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

The Committee notes the observations of the International Organisation of Employers (IOE) received on 1 September 2014. The Committee also notes the observations of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), of Education International (EI) and the Educators and Scientists Free Trade Union of Georgia (ESFTUG) and of the Georgian Trade Union Confederation (GTUC) received respectively on 1, 17 and 29 September 2014. While noting the Government’s reply to the 2013 GTUC observations, the Committee requests it to provide detailed comments on the 2014 trade union observations mentioned above.

Article 2 of the Convention. Minimum number of affiliates to establish a workers’ organization. In its previous comments, the Committee had requested the Government to amend section 2(9) of the Law on Trade Unions so as to lower the minimum membership requirement for establishing a trade union set at 100. In this respect, the Committee notes the Government’s indication that the mentioned provision was amended on 22 June 2012 with the effect of lowering to 50 persons the mentioned requirement. While welcoming this positive step, the Committee recalls that although the requirement of a minimum number of affiliates is not in itself incompatible with the Convention, the number should be fixed in a reasonable manner so that the establishment of organizations is not hindered, especially in small and medium-sized enterprises. The Committee therefore requests the Government to review, in consultation with the most representative workers’ and employers’ organizations, the impact of this change in practice and to take steps for its amendment if it is found that the new minimum number required still hinders the establishment of trade unions in small and medium-sized enterprises.

Article 3. Right of workers’ organizations to freely organize their activities and formulate their programmes. The Committee welcomes the Government’s indication that the amendments to the Labour Code adopted on 12 June 2013 develop a new mechanism for collective labour dispute resolutions and take into consideration the Committee’s comments. As a result of the revision of the Labour Code, the Committee notes with satisfaction: (i) the abrogation of former section 48(5) that allowed any party to submit a dispute to the court or to arbitration if an agreement had not been reached within 14 days and the adoption of new section 48(8) according to which parties can jointly agree at any stage to refer the dispute to arbitration; (ii) the lifting of the limits on strike duration that were imposed by former section 49(8) of the Code; and (iii) the elimination of section 51(4) and (5) of the Code that deemed illegal the strikes carried out by employees informed about termination of their contract before the dispute had arisen as well as the strikes carried out by time-based contract workers after the expiration of the term of their contract.

The Committee is raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.