On December 2, Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC), with financial support from EWMI ACCESS,  started research into the state of labor conditions and safety throughout Georgia. The research implies in-depth interviews with employees of companies of various sectors, including high-risk industries.

The study aims to assess the working conditions in the pre-selected companies in terms of compliance with the established strands not only from the health and safety, but also from the worker’s rights perspective. Research  will explore the following issues:  state of labor conditions and safety  at workplace; cases and extent of the  labor exploitation; identification of  cases that require  government,   employer , CSO, trade unions and other  intervention;  organizational,  practical and/or normative barriers that  prevent workers from protesting against the violations,  appealing to the court or otherwise claiming for their rights.

In cases when a selected company is to be inspected by the Labor Inspection Department, EMC will conduct interviews with the respective employees twice: once before the entry of the inspection department monitors, and the second after the end of the inspection in order to examine any changes in working conditions as a result of the Labor Inspection Department’s recommendations, sanctions or any other measures.

In the companies that are not on the Department’s monitoring list, the survey interviews will be conducted only once.  The selected companies for the study  include supermarket chain in Tbilisi, factories of heavy and light industries  in the regions of Georgia,  restaurant chains and banking. Overall, 80 to 100 workers will be interviewed.

Based on the research findings, EMC will carry out an advocacy and awareness-raising campaign with relevant decision-makers and the beneficiaries, and present a report on the effectiveness of the Labor Inspection Department.

The goal of the project is to study labor conditions and safety in Georgia and develop policy recommendations for the Georgian authorities.