workers rights

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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’,

construction

Editorial | Georgia’s government needs to act to protect workers

by OC Media

•2 min read

The latest death of a construction worker in Georgia demonstrates that the government must stand up for the rights and lives of its citizens. With labour reforms on what seems like indefinite hold, the government now needs to act. Twenty-six-year-old Jarji Janjalashvili died on 9 February after falling from the fifth floor of the construction site in Tbilisi he was working on. This tragic accident is far from unique in Georgia, which deregulated the labour market in the mid-2000s. Whil

Chiatura Manganese Mines

Opinion | Georgia’s labour reforms do little to fix the country’s deadly workplaces

by Volodymyr Soboliev

•4 min read

From 2007 to January 2017, 437 people died and 716 were injured at work in Georgia. A lack of safe workplaces is one of the greatest challenges facing workers in Georgia, and one the authorities are failing to rise to. The mining sector is perhaps the most affected sector in this regard. According to the trade unions, 24 miners have died in Tkibuli’s coal mines over the last seven years, while nine manganese miners have been killed in Chiatura over the last five. [Read on OC Media: Mine c

Feature Stories

Fatal workplace accidents show ‘need for labour inspection reform’

by Volodymyr Soboliev

•4 min read

The high number of fatal occupational accidents in Georgia shows how dysfunctional labour inspection in the country is, as it fails to address alleged violations of safety rules on the labour market, non government organisations claim. While private companies rely on the ‘invisible hand’ and hope that the ‘market will regulate itself’, rights’ groups claim that workplace inspections need reform, which could help in preventing fatal accidents and improving workers’ conditions. High number o