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Living in an ‘enemy land’: the Armenian women working abroad

16 April 2018 by Armine Avetisyan

Yerevan bus station (Armine Avetisyan /OC Media)

Low pay and high unem­ploy­ment have led many Armenian women to seek work beyond the country’s borders. Despite fears of traf­fick­ing, often abusive working con­di­tions, and a closed border with Turkey, the allure of higher salaries have led thousands to leave Armenia, mainly to Russia and even Turkey — a country many consider an ‘enemy land’.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Labour, Top Tagged With: Armenia, exploitation, istanbul, labour migration, migration, turkey

Welcome to ‘hell’: working on a Georgian railway construction site

26 February 2018 by Luka Pertaia

Tevdore Natsabidze, a labourer at the railway tunnel con­struc­tion site, walks to work. Tevdore was one of roughly fifty striking employees accusing the con­struc­tion company of violating labour safety rules (Luka Pertaia /OC Media)

Railway con­struc­tion in central Georgia is a key part of ambitious plans to modernise Georgia’s infra­struc­ture. Despite warnings from trade unions and official inspec­tors, life for the workers remains a ‘living hell’.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Labour, Top Tagged With: Bezhatubani, China Railway 23rd Bureau Group, construction, georgia, kharagauli, labour inspection, labour laws, labour rights, railway, workers, zvare

Seasonal work and the shadow economy of Armenian agriculture

24 December 2017 by Ampop

(Armine Avetisyan /Ampop)

One in five workers in Armenia is employed in informal sector, many of them in agri­cul­ture. Lack of employ­ment contracts often subjects them to Labour Code vio­la­tions by employers.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Labour, Top Tagged With: agriculture, Armenia, employment, informal sector, labour

Working 24 hours straight in Georgia’s supermarkets

20 December 2017 by Sopho Aptsiauri

Protest against Fresco (Sopho Aptsiauri /OC Media)

With 24-hour shifts, col­lec­tive respon­si­bil­i­ty, and heavy sur­veil­lance, employees of Georgian super­mar­kets complain of being exploited. While super­mar­ket owners justify the hard working con­di­tions with a need to improve customer service, trade unions say the problem lies in a lack of reg­u­la­tions. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Labour, Top Tagged With: employees, employers, georgia, labour, labour code, labour inspection, labour market, labour rights, supermarkets, workers

Has Abkhazia’s new Labour Code made a difference for workers?

6 December 2017 by Dmitry Stateynov

The Ministry of Labor and Social Devel­op­ment of Abkhazia (/Sputnik Abkhazia)

A new Labour Code came into force in Abkhazia in January 2017, which on paper, sig­nif­i­cant­ly expands the rights of workers. But the law has lim­i­ta­tions, and not all workers know their rights.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Labour, Top Tagged With: abkhazia, labour code, labour inspection, Labour Inspectorate, labour rights, migrant workers

Politics, corruption, and abuse in Armenia’s supermarket cartels

24 November 2017 by David Stepanyan

The largest super­mar­ket chain in Armenia — Yerevan City — belongs to Repub­li­can Party MP Samvel Alek­sanyan (David Stepanyan /OC Media)

With murky bound­aries between the author­i­ties and big super­mar­ket chains in Armenia, their gov­ern­ment linked owners enjoy a degree of impunity. This has and does lead to fear, intim­i­da­tion, and exploita­tion of workers, and even voter fraud. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Labour, Top Tagged With: Armenia, Gagik Khachatryan, labour, labour conditions, labour rights, Samvel Aleksanyan, SAS, supermarkets, yerevan

Abkhazia’s tourism catastrophe — ‘who would want to come here?’

11 October 2017 by Stella Adleyba

A beach in Sukhum (Dominik K. Cagara/ Archive)

Many in Abkhazia have lamented the failure of this year’s tourist season, con­nect­ing it directly to rising levels of crime. The usual problems were com­pound­ed by high profile attacks on tourists and an explosion at an ammu­ni­tion depot which left two tourists dead.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Labour, Top Tagged With: abkhazia, crime, guesthouse, hotel, safety, tourism

Azerbaijan’s unrecognised army of unemployed

5 September 2017 by Seymur Kazimov

(Ahmed Mukhtar/OC Media)

Two years after the twice deval­u­a­tion of the manat and three years after world oil prices plummeted, official sta­tis­tics in Azer­bai­jan suggest a rosy picture of the economy. Meanwhile, local companies continue to shut down, each day adding more people to the country’s army of unem­ployed.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Labour Tagged With: Azerbaijan, currency, economy, manat, socar, unemployment

Unscrupulous employers are taking advantage of desperate Armenian jobseekers

2 August 2017 by David Stepanyan

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.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Labour, Top Tagged With: Armenia, exploitation, labour, labour market, labour rights, unemployment, unpaid work

The Armenian apricot mafia

15 July 2017 by David Stepanyan

‘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.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Labour, Top Tagged With: agriculture, apricots, Armenia, corruption, mafia, market, monopoly, spayka, trade

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Editor’s pick

Living in an ‘enemy land’: the Armenian women working abroad

Living in an ‘enemy land’: the Armenian women working abroad

16 April 2018 By Armine Avetisyan

Low pay and high unemployment have led many Armenian women to seek work beyond the country’s borders. Despite fears of trafficking, often abusive working conditions, and a closed border with Turkey, the allure of higher salaries have led … [Read More...]

Opinion & Analysis

Analysis | Ten years after a deadly crackdown in Armenia, will history repeat itself?

Analysis | Ten years after a deadly crackdown in Armenia, will history repeat itself?

23 April 2018 By Peter Liakhov

On 1 March 2008, 10 people died when police broke up protests. Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan is now once again raising the spectre of 1 March.

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