When Georgia’s main trade union confederation and employer association agreed publicly on the need for minimum wage reform, it should have been a turning point. It wasn’t.
In April 2023, the Georgian Trade Union Confederation (GTUC) and the Georgian Employers Association (GEA) issued a joint statement calling for a review of Georgia’s statutory minimum wage. The statement — notable for the rarity of tripartite consensus on any substantive labour policy question in Georgia — called on the government to initiate a formal minimum wage review process through the Tripartite Commission, benchmarking the new floor against purchasing power data and ILO guidance. Eighteen months later, no review process has been initiated and the statutory minimum wage remains at GEL 20.
The GTUC-GEA joint statement matters for reasons beyond its specific content. In functioning social dialogue systems, agreement between the trade union and employer constituencies on a policy position creates a form of political pressure that governments find difficult to ignore. If both the workers’ and employers’ representatives agree that a policy needs to change, the government’s position as the third social partner becomes untenable unless it can articulate specific economic or fiscal objections. In Georgia, the government simply did not respond. The Tripartite Commission, which should have been the institutional channel through which such a joint position triggers a formal government response, has no mechanism to compel one.
The GTUC represents approximately 220,000 workers across 28 affiliated unions — a significant membership base in a country of approximately 2 million employed persons. It is affiliated with the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and participates in the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) as an associate member. The GEA represents approximately 3,500 member companies, including several large enterprises in manufacturing, construction, and services. Their joint position on minimum wage is not marginal advocacy — it is the combined voice of the country’s organised workers and employers.
The absence of government response reveals a structural feature of Georgian labour relations that goes beyond the specific minimum wage question. The government is the dominant party in Georgian social dialogue not because of the strength of its arguments but because of the weakness of the institutional architecture. The Tripartite Commission cannot compel a government response. The Commission’s conclusions are advisory. Social partners have no legal standing to challenge government inaction in courts. The result is a system where tripartite consensus, when it occurs, is effectively optional for the party that matters most — the state.
GILS has reviewed the 2023 joint statement and the subsequent period. The government’s formal position, communicated informally to social partners, was that minimum wage reform requires further economic analysis and should await a recovery in post-pandemic employment levels. Employment levels have recovered substantially. The stated precondition has been met. The review has not commenced.
GILS Position: The GTUC-GEA joint statement of 2023 created a political opportunity for minimum wage reform that the government chose not to take. GILS calls on the Ministry of Labour to formally acknowledge the joint statement in writing, initiate a Tripartite Commission working group on minimum wage benchmarking, and commit to a public timeline for legislative action. The ILO’s DWCP 2024–2026 provides a framework and an external partner to support this process.
The social partners demonstrated in 2023 that tripartite consensus on difficult reform is achievable. The government’s silence in response was not a policy decision — it was an institutional failure. It should not be repeated.
Read the full GILS analysis: https://labour.edu.ge/org-gtuc/