympathy and solidarity reasons)
- Art.49 (1) Labour Code defines a strike as the “voluntary refusal of the employee in case of a dispute to perform fully or partially the obligations imposed by the employment contract." This implies that sympathy strikes are not permitted.
Undue interference by authorities or employers during the course of a strike
- Authorities’ or employers’’’ power to unilaterally prohibit, limit, suspend or cease a strike action
- A court has a right to postpone or suspend a strike for 30 days if it endangers human life or health, natural environment, property of a third party or activities of vital importance (Art.50 Labour Code).
Limitations or ban on strikes in certain sectors
- Discretionary determination or excessively long list of “essential services” in which the right to strike is prohibited or severely restricted
- Art.51 (2) Labour Code: The right to strike is prohibited during the working hours of employees engaged in activities related to the safety of human life and health or which activities cannot be suspended due to the technology in use. Order No. 01-43/N of 6 December 2013, determines the list of services connected with the life, safety and health (pursuant to section 51(2) of the Code) and includes some services which do not constitute essential services in the strict sense of the term (radio and television (under point (e) of the Order), municipal cleaning services (point (i) of the Order), oil and gas extraction, production, oil refining and gas processing (point (l) of the Order)).
In practice
Cleaning and waste management company Tbilservice Group fired Irakli Baghdavadze for organising a strike on 6 August 2021. Fellow workers joined him to demand a pay rise, new uniforms and free health insurance.
The strike ended on 9 August after Tbilisi City Hall promised a pay rise from 2022, but Irakli lost his job over the protest.
The head of the Equality Department of the Public Defender’s Office, Keti Shubashvili, announced that their office was considering taking legal action to force Bolt Food to sign regular employment contracts with their couriers.
Delivery companies such as Wolt, Glovo and Bolt Food, as well as the Bolt Taxi service, currently sign “partnership agreements” with their workers instead of employment contracts, which exclude them from basic labour protections, such as paid holidays, sick leave and protection from unfair dismissal.
The revelations of possible legal actions come a day after Public Defender Nino Lomjaria published a scathing report on the “discriminatory” working conditions at Bolt Food. The public defender of Georgia found that Bolt Food violated the rights of the striking couriers by terminating their contracts, and she issued a number of non-binding recommendations to the company.
Around 20 Bolt Food couriers had appealed to their office, “indicating that the company had terminated its labour relations with them due to a labour rights protest and the formation of a trade union – restricting their access to the application”. The public defender said that despite Bolt Food’s insistence to the contrary, this constituted a termination of employment.
Several protests by couriers from different companies have taken place in recent years. In March, several Bolt Food couriers said they had been locked out of the Bolt Food application following protests against changes in the way their tariffs for deliveries were calculated. Similar actions were taken against Glovo couriers after they went on strike in May.
Both companies have insisted that couriers working for them are not employees but “partners” of their companies. Both have also denied blocking couriers for taking part in protests or strikes, instead accusing the couriers in question of being disruptive.
The Supreme Court of Georgia confirmed on 29 January the decisions of two lower courts to oblige Rustavi Azot chemical plant to reinstate 56 employees with payment of their due wages for the past three years.
The trial lasted three years and went through three court instances as the company appealed the decisions in favour of dismissed workers by two lower courts. Workers were represented by the Trade Union of Metallurgy, Mining and Chemical Industry Workers of Georgia (TUMMCIWG), an affiliate of IndustriALL Global Union, through the entire process.
Now Rustavi Azot has to reinstate all 56 workers and pay off their lost wages for the past three years for the total amount of GEL 2,000,000 (US$700,000).
The workers were dismissed on January 2017 when, during a change of company ownership, 350 out of 2,300 of the workforce did not have their contracts renewed. While the majority of them then agreed to receive a compensation from the company in the amount of GEL 1,200 (US$415), 56 workers decided to seek justice through the judiciary process.
Mass dismissals at the beginning of 2017 were followed by union busting as a reaction to the protests against the illegal dismissals. The new contracts concluded with the working conditions of the remaining workers seriously undermined. In February 2017, TUMMCIWG denounced oppression faced by union members at the plant, and IndustriALL conducted an international solidarity action in support of Rustavi Azot workers.
Energo-Pro Georgia, a Czech-owned hydropower company, continued in its refusal to address the demands of workers by meeting with the Georgian Trade Union of Energy Workers, an IndustriALL Global Union affiliate.
The Georgian union launched a campaign for dignity and respect at work, union recognition, and negotiated wages that meet living costs and are indexed to inflation.
The union president, Amiran Zenaishvili, said:
“After the union took protest action in April, we sent a letter to the responsible ministry, listing our grievances on low wages, health and safety and union-busting.”We asked the government to mediate in the dispute. The government assigned a mediator who met with the union and the employer. We are now waiting for a response.
“In the meantime, the company’s anti-union campaign continues, and there has been open conflict since April.”
IndustriALL’s Czech affiliate OS KOVO – which has members at the Czech engineering plant that produces equipment – wrote to the Energo-Pro subsidiary that employs them, Litostroj Engineering. The company responded by saying they were not in a position to influence local management in Georgia.
On Monday 21 May 2018, Tblisi City Court banned Tblisi metro workers from the “Ertoba 2013” Union from going on strike during working hours. In its decision, the court stated that the right to strike in Georgia is fundamental but not absolute, and that a strike during working hours would paralyse traffic in the capital, and given that the proposed strike was expected to be long and open-ended, it would have prevented the metro from functioning entirely. The same court had previously handed down a ruling on 3 May that prevented Ertoba 2013 from striking for a month, which the union complied with by postponing their strike.
The following day, a protest organised by local rights group the Human Rights Education and Monitoring Centre (EMC), the Solidarity Network — Workers’ Center, a workers’ advocacy group, and student movement Auditorium 115 took place in front of the central metro station in support of the metro workers.
The ruling was strongly criticised by the Georgian Trade Unions Confederation, which called the decision a contravention of international labour standards, particularly relating to the right to strike and freedom of association.
Metro drivers have been demanding higher salaries since 2016. Ertoba 2013 has said that high humidity, noise, vibrations, lighting intensities, strong electric fields, high pressure and other hazards to health contribute to a 60 to 65 per cent mortality rate by pension age among drivers. Drivers first announced their intention to go on strike in April, after the Tbilisi Transport Company refused to raise their salaries.
The drivers went on strike on 3 June demanding a 45 per cent salary increase and improved conditions, which was described as “illegal” by the Tblisi mayor. The workers returned to work on 5 June 2018 after reaching an agreement with the mayor and his office.
The Georgian Trade Union of Energy Workers, an IndustriALL Global Union affiliate, launched a campaign for respect and better working conditions for workers employed at Energo-Pro Georgia at the country’s largest power generator and distributor.
Union members agreed upon the campaign at a workshop organised by IndustriALL in Telavi on 6 - 7 April 2019.
Local management of Czech-owned Energo-Pro Georgia continually refuses the union’s request for constructive social dialogue and avoids meetings with trade union leaders. As a result, a number of grievances, such as demands for wage increases, overtime payments and representation of the trade union at the Commission of Labour Protection remain unresolved.
Workers complain about the poor salaries at Energo-Pro Georgia, which are much lower than other companies operating in the sector in Georgia, including the state-owned electricity company and other multinationals from Russia and Turkey.
Amiran Zenaishvili, president of the Georgian Trade Union of Energy Workers, stated:
“Investment in Georgia shouldn’t be dependent on the low salaries of workers in our country. Our campaign is not only a struggle for higher wages, but it is also a struggle for the dignity of Georgian workers, who deserve much more respect.”
The ITUC has condemned a politically motivated defamation campaign against the Georgian Trade Union Confederation (GTUC) and its President Irakli Petriashvili, launched by some prominent political figures including members of Parliament aligned with the Georgian government.
The campaign, including attacks in the mainstream media and on social media channels, follows the strong support given by the ITUC-affiliated GTUC to protests by railway workers in a labour conflict on 24 August.
This publicity campaign against the GTUC is a worrying sign of state intervention into trade union affairs in view of the forthcoming GTUC Congress. Union activists and delegates have been reporting for several months that ruling party officials are putting pressure on them and on local union structures to undermine the GTUC leadership.
Workers of Georgian Railways, U. Khvtisiashvili, V. Tsiskarishvili and A. Charelashvili, were informed by the management of the company about the change of place of their employment , transferring them about 150 kilometres without any provision for daily transport arrangement or allowance. According to Georgian labour legislation, all substantial changes to working conditions require the prior consent of the workers affected. While workers and the Independent Railway Workers tried to negotiate an amicable solution, the management of the company, which is fully owned by the Republic of Georgia, dismissed all talks with the workers. That prompted the union to initiate legal action against the company and started protest actions against Georgian Railways by launching a hunger strike by sitting in front of the company headquarters. Instead of mediation and proactive measures to resolve the labour conflict, the authorities sanctioned demolition of the tent that the protesters had installed to protect themselves. The police brutally dispersed the protest and detained ten activists, including against I. Petriashvili, president of the Georgian Trade Union Confederation (GTUC). The Ombudsman of Georgia, who monitored the situation, declared that that the workers had been illegally deprived of the possibility to put up their tent and thus, of the proper realization of their freedom of assembly. The Ombudsman reiterated that such intervention by public authorities is inadmissible.
Four miners died on 9 May after a lift collapsed in a coal shaft in Tkibuli, in central Georgia. Following the news, protests broke out in solidarity in Georgia’s capital Tbilisi where three activists arrested.
Left-wing student group Auditorium #115, which has been campaigning for better labour conditions, held a protest and solidarity demonstration on the same day of the incident. Demonstrators urged the government to strengthen labour inspections to prevent fatalities.
By midnight, a group of demonstrators attempted to block the city’s central Rustaveli Avenue in front of Georgia’s Parliament. This lead to clashes with police and three demonstrators were arrested for ‘petty hooliganism’ and ‘disobeying police’. All three were released the following morning and appeared in court on 19 May.
After the clashes with police, some activists decided to go to the house of the owners of the company. Miners had already staged a strike in February 2016 claiming that they were routinely locked in the mines and forced to work in harsh conditions. The strike had ended after two weeks, after an agreement was reached with the company on a gradual 10 per cent pay rise.
Management of the fertilizer plant Rustavi Azot in Georgia has unilaterally announced the termination of any relationship with the Trade Union of Metallurgy, Mining and Chemical Industry Workers of Georgia (TUMMCIWG).
On 20 March, the new owner of Rustavi Azot, the company EU Investments, one-sidedly cancelled the collective agreement concluded in 2013 without the trade union’s consent. This is contrary to the legislation of Georgia. Management also declared that it would no longer apply a check-off system of union dues collection and will stop transferring the fees to the bank account of the union. All this will negatively affect union activity.
Chair of the TUMMCIWG, Tamaz Dolaberidze, said: “The company is trying to get rid of the organization that protects workers’ rights and strongly protested the illegal dismissal of 350 employees announced in January 2017. The owner decided to destroy the union, so that later we could not create additional problems for him”.
The union has informed the Ministry of Labour of Georgia about the situation. If the Ministry does not take any action to restore the rule of law in the near future, the union is prepared to submit a complaint to the International Labour Organization and to submit a report to government departments of the USA and the European Council under the framework of the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP+), a programme of preferential tariffs favouring trade between US as well as European Union states and Georgia.
Repressive measures from management started in response to the lawsuit filed by the union on behalf of 57 workers illegally dismissed from Rustavi Azot on 25 January. TUMMCIWG also made the company pay a compensation of 1,200 GEL (USD 480) to another 293 workers who agreed to accept their dismissals.
In May 2016, with the support of the Georgia Trade Union Confederation (GTUC), a trade union was created in the public broadcasting station, “Public Broadcaster”. The union gathered together both journalists and technical personnel (camera men, operators, etc.) and, shortly after its creation, Mr. Lasha Meskhi was appointed as its secretary.
Mr. Meskhi, together with the affiliates, initiated a labour dispute regarding various issues, including the need for an increase in salaries, protection of labour rights and the improvement of Occupation Safety and Health (OSH) standards within the enterprise. In order to facilitate adequate implementation and the collective dispute procedure, a state mediator was appointed by the Minister of Labour, Health Care and Social Protection, and GTUC provided adequate assistance through a lawyer and an economist to better advocate for workers’ rights. During this negotiation process, Mr. Meskhi was often threatened by the management to stop his trade union activities and to avoid involving GTUC affiliates in acts of protest. Despite this intimidating behaviour, on 21 June 2016 an agreement was finally reached, granting a salary increase to more than 500 workers, as well as the alleged creation of a bipartite commission for the resolution of labour disputes and the involvement of trade unions in the process of preparing a new human resources action plan. However, the management did not implement these measures. Furthermore, Mr. Meskhi and 13 colleagues had to sign a three-month short-term contract after several years of continuous work and, after its expiration, another one-month contract. The latter contract was signed in breach of the law regarding use of such short-term contracts. Mr. Meskhi highlighted the illegal nature of the contracts and, as a response, the enterprise announced on 28 February 2017 that Mr. Meskhi’s contract would not be renewed unlike those of his 13 colleagues. Therefore, it is clear that the non-renewal of the contract was an act of retaliation and discrimination against Mr. Meskhi, as well as a response to his trade union activity and his proactive denouncement of the enterprise’s abuses.
On 2 February 2017, the Trade Union of Metallurgy, Mining and Chemical Industry Workers of Georgia (TUMMCIWG) called a protest in support of the 350 workers of the fertiliser plant “Rustavi Azot” who were illegally fired. Workers affiliated to other unions, as well as students and NGOs, joined the protest demanding the reinstatement of the workers (who had received no response for more than a week from management to their demands for clarification about the reasons for their dismissal). In response, the workers called a protest during which they entered the management’s office in order to receive explanations about the unlawful dismissal and to try to find solutions to the conflict. However, as protesters approached the building, the guards tried to prevent them by using force. Immediately afterwards, a large number of police officers surrounded the building and violence broke out. According to eyewitnesses, police beat the workers, disregarding their age or gender, and continued to do so even when workers started to leave the building.
On the same day, a four-hour meeting took place among the Ministry of Labour and the representatives of dismissed workers, including the president of the Georgian Trade Union Confederation – Irakli Petriashvili - but no agreement was found and, therefore, the protest continued. As a result of these protests, the dismissed workers received severance pay of three monthly payments of 500 GEL (US$185) and their total number was limited. However, the Rustavi Azot enterprise continued to exacerbate the situation and break the law by forcing the remaining workers to sign a new contract under duress. This new contract severely undermined working conditions, transformed the contracts from open-ended to one-year contracts and imposed an obligation on the remaining workers to perform additional duties.
A BP pipeline union was formed in 2015 after the company refused to offer to its Georgian workers the same terms and conditions applied to other BP workers in the neighboring countries of Azerbaijan and Turkey. After the creation of the trade union, BP and HRRA management continuously discouraged the workers’ affiliation, including with unlawful behaviour. The country manager, Chris Schlueter, sent an email to all the workers inviting them to refrain from unionising and the company organised “friendly talks” with the sole aim of creating an anti-union climate and threatening workers in a subtle way. As a result of this anti-union campaign by BP and HRRA, the majority of members left the union, bringing the number of affiliates down from 30 to 10.
The anti-union behaviour of the enterprise continued with a disciplinary action resulting in a “reorganisation” dismissal against the deputy chair of the pipeline union, Mr. Vakhtang Pirmisashvili. Mr. Pirmisashvili presented his complaint at a civil court after a mediation attempt by the Labour Ministry failed. It is the first time that a Georgian court has accepted jurisdiction to examine a case regarding the legitimacy of a dismissal on discrimination grounds because of trade union activity.
On 20 October 2016, the head of the Committee of Postal Service Trade Union Workers, Ms. Marina Razmadze, tried to enter the room dedicated to trade union activities located in the office of Georgian Post. She then discovered that the room was locked and the printer with the papers inside was slightly burnt. She was later informed by the security service that the night before the guards burst into the trade union room to allegedly suppress a fire.
There was no evident sign of fire in the room except for the printer being a little burnt and, according to an appraisal made by workers the same day, the electric circuit was not damaged. Workers eventually repaired the trade union room lock in order to allow the normal continuation of trade union activity, as well as the protection of all documentation stored in the room.
However, on 25 October, Ms. Razmadze was informed about Order No. 15-01/533, issued the previous day by the general director of the Georgian Post Office, Mr. Levan Chikvaidze. According to the Order, a commission needed to be created to release temporarily the trade union’s room from equipment in order to reconstruct it, even though no time period for execution of the Order was indicated. Ms. Razmadze pointed out that the Order was defective, as it did not protect the documentation and supplies in the trade union’s room. However, despite her proposal that the trade union renovate the room, the management ordered that it should be cleared when Ms. Razmadze was not in the office. The trade union’s activity was paralysed with no timeframe for the renovation activity confirmed, which undermined the right to freedom of association in practice.
On 11 January 2016, the mining company, Georgian Manganese LLC, informed workers at its Chiatura manganese mine that it would stop extraction from 20 January until 20 May 2016 due to a decrease in the market price of manganese.
The management promised workers 60 per cent of their salary, medical insurance during the four-month downtime and said it would pay interest on loans for those workers who had them. However, in return, the company forced workers to sign - without the chance to consult their lawyers or engage trade union representatives - an additional agreement that amended the essential terms of their employment contract and deprived the majority of miners of their right to paid leave in 2016.
The Trade Union of Metallurgy, Mining and Chemical Industry Workers of Georgia (TUMMCIWG) has challenged the unilaterally imposed managerial decision to shut down mining operations for four months, demanding for Government’s intervention and the exemption of Chiatura miners from the obligation to pay personal income tax during the production stoppage.
Anti-union discrimination and intimidation continued at RMG Gold in Kazreti, following the company’s attempts to destroy the union by forcing nearly 1,000 individuals to leave, as reported in the Survey in March 2015.
On 30 September 2015 representatives of the Georgian Trade Unions Confederation (GTUC), along with leaders of the Metallurgy, Mining and Chemical Industry Workers’ Trade Union, visited Kazreti to meet with local employees, to investigate reports of continued intimidation and to try to rebuild the union. The town itself is virtually controlled by RMG Gold, with most of the population employed by the company.
On an earlier visit to the town by two GTUC staff members, RMG Gold security guards followed them around taking pictures. The residents were scared to speak to them in case the company decided to retaliate by firing them or their family members. During the second trip on 30 September, the union representatives spoke to many people in the town, who talked of problems ranging from low wages to serious health hazards. On the first night of their visit, an RMG director tried to intimidate the union volunteers who were talking to workers at a bus stop. He also denied any health hazards or environmental pollution, claiming the cyanide used in mining gold is not the kind of cyanide that is harmful.
The second day of the visit was marred by serious interference. A public meeting had been organised to address the major problems faced by the workers and to correct the false stories spread about the union by RMG Gold. A representative from RMG Gold management, Lia Ajiashvili, disrupted proceedings before the meeting even began, honking a small horn outside the meeting venue. Later, inside the meeting, she shouted every time the union representatives tried to speak, effectively preventing them from conducting the meeting. Many of those who had come to take part left the meeting. On the previous day the workers and townspeople had aired their grievances against the company, and said they wanted to organise to improve their working conditions, but faced with the aggressive stand by the RMG representative, they no longer dared air those views to a wider audience.
Georgia Railway has been giving bonuses to workers who join the employer-supported yellow union. For example, Zurab Nasaria received a much higher bonus than other workers in April 2014. Managers openly encourage workers to revoke their membership from the Railway Workers New Trade Union (RWNTUG). Due to the pressure by management, many workers have left the union. Management has also sought to undermine the union by delaying or overcomplicating the remittance of union dues.
The companies RMG Gold and RMG Copper engaged in serious acts of interference in order to undermine the Trade Union of Metallurgy, Mining and Chemistry Workers of Georgia (TUMMCWG). The companies coerced some 1,000 members of TUMMCWG to renounce their union membership. This began immediately after TUMMCWG urged management to fulfill its legal obligations under the collective bargaining agreement which was signed on 23 March 2014 following a 40-day strike. In response, management forced employees to sign pre-printed resignation letters.
After Levan Chikvaidze was appointed general director of the “Georgian Post”, he dismissed more than 120 workers and replaced them with friends and relatives. Workers with fixed-term contracts often had to accept one-month contracts instead of one-year or two-year contracts they had previously. This is a violation of a valid collective agreement. As a result, the Trade Union of the Workers of the Postal Service launched a complaint with the Tbilisi City Court. In retaliation for the court case, Levan Chikvaidze started to target union members by not renewing their fixed-term contracts.
On 20 February, Guladi Kruashvili, Deputy Head of the General Train Safety Movement General Inspection in Teaching and Instruction sector, interrogated members of the New Railway Trade Union about their books and took them to Zestafoni where they were again interrogated together with other union members. The trade unionists were forced to sign certain documents. This was not the first time Kruashvili harassed union members. Previously, he interrogated union members working for the Service of Western Power Supply at an unknown location. The New Railway Trade Union applied to the Prosecutor`s Office regarding the above-mentioned facts.
In 2013, trade union members working for the Agency of Extraordinary Situations were not paid bonuses and the thirteenth month salaries foreseen by the annual budget. All the employees who were not trade union members received it.
The Batumi Autotransport is a company owned by the municipality of Batumi and has been involved in discriminatory practices against trade union members. Management threatens workers with dismissal if they do not sign statements of withdrawal. Under such pressure the workers started to submit their withdrawals from the trade union. The head of security and maintenance regularly calls the union president to come to his office and receive withdrawal statements from union members. Moreover, management has been refusing to recognise the union for collective bargaining purposes. Mangers attack union members verbally, such as in the case of the driver Felul Tsintsadze, whose managers accused him of being a bandit. Union President Emzar Gogitidze and his deputy Simon Sikharulidze were threatened with dismissal on several occasions. Union leaders met the mayor of Batumi in order to complain about the practices in the company.
The independence of the courts has also been called into question given that no court has confirmed the existence of anti-union discrimination in any case.
On 12 June 2013, Parliament introduced amendments to the Labour Code of Georgia. Workers were initially involved in consultations concerning the draft legislation. Thus the first draft adopted on 16 May 2013 was in compliance with international labour standards. However, afterwards the government continued consultations only with employers. Workers were only informed after the changes were agreed upon. Moreover, the Ministry of Labour, Health and Social Affairs prepared a draft law on labour inspection without involving the GTUC.
Merab Targamadze (deputy president of Georgian Railway Workers New Trade Union, GRWNTU) and Davit Vashakidze (member of the board of GRWNTU) were threatened by high rank representatives of the Georgian Railway Management on 14 November 2014.
Zaza Mchedlidze, President of the Trade Union office at GTM Group was threatened by the GTM General Director Avtandil Kochadze and finally dismissed on 27 July 2013. Management was opposed to establishment of a union in the company and was dismissing union leaders in an effort to crush the movement. Two other members of the union committee, Manuchar Liluashvili and Zurab Khvedelidze, were dismissed on 25 July 2013.
The hospital sector is now controlled by two companies - JSC Aldagi BCI and JSC GPI Holding. These new owners of privatised hospitals and polyclinics have refused to negotiate with unions and actively intimidate any staff cooperating with trade unions. Many medical workers have withdrawn from trade unions because of a fear of dismissal. 116 trade union organisations (45 per cent) have ceased to exist and membership has fallen by 7,968 (41 per cent). Furthermore, 32 collective bargaining agreements were terminated and not a single new collective bargaining agreement has been concluded. JSC Aldagi BCI has simply refused to recognise the unions. JSC GPI Holding recognises the union but does not negotiate in good faith. Consequently, industrial relations have ceased to function in the hospital sector.
On 3 November 2012, about 150 workers at Black Sea Terminal sent a petition to management asking to renegotiate their terms of employment. Management reacted by intimidating the workers and calling them to individual meetings where they were threatened with dismissals. Kartlos Jobava was forced to take his annual leave and seven workers were locked out of the company and at the same time forced to sign new contracts with a 6-month probation term, even though they have had permanent contracts with the company for several years. Management argued the changes were needed as part of the restructuring of the company. Workers therefore decided to establish a union; this was met with anger by management, which pressured workers to leave the union. Even though the Commission on Social Dialogue and Labour Relations was informed and intervened, the conflict has worsened. In response to the arbitrary dismissals, workers went on strike on 20 December 2012, ending the strike when the workers were reinstated. However, on 31 January 2013, union president Karlos Jobava’s employment contract was not renewed. The Poti District Court upheld this this decision and did not find any discrimination based on union membership. The Georgian Gas and Oil Workers’ Union appealed to the Government, the Prime Minister, Minister of Economy, Minister of Labour and the Commission on Social Dialogue and Labour Relations, asking for an intervention in order to end discrimination against union members at the Black Sea Terminal.
On 25 July 2013, a trade union affiliated to the Metallurgical, Mining and Chemical Industry Trade Union was established at the GTM Group. Management was informed about the establishment of the union on the same day. Director General Avtandil Kochadze announced that the fixed-term contracts of the union leaders would not be renewed and immediately dismissed three union members: Zaza Zibzibadze, Manuchar Liluashvili and Zurab Khvedelidze. Management alleged that the reason for the dismissal was a violation of work rules on 27 April 2013. However, disciplinary measures had already been taken against the workers in this regard and no infringements had been alleged after this incident. Workers also witnessed Avtandil Kochadze taking photos of the personnel coming from and going into the union’s regional office. On 27 July 2013, Avtandil Kochadze called Zaza Mchedlidze, President of the trade union, to his office to abuse him verbally and dismiss him. Unions filed a complaint with the Office of Prosecutor General and against Kochadze. The Metallurgical, Mining and Chemical Industry Trade Union brought this issue to the attention of the Prime Minister, Minister of Economy, Minister of Labour and to the Commission on Social Dialogue and Labour Relations. The response they received was that the government could not intervene into the affairs of private businesses.
Workers have been physically attacked or threatened on a number of occasions. Tedo Gurgenadze, a head member of the union board of in a Black Sea Terminal LTD “B and P” in the city of Poti, and his comrades were threatened during the strike action in late November 2013. On 27 July 2013, Avtandil Kochadze, the General Director of the “GTM Group” summoned Zaza Mchedlidze, President of the trade union, to his office, verbally abused him and tried to attack him physically.
On 24 January 2013, workers at the Agency of the extraordinary situations of the Tbilisi City Hall established a trade union. However, management refuses to recognise the union for collective bargaining purposes. The Director of the agency asked the head of divisions to examine the work performance of the union members. Moreover, union members are called to meet individually with managers who pressure them to leave the union. As a result, members expressed that they prefer paying dues directly to the union and keeping their membership secret from management because of fear of discrimination.
Workers at Geosteel have been trying to establish a union at their workplace but have been facing resistance by management for many years. Following a five-day strike in December 2012, an agreement was signed between the union and management on 29 December 2012 , including a clause guaranteeing that workers who participated in the strike action would not face any sanctions. However, soon after the agreement was reached, Davit Maisuradze was dismissed for his participation in the strike. The Metallurgical, Mining and Chemical Industry Trade Union immediately made a request to management demanding his reinstatement. The request is still pending. On 22 January 2013, the founding meeting of the union took place and workers elected a trade union committee, secretariat and auditing commission. Right after this meeting, management refused to renew employment contracts of union members and dismissed other workers who had participated in December strike. Moreover, managers threatened workers who intended to join the union with dismissal and non-renewal of fixedterm contracts. The union petitioned the government several times , including the Minister of Economy, Minister of Labour and members of the Commission on Social Dialogue and Labour Relations, which was established in October 2012. However, the workers have still not been reinstated and no effective measures were put in place in order to put an end to discriminatory practices at Geosteel.
In October 2012, workers organised a 2-hour token strike calling for better working conditions at Georgian Railway which was run by acting General Director Oleg Bichashvili at the time. In a meeting with the strikers committee in March 2013 he announced that the company would only be willing to sign a collective agreement if the Railway Workers Trade Union agreed to disaffiliate from the GTUC. The union decided to convene an extraordinary Congress on 9 June 2013. At this stage senior management intervened in the election of the union president and campaigned for the election of Hamlet Lomidze. Managing directors such as Oleg Bichashvili, Davit Gelashvili (member of board of directors and director of the passenger transportation division of the company) and Gia Kruashvili (deputy head of the auditing department) participated in the congress as delegates. About half of the union members left the Congress in protest of this involvement. Nevertheless, Congress continued with its agenda and elected 17 members to the board of the union –none of whom are regular railway workers or ordinary representatives of the personnel. The majority of the board members are in fact senior staff and some even do not work for Georgian Railways at all. As consequence, some workers left the Railway Workers Trade Union and established a new trade union on 16 June 2013.
Management at the Georgian State Postal Service established the “Union for Georgian Post Development” on 29 March 2013. This organisation is led by high ranking managers at the company and is headed by the office of the General Manager. All employees must pay monthly affiliation fees to the Union for Georgian Post Development. General manager Levan Chikvaidze wrote a letter to staff explaining the aims and objectives of the alleged union. The Trade Union of Georgian Workers of Communication complained to the Government, the Prime Minister, also to the Minister of Economy, the Minister of Labour and to the Commission on Social Dialogue and Labour Relations requesting an intervention in order to stop the undermining of the independent unions by the management-controlled “union”. Despite the meetings with the Deputy Minister of Economy and the Director General of the company, leaders of the independent union are still being targeted.
In October 2012, the trade union committee of the “Telasi” LLC announced that they were going on strike because management refused to bargain with the workers. As a result, 73 employees who had been dismissed were reinstated in December 2012.
The Georgian Manganese Company in Chiatura city refused to bargain with the Trade Union of Metallurgy, Mining and Chemical Industry Workers of Georgia over pay increases, safer working conditions, and the dismissal of the production manager, Akaki Gurjidze, who was accused of making salary deductions. As a result the workers went on strike in October 2012. Local authorities met with Georgian Manganese management on 18 October but no agreement was reached. Management is also accused of creating the “Samtoeli” union in order to undermine the establishment of independent trade unions.
On 7 February 2013, a meeting was held between principals of public schools in Kutaisi and Taras Shavshishvili, Deputy Chief of the Teachers’ Professional Development Center (TPDC). Shavshishvili is also the founder of the Syndicate union. He warned that they would face problems with the internal audit department of the Ministry of Education and Science if they decided to leave Syndicate and join Educations and Scientist Free Trade Union of Georgia (ESFTUG).
JSC Silknet is a telecommunications firm in Georgia. In the past year, the company has dismissed the Chairs of 19 trade union committees in Tbilisi and in the regions. A letter was submitted to the Chair of the Tripartite Social Partnership Committee on July 20, 2012 regarding the dismissals but the case has yet to be reviewed. The Government has used the collective bargaining agreement concluded with this company as an example of successful social dialogue and partnership. However, after the departure of the manager in charge of the negotiations, the situation quickly deteriorated. The company refuses to engage in any dialogue with the union. In 2012, the number of trade union members in the Communication Sector Workers Union fell by 37.7 per cent.
On 8 April 2011, in Khasuri, Ms Gocha Chubinidze, the head of the Carriage Depot of the Georgian State Railways advised delegates not to attend the Railway Workers Trade Union Congress and threatened them with dismissal. Also in Khashuri, the Head of the Rail Track Department, Mr Zaza Chkoidze, threatened 8 delegates with dismissal if they attended the Congress. The Head of the Railway Station, Mr Vasil Kurtanidze, threatened one of the 2 delegates with dismissal if he attended the Congress. On the morning of 10 April, when delegates from Khashuri were in the station to attend the Congress, unknown persons came and tried to convince delegates not to go. As a result, some delegates did not go to the congress. Indeed, only 9 delegates out of 24 attended the Congress from that region. Only 15 out of 38 elected delegates from the Samtredia region attended the Congress. In Tbilisi a few days before the Congress the delegates in the Rail-track Department and also in the Carriage-Exploitation Department were threatened by representatives of the Georgian Railway’s administration. On June 22, 2011, Merab Targamadze, a board member of the Georgian Railway Workers Union, was fired by the administration without prior notice. In December 2011, under the pretext of a reorganisation, Vitali Giorgadze, one of the most active members of the board of the Railway trade union, was dismissed.
Other members of the board were also subjected to continuous pressure and the majority have ceased their activity.
Perhaps the most striking recent example of anti-union practices in Georgia is the Hercules Steel case. In September 2011, the governor and dozens of police broke a strike of roughly 150 workers at the Hercules Steel plant in Kutaisi. The workers were forced to return to work or face jail and/or dismissal, and several were forced to sign a document renouncing the union. Those workers went on strike to demand the reinstatement of dismissed trade union leaders and to demand collective bargaining in good faith.
In August 2011, as a result of interference by central and local governments, 14 city and district level organisations of the Public Servants Trade Union ceased to exist – amounting to a loss of 2,350 members. Territorial agreements in 4 district municipalities were terminated and 4 expired. Only one territorial agreement is now in effect. Earlier in 2011, union members who had recently organised unions at municipal level were forced to sign forms resigning from the union, under threat of dismissal, resulting in the loss of hundreds of members. In private conversations with the union leaders, local authorities admitted that there had been a verbal order from high level government officials to eradicate the local unions.
The use of short-term employment contracts is widespread in practice. The Labour Code does not contain any criteria or restrictions to determine under which circumstances a fixed-term contract is permissible.
Although anti-union discriminationis prohibited in Georgian legislation, courts do not apply these provisions. Under the Labour Code the employer has the right to terminate an employment contract for any or no reason and without giving advance notice. The Law on Trade Unions has not been abrogated and is formally in force, but Article 23 of the Law, which states that employers can dismiss employees elected as chairpersons of trade union organisations only with the consent of the union, is ignored in practice. The GTUC estimates that union membership decreased by more than 100,000 people since the adoption of the Labour Code because of lack of protection against anti-union discrimination.