The European Regional Council of Trade Unions discussed the global challenges, the covid-19 pandemic and ways to overcome it, online. The conversation focused on the issue of vaccination and testing. The meeting was conducted by Irakli Petriashvili – the President of the Georgian Trade Unions Confederation.
Luca Vicentini, Secretary General of the Pan-European Regional Council of the European Trade Unions Confederation , highlighted the damage caused by the pandemic and the “recovery opportunities”. Sharan Burrow, Secretary General of the International Trade Union Confederation, addressed to the participants of the conference and focused on the most important issues of 2021 trade unions, including labor safety ( as a fundamental right) the covid-19 ( as a occupational disease) and benefits, that patients should enjoy.
Irakli Petriashvili (in his address ) focused on the pandemic and its consequences and noted, that an unfair environment has been created in many regions of the world, because vaccination has not yet begun in many countries, including Georgia. Irakli Petriashvili raised the issue that special attention should be paid to covid-19 as an occupational disease and this issue should be added to the fourth fundamental right of the International Labor Organization as the 5th issue.
The pandemic has shown us once again, that in such times of crisis, politicians with particularly right-wing irresponsible ideology are advancing with demagogic and populist rhetoric. “If the States had minimum wages, unemployment assistance and social protection funds and the important social issues were not ignored, many country, including Georgia, would have more easily survived the pandemic period, which is accompanied by socio-economic hardship and problems”, Irakli Petriashvili said. According to him, the current situation may deprive us of the significant achievements we have made in terms of changes in the Labor Code and Labor Inspection.