Inside Georgia’s textile industry

In this multi-part series, OC Media went inside Georgia's factories for a first-hand account of the working conditions.

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Inside Georgia’s textile industry: Violence

by Tamuna Chkareuli

•6 min read

Two years after OC Media went undercover at a Tbilisi factory, a former worker reached out with a harrowing story of psychological and physical abuse. When 46-year-old Eleonora took the job at a Eurotex-managed textile factory in Tbilisi, Georgia she was excited. She didn’t think that only a few years later, in this very factory, her life would flash before her eyes as a pair of hands tightened around her neck. Eleonora Ter-Poghosyan was promoted to quality control within a year of working

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Inside Georgia’s textile industry: Part III — Control

by Tamuna Chkareuli

•17 min read

Robots ferry containers of Nike shirts across the factory floor while plasma screen televisions drive workers to labour ever faster. In the third and final part of OC Media’s exposé on Georgia’s textile industry, investigative journalist Tamuna Chkareuli infiltrates a high-tech factory in Poti. [In this multi-part series, OC Media went inside Georgia’s factories for a first-hand account of the working conditions. Read Part I and Part II] Imagine you’re a woman in her forties from the indus

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Inside Georgia’s textile industry: Part II — Undercover

by Tamuna Chkareuli

•22 min read

Threats, corruption, nervous breakdowns, and $4,000 coats. In part two of OC Media’s exposé on Georgia’s textile industry, investigative journalist Tamuna Chkareuli goes undercover at the Geo-M-Tex factory in Tbilisi. [In this multi-part series, OC Media went inside Georgia’s factories for a first-hand account of the working conditions. Read Part I here.] It was easy to get a job at the Geo-M-Tex factory. The Human Resources manager did not ask many questions — just briefly explained that a

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Inside Georgia’s textile industry: Part I — Unions

by Tamuna Chkareuli

•15 min read

Georgia’s textile industry is plagued by low salaries and rife with labour abuses. In this multi-part series, OC Media went inside the factories for a first-hand account. In part I, we look at how employees are organising and how the unions work (or don’t) at the Kutex and Imeri factories in Kutaisi. ‘Who has been told, “If you don’t like it, go home?” ’ the union organiser asks. All the women raise their hands. Later they add that they have heard harsher things too — ‘Fuck off’ or, ‘