To Government of Georgia

                                                                      To Parliament of Georgia

International Workers’ Day

May 1, 2023

Manifesto of Georgian Trade Unions Confederation

On International Workers’ Day, Georgian employees face many challenges in 2023! At first glance, the results of the 2019 pandemic have been overcome and the labour market seems to have returned to the state of the previous period, however, recently other problems have appeared, which are no less acute and dealing with them is as important as for the labour market of Georgia, as well as overcoming the problem that has already become a tradition – unemployment.

Georgia’s economy, which is quite fragile to external shocks, faced another shock caused by the Russia-Ukraine war. As a result of the war, the prices of goods increased throughout Europe. Georgia was no exception. The increase in prices significantly affected the population of Georgia.

Last year, apparent price growth of 9.8% was countered by real economic growth of 10.1% and average wage growth of 22%. However, the uneven distribution of incomes, which has been a problem for Georgia for a long time, appeared here. Prices have risen equally for everyone, regardless of their incomes, while wages and incomes have risen unevenly, due to imperfections in the labor market and social policies.

In Georgia today, more than 131 thousand people have a salary of less than 500 GEL. Today’s 500 GEL does not exceed 282 GEL in 2010 prices. Here, as of February, 277 people earn more than 100,000 GEL per month, and they are taxed with the same income tax as employees with a salary of 100 or 200 GEL. In the absence of progressive taxation, inequality deepens. Tax is also paid by those employees whose income is less than the subsistence minimum.

According to official statistics, the level of relative poverty is decreasing (18.9% as of 2021). In reality, inequality and with it, poverty is increasing outside of social programs. The reduction of the poverty rate is certainly good, but this reduction is only 1.8% in the last 17 years, and most importantly, poverty reduction is done by expanding the coverage of the population through social programs, not by improving the economic status of the population or increasing the level of employment. Consequently, more and more people become dependent on subsistence allowances and other social benefits, while able-bodied citizens are either unemployed or leaving the country in search of rudimentary work abroad. However, migration does not always improve their lives, as labor migrants from Georgia become victims of labor exploitation and mistreatment.

The gender gap between men’s and women’s salaries is still an important problem. Despite some changes in the Labor Code, the gender wage gap still reaches 17.3%.

High informal employment also needs attention from the state. 28.8% of those working in the non-agricultural sector are informally employed. They are deprived of the opportunity to enjoy the labor rights stipulated by the Labor Code and to participate in the pension system.

It is important for the government to take steps towards the voluntary formalization of informal employment. This, first of all, implies the improvement of enforcement in terms of protection of labor rights and the creation of additional social protection guarantees, which will be directly related to formal employment.

In such a difficult situation, in order to deal with the challenges, it is of particular importance to build a sense of solidarity and justice in society.

It is urgently necessary to:

Georgian Trade Unions Confederation demand:

 

Address of the participants of the primary rally

 

Tbilisi, the building of the Parliament of Georgia, May 1, 2023

 

 

With respect,

President

Irakli Petriashvili