Georgian Sailors can Seek Political Asylum in Other Country

Georgian Sailors can Seek Political Asylum in Other Country

Batumi. 05.04.05 Media News. In Batumi nearly 50 sailors gethered in front of the navigation building on April 5 demanding  jobs from the government.

According to them, if the government does not give them jobs, they will seek political asylum with their families in other countries.

The chairman of the Georgian Sailors’ Trade Union, Anatoli Chijavadze, said to Media News that the trade union has no connectioin with this action, and that the participants of this action are those people who have not worked as sailers for 8-10 years and are no longer qualified to work as sailors. They have not passed a special preparation course and tests, and even if  there were jobs they could not occupy them.

Chijavadzse thinks that these people are led by a group that is interested to hinder the Georgian government in enacting its politics. It deals with the sale of  the Oceanic Navigation Company, which was bought by the American company Istving Maritime and the English copmpany Maritime Capital Limited for  $93m. They have already transferred $9 m, the remaining sum will be covered for the end of April.

As Chijavadze noted, the concurrence of  the sailers action and Georgia’s negotiations with the foreign companies being a coincidence is very doubtful. The Sailors’ Trade Union is also taking part in these talks. The buyers presented a 12 year employment program that envisages giving jobs to qualified sailers not only on the 14 ships which they have bought from Georgia, but on their other ships as well.

According to the chairman of the trade union there are nearly 500 such sailers, while approximately 1150 Georgian sailers work in different foreign companies.

The owners of Oceanic Navigation are ready to employ the 20-30 sailors who annually graduate from the Marine Academy of Batumi.  The foreigners are interested in the Academy as well, and plan to visit the Academy and the Medical Center in Batumi on April 6.