People in Turkmenistan are eagerly awaiting changes to the law limiting the widespread practice of hiring employees on short-term contracts that leave them vulnerable to summary dismissal...According to a commentator based in northern Turkmenistan, the legislation has allowed managers to exploit their staff ruthlessly, for example making them work ten or 12 hours without a break, work over the weekend and holidays for no extra pay, and sending them off to pick cotton for a couple of months in the year during harvest season. Any complaints are dealt with by terminating the employee's contract. The current contactual system has become a legalised form of summary rule by management, said a gas industry official.