"As Eurasia leans into authoritarianism, labor rights suffer -- report", 10 June 2025

Across the territory of the erstwhile workers’ paradise, labor rights are eroding amid the spread of authoritarian practices.

An annual survey published by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) shows that workers generally face deteriorating conditions around the world, in terms of their ability to organize, bargain and ensure safe working environments...

...[C]onditions in formerly communist republics in the Caucasus and Central Asia – one-time constituent components of the Soviet Union, an entity established in 1924 in the name of workers – have moved toward a darker shade of grim.

The ITUC...singled out Georgia as the country in Eurasia where labor rights have experienced the most significant decline over the past year... [who moved] in 2024 to dismantle democratic institutions, adopting laws designed to cement the party in power and muzzle all forms of dissent. 

The so-called ‘foreign agents’ law adopted in May 2024, for example, not only impacts non-governmental organizations in Georgia, but also trade unions, which tend to have lots of foreign contacts and receive support from abroad. The law, which imposes burdensome reporting requirements on entities that receive over 20 percent of revenue from abroad, has had the effect of restricting trade union activity, the survey notes...

Armenia now is the only formerly Soviet state in the Caucasus or Central Asia that is considered a Category 3 state by the ITUC. Along with Georgia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan find themselves in Category 4. Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan were not ranked.