Tamuna Chkareuli

30 Posts

0 Followers

Tamuna is a freelance journalist and a professional photographer. With a keen interest in social issues, she focuses on labour rights and disability and gender-related problems.

Evo Union outside the Evolution Georgia offices. Photo via Evo Union.

Evolution Gaming

Young Georgian Unions on a winning streak

by Tamuna Chkareuli

•7 min read

Unionising is seen as unappealing and even dangerous by many Georgians, but some new public and private unions are gaining support, taking on their employers — and winning. For decades, Georgia’s labour unions have been a mostly unsuccessful endeavour. While big enterprises are plagued by company-dominated unions or take revenge against unionised workers, 29% of the workforce is informally employed and 21% unemployed. With two of Georgia’s largest employment sectors — hospitality and cons

Feature Stories

Inside Georgia’s textile industry: Violence

by Tamuna Chkareuli

•6 min read

Two years after OC Media went undercover at a Tbilisi factory, a former worker reached out with a harrowing story of psychological and physical abuse. When 46-year-old Eleonora took the job at a Eurotex-managed textile factory in Tbilisi, Georgia she was excited. She didn’t think that only a few years later, in this very factory, her life would flash before her eyes as a pair of hands tightened around her neck. Eleonora Ter-Poghosyan was promoted to quality control within a year of working

Nazuki sweet bread is an essential source of income for families in Surami. Tamuna Chkareuli/OC Media.

COVID-19

In Pictures | Forgotten by the highway

by Tamuna Chkareuli

•2 min read

From sweetbread in Surami to hammocks in Khashuri, many settlements along Georgia’s E60 east-west highway are known for their unique crafts — now the modernisation of the E60 is threatening to turn them into ghost towns. Georgia’s E60 highway, the country’s main east-west artery, is undergoing a radical transformation. A new modernisation project is building new bypasses, overpasses, and tunnels. While this is surely welcomed by the drivers who will save precious on their drive through

With seasonal rentals frozen and the ski lifts shut down, the life in Bakuriani has stopped. Photo: Tamuna Chkareuli/OC Media.

COVID-19

In Pictures | Bakuriani’s corona freeze

by Tamuna Chkareuli

•4 min read

With the pandemic, life in Bakuriani has come to a standstill. Now, residents of the popular ski resort town fear the pandemic will deal a fatal economic blow to their livelihoods. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began Bakuriani has fallen under a deep economic freeze. Ski lifts have stood still for months, and since the latest lockdown, all hotels are closed until January at the very least. For a ski-resort town like Bakuriani, the lockdown means a cancellation of the most profitable season a

Illustration: Tamuna Chkareuli/OC Media.

Georgia

Voice | ‘I’ve been homeless since 2000’

by Tamuna Chkareuli

•5 min read

The housing crisis in Tbilisi has come to public attention again, with the demolition of a squatter settlement in Aprika. But that is only the tip of the iceberg, homelessness has affected many in Georgia for decades. Nugzar Chkhaidze, who spends his days in front of the grocery store, and his nights in all over the city, spoke to OC Media about twenty years without a home. ‘I’ve been homeless since 2000, when I lost my flat to the bank. I was working in telecommunications for 21 years, so I h

The staff of Radio Marneuli. Photo: Tamuna Chkareuli/OC Media.

COVID-19

The never-ending lockdown for Radio Marneuli

by Tamuna Chkareuli

•6 min read

Radio Marneuli has for years complained of being ignored by the local authorities. During this year’s coronavirus lockdowns, this has left the community in a dangerous information vacuum. In March this year, the Georgian Government quarantined the municipality of Marneuli and put it on lockdown, letting no one in or out. The region, which hosts large populations of ethnic Azerbaijanis and Armenians, was among the first and hardest hit in Georgia. Journalists from Radio Marneuli, a small, i

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