Health and Labor Ministry calls on Georgian Railway and its staff to negotiate

Georgia’s Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Labor, Health and Social Affairs calls on the Georgian Railway and its employees to sit for negotiations.

The statement came after the announcement of the Georgian Railway employees about the planned strike from August 10.

The ministry reports that on July 9, the President of the new trade union of Georgian railway workers, Vitaly Giorgadze addressed Deputy Minister of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Labor, Health and Social Affairs Ekaterine Tikaradze and JSC Georgian Railway Director General David Peradze for mediation of collective labor disputes.

The statement reads that the ministry selected and appointed the mediator who is tasked to settle the collective dispute.

In the framework of the collective dispute case, the mediator held an individual meeting with representatives of the Georgian New Railway Trade Union. The mediator also contacted the JSC Georgian Railway Administration to involve an authorized person in the conciliation procedures.

“Despite repeated attempts by the mediator, no meeting was held between representatives of the Railway Administration and the mediator. As a result, the mediation process has been suspended. With the consent and agreement of the parties, the ministry expresses its readiness to engage again in the abovementioned process and to ensure the participation of the mediator in the conciliation procedures,” the ministry says and calls on both sides for participation in the process.

The workers of the Georgian Railway are requesting a 50% increase in their salaries. They say if the demand is not met, 4800 people will go on strike this weekend.

The employees say their salaries have not increased since 2012, adding the salary of many employees equals GEL 300. They also claim that they obtained the official right to start a strike on August 10.

Meanwhile, the administration of the Georgian Railway claims the request of 50% raise of salaries is “unrealistic,” and they can only increase the salaries of some workers by 10% from March 1, 2020.

They say there are 400 members in the new trade union of the Railway and they do not have the legitimacy to speak on behalf of the full staff and, moreover, to announce going on strike due to unfulfilled demands.

Moreover, the company says they are planning to revise the salary policy soon, adding the staff was also informed about this.