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Second Day of Protest – Solidarity Action Continued with Protest March

September 24, 2014
 
Lado Bichashvili, Shida Kartli

“Employer or Slave-owner”, “Real TV Contract” – former employees of the TV-Company Dia used these slogans during the protest demonstration in the square of Gori Academic Theatre. Journalists protested concrete paragraphs of the labor contracts, which were offered to them by the company owners.

Article 2 of the contract reads: “contractor is obliged to execute all orders of the employer in compliance with professional requirements, including non-working hours.” The annex of the contract states: “when signing the contract with the company, the contractor is obliged to update the company the information about him/herself and about his/her family members too; the contractor must also share information about the organizations, where he/she or his/her family members have financial interest, labor contracts.”

The former employees of the TV-Company Dia complain about those articles and say that they were offered slave contracts. Journalist Malkhaz Mikeladze recalled working principle of the TV-Company before 2012 parliamentary elections and said that their news policy was not different from the Real TV [TV-Company openly supported United National Movement] and now doubts that the management of the Dia-TV copied the labor contracts from Real TV.

Journalists reached the office of TV Company Dia marching in protest; they left banners at the door but nobody responded to them from the administration. 

Nino Chibchiuri, former head of news room at Dia: “Today we gathered to call on our colleagues, particularly those working in the regions, and TV-Company owners to protect rights of journalists because freedom of expression is the most important value and they must learn from our lesson. Our protest is precedent to convince TV-owners not to breach journalists’ rights. Our colleagues expressed solidarity from Kutaisi, Batumi, Telavi. Today we brought banners to the office of Dia.”

Citizens also expressed solidarity with the Dia’s former journalists.

Tamar Edisherashvili: “young people did not betray their professional dignity and valued the Labor Code more than the rights of the employer; thus they protect their legal and moral rights. Strengthening of the fourth authority in the country is the only guarantee to protect everybody from slavery.”

Member of Gori municipal board from Georgian Dream Tamar Tedliashvili also expressed solidarity with the journalists and said the contracts were illegal. “The labor contracts, which I saw, are classic examples of the worst agreements. There are not only some paragraphs in the contract document, which cause our concern, but the entire document is astonishing.”

Former journalists of the TV-Company Dia intend to appeal to the Public Defender of Georgia, Association of Regional Broadcasters, local and international organizations for help.

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