Faced with staggering unemployment and unscrupulous employers, young people in Armenia, including graduates, are forced to work obscene hours for low (or no) pay to get a foot through the door in the country’s labour market.
The Armenian apricot mafia
‘We do not sell apricots for cheaper than ֏500 ($1) per kilogramme’ (David Stepanyan/OC Media)
Armenia’s apricot farmers have had a bountiful season, but are unable to enjoy the fruits of their labour. They say that Spayka, an exporter with alleged connections to the president’s son-in-law, has captured the market — and is abusing its misbegotten power.
In pictures: Horses not tractors in Javakheti’s potato fields
Three young people from the village of Khaveti, in southern Georgia’s Akhalkalaki Municipality, work in the village of Bavra as seasonal workers. Their main tool is a horse, which they use to till the potato beds in the fields of Bavra.
Yerevan street vendors protest forced removal from Ferdowsi Market
Pavilions adjacent to houses on Ferdowsi Street (David Stepanyan/OC Media)
On 6 June, the Yerevan City Hall informed the vendors of the clothing market on Ferdowsi Street that construction work would begin there on 15 June. The vendors were asked to move their improvised pavilions to other spots. They remain dissatisfied with the decision and have asked for six months to relocate. The negotiations have so far been fruitless.
The woman shoemaker of Yerevan
(Armine Avetisyan/OC Media)
The situation on Armenia’s labour market is dire and it’s women who are affected the most. Gayane Ghambaryan, who has worked most of her life doing ‘man’s work’, tells of her struggle as her family’s sole breadwinner.
Fatal workplace accidents show ‘need for labour inspection reform’
Entrance of one of manganese mines in Chiatura, an industrial town, where the workers have been complaining about labour exploitation. Archive (Luka Pertaia/ OC Media)
The high number of fatal occupational accidents in Georgia shows how dysfunctional labour inspection in the country is, as it fails to address alleged violations of safety rules on the labour market, non government organisations claim. While private companies rely on the ‘invisible hand’ and hope that the ‘market will regulate itself’, rights’ groups claim that workplace inspections need reform, which could help in preventing fatal accidents and improving workers’ conditions. [Read more…]
