Month: August 2026

Based on the application submitted by members of the Georgian Taxi Drivers Association (a member organization of the Trade Union “Labor”), the Labor Inspection Service of the Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Labour, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia has classified the activity of passenger transport as heavy, harmful, and hazardous work. Consequently, vehicle drivers in Georgia will be entitled to an additional 10 days of paid leave.

Members of the Trade Union “Labor” applied to the Labor Inspection Service for clarification regarding the classification of passenger transport activities as heavy, harmful, and hazardous work, and the entitlement to an additional 10 days of leave.

The Labor Inspection Service promptly reviewed the application submitted by the members of the Georgian Taxi Drivers Association and noted that the list of heavy, harmful, and hazardous jobs is approved by Order No. 147/n of the Minister of Labour, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia dated May 3, 2007, “On the Approval of the List of Heavy, Harmful and Hazardous Jobs” (hereinafter referred to as “Order No. 147/n”).

Article 481 of Annex No. 1 to Order No. 147/n (“List of Heavy, Harmful and Hazardous Jobs”) defines the activities of persons employed in motor transport. These include, inter alia, bus drivers employed on regular routes and repair work, car drivers—including those with special carrying capacities (from 1.5 to 3 tons; 3 tons and above)—and taxi drivers employed in republican cities, regional district jurisdictions, and on international routes. Additionally, Article 515 of the same annex includes tram and trolleybus drivers.

Furthermore, the supervisory authority noted that according to the list of increased-risk, heavy, harmful, and hazardous jobs approved by Resolution No. 381 of the Government of Georgia of July 27, 2018, “On the Approval of the List of Increased-Risk, Heavy, Harmful and Hazardous Jobs” (hereinafter referred to as “Resolution No. 381”), activities related to urban and suburban passenger land transport (H.49.31.0) are classified as increased-risk, heavy, harmful, and hazardous work. In accordance with the list of national economy sectors defined by Resolution No. 10 of the Board of the National Statistics Office of Georgia (LEPL GeoStat) of June 28, 2016, “On the Approval of the National Classifier of Georgia ‘SEK 006-2016 Types of Economic Activity'” (hereinafter referred to as “Resolution No. 10”), code No. 49.31.0 of the national classifier of types of economic activity covers land transport of passengers through urban or suburban transport systems. This may include various types of land transport, such as minibuses, taxis, buses, cutters, trams, trolleys, subways, elevated railways, and the like.

Regarding persons employed in heavy, harmful, and hazardous work, subparagraph “a” of Paragraph 3 of Article 31 of the Organic Law of Georgia “The Labour Code of Georgia” is also important, according to which any employee performing heavy, harmful, or hazardous work is granted an additional 10 calendar days of paid leave per year.

The Labor Inspection Service determined that any employer engaged in heavy, harmful, or hazardous work is obligated to provide employees with the rights defined by labor legislation and comply with other requirements established by Georgian legislation.

We thank the International Center for Rights Protection for providing legal support and partnership.

Kuehne+Nagel Korea is a union-shop workplace that had maintained stable labour relations without a full-scale strike for approximately 20 years. However, after a new managing director took office in March 2026, the company proposed 48 amendments covering 25 clauses of the existing collective agreement.

Several of these proposals would significantly affect union membership, the status of elected union officers, union finances and the ability of the union and its parent organisation to conduct legitimate activities.

The dispute is therefore not primarily about wages or benefits. The central issue is whether a valid, long-standing collective agreement and the union rights established under it will continue to be respected following a change in local management.

The union completed the legally required mediation and ballot procedures. Of 195 eligible members, 193 voted—a turnout of 99.0%—and 179 members, or 92.7%, supported industrial action.

Union members staged a full-scale strike on 15 and 16 July 2026. Since 25 July, they have continued industrial action by declining overtime, public-holiday, weekend and standby duties until a settlement is reached.

During the strike, the union also obtained documents and reports suggesting that personnel from overseas Kuehne+Nagel entities and external contractors may have performed work affected by the industrial action. Evidence relating to specific cases has been submitted to the relevant Korean authorities for investigation and legal assessment.

The union is calling on Kuehne+Nagel to:

* respect the existing collective agreement and Korean labour law;

* withdraw proposals that would significantly restrict union membership and legitimate union activities;

* clarify transparently the involvement of overseas and external personnel during the strike; and

* resume substantive collective bargaining without delay.

The union remains ready to negotiate and is seeking the restoration of stable labour relations based on Korean law, the collective agreement and mutual respect.

In solidarity,

Chanyoung Heo

Branch President

Kuehne+Nagel Korea Labour Union

Korean Public Service and Transport Workers’ Union

My name is Joseph Ndiritu Karobia, General Secretary of the Public Transport Operators Union (PUTON) that represents road transport workers in Kenya.

We also draw membership from the informal public transport sector locally referred to as Matatu sector. I previously worked in the matatu industry rising through the ranks until when I quit to represent workers in their registered trade union PUTON.

We recruited 209 members from Kariobangi Matatu Owners Sacco (SACCO) over a period between 2015 where we had a dispute that we won at the Ministry of Labour and in the period 2021//2022, we further recruited members from the same SACCO which we again forced the union go to court, a matter that was concluded in favor of the union PUTON.

Orders were issued by the court, among which they were ordered to deduct and remit union dues for members who had subscribed to be members of the union. They did not obey the order and we took SACCO to court for contempt and disobeying court orders. They are now forcing union members to sign an affidavit claiming that they signed the union check-off forms without knowing what they were signing. Our next date in court will be on 04 October 2026 for the contempt matter.

The SACCO was squarely put by the court that it is the employer for the drivers and conductors and many other categories of workers who service the informal matatu sector.

We need your support in this matter, we need to tell the SACCO that every worker has a right to join a union, we need solidarity from global unionisable workers in this war.