Right to trade union activities
In April 2020, the workers’ union within the Armenian Ministry of Economy was unilaterally disbanded by the government, which claimed that following the restructuring of the Ministry in late 2019, the number of union members had decreased and therefore the union could not be maintained. At the same time, the Ministry stopped implementing the negotiated check-off system.
The Union of State, Local Governments and Public Service Employees of Armenia (USLGPSEA) sent a written request for clarification to which the minister responded by saying that “preliminary surveys revealed that workers are dissatisfied with the effectiveness of the union”. Later in the month, representatives of the Ministry’s management paid a visit to the home of the trade union leader and forced him to sign a letter addressed to the minister notifying him of the cessation of trade union activities within the Ministry.