From: Levan Beridze
Sent: Tuesday, May 22, 2018 2:41 PM
To: Mariam Tarasashvili ; Giorgi Tsikolia
Subject: Fwd: Labor Letter Request

Sent from my T-Mobile 4G LTE Device

Hello Levan and Mariam,

I am not sure if you are aware or not, but the US Department of Labor (USDOL) has been providing funds to the International Labor Organization (ILO) to assist the Ministry of Labor, Health and Social Affairs (MoLHSA) with improving compliance with labor laws.  The ILO is assisting the MoLHSA with establishing changes to the labor law, other conflicting legislation, and implementing regulations so that they are in compliance with International Labor Standards (ILS); working on establishing a labor inspectorate that meets ILS; assisting MoLHSA with improving it labor administrative capacities; working with the High School of Justice to increase the number of judiciary members trained on the labor code and ILS; and working with the business community so that they are part of the solution to improved compliance.

USDOL is interested in continuing our support to MoLHSA.  However, because of our grant making rules, we are not able to provide more funding directly to the ILO.  Instead we plan to include Georgia as part of a new global project that is currently beginning developed in my office. The project has the title "Global Labor Law Enforcement Project." We still do not have a specific amount of money, nor detailed activities, and we have not selected all the countries that would be part of this initiative. This grant will be awarded as part of a competitive process.  The winner of this process would start providing assistance to Georgia in January 2019.

Please do not share this information with anyone outside of your Government.  This information is confidential and not public until we publish a notice of intent.

For projects with activities aimed at governments, we require acknowledgement that your government will work collaboratively, with a yet to be decided grantee, on improving labor law enforcement.   If your Government is supportive of USDOL continuing its support, we need two items from the Government of Georgia for us to move forward:

·         An email that briefly acknowledges that Georgia supports USDOL providing additional assistance on improving labor law enforcement through a yet to be determined grantee; and

·         A more detailed letter of support for this project.

We would appreciate receiving the email as soon as possible.  Followed by the letter.  The letter should be addressed to:

Matthew Levin,

Director, Office of Trade and Labor Affairs

Bureau of International Labor Affairs

United States Department of Labor

200 Constitution Avenue, NW

Suite S-5313

Washington, DC  20210

As an example, I attached the letter that your Ministry of Justice sent us when we started this project.  When ready, the letter can be emailed to me.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you for your assistance in this matter.

Steve