2015 ITUC Global Rights Index - Georgia

2015 ITUC Global Rights Index Rating: 4

Acts of interference at RMG Gold and RMG Copper:

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.

Attempt to undermine independent union:

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.

General Director of the Georgian Post violates collective agreement:

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.

Tbilisi City Hall refuses to bargain:

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.

Anti-union discrimination at Batumi Autotransport:

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 ITUC Global Rights Index Ratings:

1 // Irregular violation of rights
Collective labour rights are generally guaranteed. Workers can freely associate and defend their rights collectively with the government and/or companies and can improve their working conditions through collective bargaining. Violations against workers are not absent but do not occur on a regular basis.

2 // Repeated violation of rights
Countries with a rating of 2 have slightly weaker collective labour rights than those with the rating 1. Certain rights have come under repeated attacks by governments and/or companies and have undermined the struggle for better working conditions.

3 // Regular violation of rights
Governments and/or companies are regularly interfering in collective labour rights or are failing to fully guarantee important aspects of these rights. There are deficiencies in laws and/or certain practices which make frequent violations possible.

4 // Systematic violation of rights
Workers in countries with the rating 4 have reported systematic violations. The government and/or companies are engaged in serious efforts to crush the collective voice of workers putting fundamental rights under threat.

5 // No guarantee of rights
Countries with the rating of 5 are the worst countries in the world to work in. While the legislation may spell out certain rights workers have effectively no access to these rights and are therefore exposed to autocratic regimes and unfair labour practices.

5+ // No guarantee of rights due to the breakdown of the rule of law
Workers in countries with the rating 5+ have equally limited rights as countries with the rating 5. However, in countries with the rating 5+ this is linked to dysfunctional institutions as a result of internal conflict and/or military occupation. In such cases, the country is assigned the rating of 5+ by default.