Employment
A 2009 Labour Code alongside reported cotton-harvest mobilisation
The Labour Code provides a 40-hour week, annual leave and written contracts. Independent monitors report state-organised mobilisation of public employees for the cotton harvest.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — Courts hear labour disputes; there is no independent trade union or independent inspection.
Governing law
- Labour Code of Turkmenistan2009
- Law on Employment
- ILO Forced Labour Convention No. 29ratified
In practice
On paper the code follows the regional pattern of a 40-hour week, minimum leave and contract formalities. In practice the ILO supervisory bodies and independent monitors have documented the mobilisation of teachers, medical staff and other public employees to pick cotton or to fund replacement pickers, under threat of dismissal. There is no trade union independent of the state, so collective bargaining in any meaningful sense is absent and internal remedies for coerced labour are not available.