The Social Justice Centre (SJC), a Tbilisi-based advocacy group, have announced that they have filed a complaint with the Swedish ‘contact points’ at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on behalf of striking employees of Evolution Georgia.
Employees of Evolution Georgia, primarily card shufflers and game presenters, began their strike on 12 July, claiming the support of thousands behind them. They held sit-ins at the entrances of the Evolution Georgia premises in Tbilisi and have recently escalated their protest to a hunger strike, demanding better pay and improved working conditions.
[Listen to The Caucasus Digest: Why are Evolution Georgia’s employees on strike?]
In response, the company accused the unionised workers of exaggerating their numbers, stating they represented only a small minority of the workforce.
In their latest statement on 20 August, Evolution Georgia claimed that 649 employees were ‘formally on the strike list’, out of a total of approximately 8,000 employees.
The company also alleged that the workers were using illegal tactics such as blocking their office entrances, which they claimed could force them to significantly reduce their staff.
On the ninth day of a hunger strike by four workers, a 19-year-old employee, who refused to be publicly identified, sewed his lips shut.
In their appeal to the OECD, the SJC alleged that Evolution Georgia failed to address the protesting workers’ grievances and resorted instead to threatening to exit the local market, an action the group said was in breach of standards set out by the OECD’s Guidelines for Responsible Business Conduct.
The OECD is an intergovernmental organisation including nearly 40 economically advanced member countries, including Sweden as one of the founding members. It claims to promote policies that enhance the economic and social well-being of people globally by coordinating policies and setting international standards among member states.
The complaint, according to the SJC, alleges that the business-to-business online casino solutions provider company, headquartered in Sweden, violated principles outlined in OECD standards by infringing on workers’ rights in Georgia, including threatening to cut staff in response to protests.
‘Evolution Georgia is using this strategy to pressure workers by exploiting their difficult social situation and threatening to limit their representation’, the SJC claimed in their statement.
The OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct are a set of non-binding standards for responsible business practices, covering various areas including labour rights. They advocate that multinational companies should respect workers’ rights to unionise and engage in collective bargaining, ensure a safe and healthy working environment in line with International Labour Organisation (ILO) standards, and uphold anti-discrimination policies. Additionally, when significant operational changes, such as mass layoffs or closures, are considered, companies are expected to mitigate adverse effects.
Under the aegis of the OECD, member states have National Contact Points for Responsible Business Conduct where people can raise concerns or complaints about problematic corporate behaviour of a company operating in or from a member country.
For instance, in 2022, the Swedish OECD National Contact Point advised Systemair AB to use its influence over its Turkish subsidiary, Systemair HSK, to ensure respect for employee decisions and improve social dialogue after unionised workers claimed the company resorted to union-busting practices.
OC Media has reached out to the office of Swedish National Contact Point and Georgia’s Labour and Social Affairs Ministry for a comment.
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