Today, Georgian workers face severe violations of their labour rights, with low pay and negligent treatment by private corporations. Yet workers’ demands have no political weight.
Several weeks ago, the mine at Chiatura in western Georgia stopped production. Georgian American Alloys, a Miami-based manufacturer of ferroalloys and one of the biggest employers in Georgia today, temporarily suspended some 3,200 workers for four months, citing a slowdown on the international market.
At the same time, workers at a glass factory went on strike in a town not far from Chiatura. And most importantly, after two weeks of miners’ strikes and local protests in Tkibuli, also nearby, neither workers, nor the trade union, nor the government managed to advance their agendas in the workers’ disputes against a local coal-extracting business.
