labour

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Analysis

Datablog | Youth in Georgia have little trust in unions

by Nino Zubashvili

•4 min read

Despite some recent victories by independent trade unions, recent data shows that youth in Georgia both have low trust and low awareness of unions in the country. Worker strikes in recent years in Georgia, such as the 2018 metro operators’ strike, the 2019 social workers’ strike, and the 2021 delivery workers’ strike, among others, have led to focus on unions and their role in the country. However, due to Georgia’s Soviet heritage and neoliberal policies, among other factors, some argue tha

alaverdi

Armenia’s copper capital no longer? The uncertain future of Alaverdi

by Gayane Mkrtchyan

•8 min read

For years the copper smelter was the economic heart of Alaverdi, but its operation came at a price, the plant spewed thousands of tonnes of toxic emissions into the air. Today the smelter’s terrible environmental record finally caught up with it. Karen Petrosyan, one of the few residents of Alaverdi who is still employed at the smelter, told OC Media that he is one of only 230 remaining employees — less than 2% of the city’s population of 13,000. But despite having the title of ‘employee’,

Georgia

Video | Georgia's failed electoral reform - Explained

by Dato Parulava

•0 min read

Thousands have taken to the streets in Georgia to protest failed electoral reforms. The Georgian government has deployed riot police and used tear gas against demonstrators, who together with an opposition coalition blocked the entrances to the Georgian Parliament. Thirty-seven people were arrested following the dispersal on 18 November. OC Media explains why the reforms are so important for so many Georgians and why the ruling party changed their minds in fulfilling this promise.

Georgia

Video | Why do workers die in Georgia?

by Dato Parulava

•0 min read

On 16 July, 16-year-old Giorgi Beshkenadze plunged to his death at a construction site in Tbilisi. He is one of more than 400 workers in Georgia who have died in work-related accidents since 2011. We try to understand why.

Bank of Georgia

Video | Chiatura: the town of miners

by Dato Parulava

•0 min read

Around 3,000 mine workers went on strike in the industrial City of Chiatura, in western Georgia, earlier in May. They worked for Georgian Manganese LLC, the largest employer in the ore-rich but otherwise poor dust-covered city, a city where the river has turned black due to manganese contamination.

construction

In pictures ⁠| Georgia’s deadly construction sites

by Tamuna Chkareuli

•2 min read

In October, a construction worker in Rustavi who fell from the fourth floor was delivered to the hospital unconsciousness, with an open fracture and heavy bleeding. He later died of his injuries. Batumi, a resort and port city on Georgia’s Black Sea coast and capital of Adjara Region, recorded the most accidents on construction sites so far this year — of the 14 deaths and 16 serious injuries in Georgia known to the Georgian Trade Unions Confederation, most took place in Adjara. A new la

emigrants

Voices of Georgian emigrants — ‘They treated us like dogs’

by Volodymyr Soboliev

•9 min read

Since the 1990s, thousands of Georgians have left home in search of opportunities abroad, pushed out by food poverty, debts, unemployment, or to escape violence in the family. Below are stories from three women who braved landmines, hidden containers, and frozen seas in search for a better future in Greece. Leila — four hours in the icy sea ‘I left because of my children. They graduated from secondary school and I didn’t have the means to send them to higher education. Of course, I wa