Georgian miners warn about strike

Negotiations of officials of the "Georgian Manganesi" Company with the miners, who demand to improve their working conditions, did not take place, as the company's special manager got to hospital. Miners promised to wait for ten days and then to go on strike.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the miner Zaza Abramishvili perished after a collapse in the Shukruti Mine in Chiatura. On March 29, about 50 miners held a protest near the building of the "Georgian Manganesi" Company, which operates local mines, demanding higher wages and labour safety.

Negotiations on improving miners' working conditions with Nikoloz Chikovani, the special manager, were scheduled for March 29, but Chikovani was hospitalized in Tbilisi.

The failed talks were one of the triggers of the March 29 protest, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent has reported.

"We wish him [Nikoloz Chikovani] a prompt recovery, but we remind that if the talks are not held within the nearest week or ten days, miners will go on a large-scale strike," said Tamaz Dolaberidze, the chairman of the metallurgy, mining and chemical industry workers' trade union, on air of the "Rustavi-2" TV Channel.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.