Labor Mediation Ended with Agreement Between IDS Borjomi Management and Employees
By Natalia Kochiashvili
Wednesday, June 22, 2022
Labor mediation ended with an agreement between the management and employees of IDS Borjomi Georgia. According to the Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Labor, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia, as a result of successful negotiations, the employees will continue working in the factory and IDS Borjomi Georgia will be fully operational in the near future.
According to the decision of the Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Gharibashvili, his representative, Head of the Department of Regional Relations of the Government of Georgia Leri Barnabishvili was personally involved in the negotiation process. As the PM stated, the protection of the rights of each employee employed in IDS Borjomi Georgia will be ensured. The mediation agreement was signed by the parties in Borjomi.
Beka Peradze, Head of the Labor Inspection Service, and Besik Amiranashvili, State Representative in the Samtskhe-Javakheti Region attended the meeting.
Recall that after the announcement of the company "Borjomi" to stop production in April, a disagreement arose over the new employment contracts offered to employees by the administration.
The mediation process started with the support of the Union of Agriculture, Trade, and Industry and with the involvement of the Ministry of Health, which ended in vain on 27 May. Since then, the company's employees have been protesting with 4 main demands: Return of 50 illegally fired employees; Return to the old contractual terms; Replacement of 3-6-month and 1-year contracts with permanent contracts; Coercion, dismissal of administration employees observed in blackmail and threats.
On June 9, Public Defender Nino Lomjaria met with the striking employees of Borjomi. She said the ombudsman's office would launch an investigation into possible employee discrimination by the company.
