The Georgian Trade Unions Confederation responded critically to the planned amendments to the Law of Georgia on Public Service from the very beginning, emphasizing that it worsens the existing protection guarantees for public servants, contradicts international labour standards, the Association Agreement with the European Union, the Constitution of Georgia, the national legislation, and the established practice of the Constitutional and General Courts of Georgia.
The involvement of the most representative worker organization in the country – the Georgian Trade Unions Confederation (GTUC) – was ignored in the process of preparation of the draft law, thus violating the fundamental standards of the International Labour Organization and the requirements of ILO Convention No. 144, ratified by Georgia, which obliges member states to ensure effective consultations with employers’ associations and trade unions on labour issues.
The draft law deteriorated sharply during the parliamentary hearings, and as a result, we ended up in a worse situation than we had with the Labour Code adopted in 2006, which, on the basis of our reports, has been the subject of harsh criticism from a number of competent international organizations for years.
It took us many years of struggle and help of international mechanisms and the direct involvement of the International Labour Organization to change the neoliberal, one-sided labour legislation adopted with complete disregard for workers’ rights.
We believe that the adopted changes have undermined the progress achieved so far in the labour legislation.
The Georgian Trade Unions Confederation will continue to use all legal mechanisms against the amendments to the Law on Public Service, including appealing to the International Labour Organization for an examination of the adopted amendments with a request to recognize them as contrary to international standards.
We appeal to the Georgian government to immediately withdraw the draft law and not return the country to the reality of 2006. Such steps further aggravate the already difficult situation in the country and make the situation unpredictable and unmanageable.
According to the draft law, which was adopted in three readings, in complete disregard of international and national standards:
The heads of the primary structural unit of a public institution and their deputies will no longer be considered civil servants, but will be persons employed under an administrative contract. The term of validity of the contract of these persons shall not exceed the term of office of the head of the relevant institution. The termination of the authority of the head of the institution shall result in the termination of their authority. The heads of the primary structural unit and their deputies may terminate their contracts at any time with 1 month’s notice and shall receive only 1 month’s compensation. Appointments to middle-level managerial positions shall be made directly by the decision of the head of the institution, without a competition. As of the date of entry into force of this law, the heads of the primary structural unit and their deputies will be considered persons employed under an administrative contract, which will significantly worsen their status as officials appointed to the position without a predetermined end date. They are no longer required to know the state language, be 18 years old, and have a civil servant certificate, unlike their subordinate civil servants.
The head of a public institution shall appoint a person already employed under an administrative contract of this public institution – the head of the primary structural unit, his/her deputy, or a civil servant working in a second-rank position in the same institution – as the chairman of the competition commission.
All hierarchically ranked civil servants will be evaluated once every 6 months, instead of once a year. Accordingly, the civil servant will be evaluated twice a year, and if he/she is assessed unsatisfactory both times, he/she will be dismissed from service. Heads of primary structural units and their deputies will no longer be subject to evaluation. The head of a public institution is authorized to change the evaluation prepared by the civil servant’s immediate supervisor within 1 month of this evaluation. The civil servant’s grade and grade increment depend on the evaluation, among other things. In addition, a person may be dismissed from service as a result of receiving a negative evaluation twice. If an civil servant receives an unsatisfactory evaluation, 20% of his/her official salary will be withheld until the start of his/her next evaluation period.
The mobility rule does not apply to cases of reorganization. Appealing decisions on dismissal does not suspend the adopted acts. And the satisfaction of the request of a person dismissed from service on the grounds of reorganization by a court decision does not lead to the reinstatement of the illegally dismissed person. In case of winning the dispute, the dismissed official will be given compensation in the amount of only 3 months of official salary.
It should be noted that during the transitional period, the norms related to reorganization and regulations regarding the heads and deputies of the primary structural unit will apply to legal entities of public law.