Poti Port Director General Sacked Several Workers on Strike

Interpresnews

On October 10, employees of the reserve brigade of the Poti Port, who were on strike, received letters signed by the director general Josef Crawl. The letter informed them that several people were already sacked from job because of the delay in the working process.

The letter also reads that unless strikers return to their working places immediately, the measures envisaged by the law will be used against them, including financial sanctions.

“We learned that employees working on the multifunctional terminals in the port selfishly abandoned their working places and did not implement their duties. Due to specifics of our activities, similar behavior hinders working process and causes huge damage of the company. We have already sacked several employees for similar violation. We kindly request you to get the letter as warning for every employee who must immediately start implementation of their duties in order to avoid similar facts in future. Otherwise, the Company will take legal measures against the violators including reimbursement of the caused damage,” the letter reads which was distributed by Charles Kuurstara, Poti Port’s operation manager.

The letter also indicates that the Company is ready to discuss any case in accordance to business-ethic and professional norms if the process will not hinder working process.

More than 200 workers of the fourth reserve brigade in Poti Port 14th terminal are still on strike. They said they are not going to return to their working places until decision-makers of the Company contact them.

The strikers request: improved working conditions, salaries relevant to their work and signed labor contracts. “The terminal has stopped working. Nobody has contacted us from the administration for two days. We continue our protest until they meet us,” one of the strikers Avtandil Tuntia told Interpresnews.

Workers of other terminals joined the strikers at night of October 9. And their number is 45 that caused delay in the port’s working process. According to the strikers, some of them were already sacked because of protest.

“They called everybody and warned about dismissal. They claim that four of 45 strikers, who complained about our rights, will never return to work,” one of the workers Paata Mirtskhulava said.

Two days ago, director general of the Poti Port Josef Crawl told IPN that main personnel was not on strike and they implemented duties in the port. He also added strikers, who were hired workers, received maximum salaries in the Georgian labor market. Crawl added that he was going to study the issue and improve working conditions.