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Petriashvili says businessmen manage to make changes to state thinking

Netgazeti reports that the Georgian Professional Unions find the recent developments which deal with the Labour Code, alarming. The head of the union, Irakli Petriashvili said that certain business circles have managed to influence the government over this issue.

A conference was held at the Hotel Ambassador which was organized by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation and the Professional Unions on June 6th which was also attended by NGOs and representatives from the diplomatic corps.

As Petriashvili said, during the 8-month discussions over the proposed changes to the Labour Code, the text which was created by the government has changed several times. Presently, an inefficient dialogue is being conducted which, according to Petriashvili, creates the threat that the final Labour Code may be unbalanced.

“Businessmen have managed to influence the government through lobbying,” Petriashvili said, claiming that changes have been made to the Code

Petriashvili said there will be a particular group of people who will have to work for 48 hours a week, instead of 40.



Let us unite to save Bakuriani!

Guria News reported, that according to a group of scientists, Bakuriani resort may lose its status as an internationally recognized skiing center due to the current condition of its forests.

Caucasus Environmental NGO Network (CENN), together with the Samtskhe-Javakheti Regional Environment Civil Initiative held a meeting on June 6th where they discussed the problematic issue with state and public sector representatives.

The coordinator of the Initiative, Khatuna Khmaladze said consultations over the case of Bakuriani have been underway for a couple of months on the central and local government level. However, she said it is important that the private sector take an interest in the issue as well. “Bakuriani should retain its status and should become one of the state's priorities,” Khmaladze said.

As CENN stated, not only forests in Bakuriani, but all forests at ski-resorts are in danger throughout the world. The situation became particularly bad in Georgia after the legislative changes in 2010-2011 when the cutting down of trees was practically legalized.