Project Database
Pay and working conditions
| Country: | Georgia |
| Start Date: | 2010-03-12 |
| Deadline: | |
| Host organisations: |
Educators and Scientists Free Trade Union of Georgia
(ESFTUG)
|
| Co-operating organisations: |
Educational Institute of Scotland
(EIS)
|
| Related Links: | |
Project Summary:
An EI workshop on collective bargaining was held in Tbilisi, Georgia, from 12 to 13 March 2009. Twenty-one representatives of EI’s affiliate, the Educators and Scientists Free Trade Union of Georgia (ESFTUG) from 10 different districts received training on bargaining for improved wages and working conditions, collective bargaining structures and joint negotiating machinery. Funded by the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), and organised by EI in cooperation with ESFTUG, the workshop was conducted by Gerald Fawcett, an experienced trainer who has been working for the National Union of Teachers (NUT) in the UK as negotiation officer.
The workshop was seen by all participants as a great success and extremely helpful in order to enable ESFTUG representatives to better negotiate with employers.
This workshop is a result of a conference that was held in May 2008 on ‘Strengthening teacher trade unions in non-EU South East European countries’. Trade union leaders from 11 teacher unions in eight countries had gathered in Tbilisi to identify common needs and challenges the unions are facing. Priority issues identified were: enhancing democracy within the union structures, retaining and attracting new members and strengthening collective bargaining structures.
From 6 to 8 July 2009, EI organised with the support of the Georgian office of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) a pay and working conditions training workshop for officials both of ESFTUG and of the Ministry of Education and Science on the various aspects of social dialogue and collective bargaining. The training theme was: ‘Promoting quality education in Georgia through the development and maintenance of good industrial relations between the government, teachers and employers’.
Over the course of three days, teachers, ministry officials and Deputy Ministers Irina Kurdadze and Maia Kopaleishvili, learned about the arrangements and procedures needed to establish bargaining structures to negotiate on issues like salaries, working conditions, allowances and how such machinery works.
The training workshop was conducted by Gerald Fawcett, former head of the negotiation team of the National Union of Teachers (NUT) in the United Kingdom.
The Ministry of Education and Science and ESFTUG committed themselves to going forward together, not only to ensure good negotiations but to meet the overall aim of Quality Education for All.
Following the training workshop, training sessions were organised for all of the regional and school representatives of ESFTUG.
Similar projects elsewhere in the region:
Georgia - Capacity building training for regional and local leaders Montenegro - Pay and Working Conditions Russia - Capacity building
