Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2021, published 110th ILC session (2022)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Georgia (Ratification: 1999)

The Committee takes note of the observations of the Georgian Trade Union Confederation (GTUC) received on 20 September 2021 referring to the certain matters addressed by the Committee below and raising other concerns examined under the observation pertaining to the application of the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98) .

Article 2 of the Convention. Minimum membership requirement. In its previous comments, the Committee, while welcoming the amendment of section 2(9) of the Law on Trade Unions, which lowered the minimum membership requirement for establishing a trade union from 100 to 50, expressed the hope that the Government would pursue, in consultation with the social partners, efforts to assess the law’s impact and would take the necessary measures to amend the law if it was found that the new minimum number required still hindered the establishment of trade unions in small and medium-sized enterprises. The Committee notes with satisfaction the Government’s indication that section 2(9) of the Law on Trade Unions was amended on 29 September 2020 so as to further lower the minimum membership requirement for establishing a trade union to 25. The Committee notes with interest the GTUC indication that trade unions participated in the reform.

Article 3. Right of workers’ organizations to freely organize their activities and formulate their programmes. The Committee had previously requested the Government to amend section 51(2) of the Labour Code according to which, the right to strike was prohibited in services connected with the safety of human life and health or if the activity “cannot be suspended due to the type of technological process”, as well as Order No. 01-43/N of 6 December 2013, which determined the list of services connected with the life, safety and health (pursuant to section 51(2) of the Code) and included services which did not constitute essential services in the strict sense of the term (radio, television, municipal cleaning services, oil and gas extraction, production, oil refining and gas processing). The Committee notes with satisfaction that following the 2020 amendment of the Labour Code and adoption, on 7 September 2021, of the Order on Approval of the List of Essential Services, which replaced the Order of 2013, employees working for essential service providers may exercise the right to strike if they ensure that a minimum service is provided to meet the users’ basic needs and ensure that the service in question operates safely and without interruption (section 66 of the Labour Code, replacing the regulation of essential services formerly contained in section 51(2)). The Committee notes that services listed in the new Order are either essential services in the strict sense of the term or services of fundament importance in relation to which a minimum service may be established. The Committee notes that according to the new Order, the organization of the minimum service and related subjects (including the minimum number of workers providing the service) should be negotiated and agreed between the subjects of collective labour dispute and that any disagreement should be settled by the court. The Committee further notes that pursuant to section 66 of the Labour Code, the limits of a minimum service shall be determined by the Minister after consulting social partners and that in determining the limits of a minimum service, the Minister shall only take into account the work processes that are necessary for the protection of the life, personal safety, or health of society-at-large or a certain part of society.

The Committee had also previously requested the Government to review section 50(1) of the Labour Code according to which courts could postpone or suspend a strike for no more than 30 days if there existed a danger to the life or health of people, environmental safety or a third party’s property as well as to activities of vital importance, and to indicate any use of this provision as relates to the suspension of a strike due to a danger to third-party property. The Committee notes with satisfaction that as a result of the amendments introduced in 2020, the reference to a third party’s property has been deleted (section 65 of the Labour Code).