Seventeenth day of Miners` protest

The seventeenth day of protests and negotiations in Tkibuli. The negotiations between management of Saknakhshiri and miners were attended by trade unions and Prime Minister`s representative. The participants demande from the employer company implementing the commitments taken 5 years ago . Another demonstration was held in parallel at the district administration,

Irakli Petriashvili, head of the Georgian Trade Union Confederation (GTUC), which is not an organizer of the ongoing strike in Tkibuli, says that the current crisis could have been avoided if the company had observed all the clauses of the 2011 agreement. He also criticized the authorities for a failure to apply fully in practice all the available legislative mechanisms to foster social dialogue, among them trilateral commission and labor inspection, which he says remain only “on paper”.

He also says that in January, 2016 the GTUC sent a letter to the GIG, which owns coal mines in Tkibuli, asking for a dialogue to resolve the problems facing miners, but the company ignored it.

According to the GTUC head revival of 2011 agreement seems to be the most realistic way out from the existing situation in Tkibuli, which, if implemented, would mean about 14.2 percent pay rise for miners.