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Workers On Strike in Rustavi

May 20, 2010
Manon Bokuchava, Kvemo Kartli

On May 17, the workers of the GeoStyle Ltd went on strike in Rustavi. “Low salaries, no drinking water and toilets – these are our main problems. We have to work two days and nights a week and the salary is 300 GEL per month. It is slavery. They know that the country is poor and people live in unbearable conditions; so they treat us nastily. We went on strike 7 months ago too. We had same requirements. The administration promised to improve the conditions but nothing was changed,” said the worker of the factory Beso Bazadze. Strikers said they cannot take a bath after a working-day. “We have neither bath-room nor the dinning-room.”

The workers of the GeoStyle mainly complain about the owners of the enterprise. The GeoStyle Ltd is a joint company of the JSW India and G Georgian Steel Group Holding. It produces steel with Indian capital. When the investment group entered Georgia, they said the group aimed to provide the Caucasian region with the best quality steel reinforcement.

“If the strike does not finish and the enterprise stops working, nobody will benefit from it. I cannot accept their requirements and complaints as if we pay low salaries in the enterprise. As for bathrooms, they should take into consideration that we are a new company and started working in November of 2009; so we do not have enough funds to arrange everything properly. We met the representatives of the strikers. We ask them to send their requirements in written form and we will discuss them within a week,” said the human resource manager of the GeoStyle Shalva Bezhiashvili. He does not exclude the possibility that the protest is politically grounded. “Political parties met the strikers to support them very fast; in general it does not happen so.”

The only representative of the political party, who we saw with strikers, was member of the Labor Party Mamuka Maisuradze.

We had chance to read the reply of the factory administration which was sent after the previous protest. “Additional salary shall not be paid to the workers for night-shifts. Workers can use the dinning-room only at night. The company cannot fund construction of the changing rooms and bathrooms. However, we plan to do it in future when our finances will allow us to do it. Besides that, nobody was fired because of the protest; neither police was called by the administration. However, similar protest rallies shall not be encouraged. We will use the principle – “No work – no salary” during similar strikes.”

This time, we will see whether the workers will lose jobs because of their protest. Unlike previous strikes, the administration of the GeoStyle called the patrol police to the administrative building. The witnesses said the head of the Rustavi police department was also at the place.

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