Striking miners against transfer of mines under their rule as offered by company

Miners from Georgia’s western city of Chiatura, who have been on strike for two weeks, demanding a 40 percent increase in salaries and decent working conditions, on Friday dismissed an offer from an employer of the handover of 11 miners to their management. 

The miners, who say their average salaries are less than $400, said they had not raised a demand on managing the mines, adding the company Georgian Manganese was “likely to stretch time and spark conflicts between workers” to suspend the protests. 

About 50 of 3,000 miners on strike are rallying in front of the parliament building in the capital city, ten of them on hunger strike. Several of the miners have sewn their mouths and eyes shut in protest following failed negotiations with the company. 

The Georgian Manganese is currently owned by the Florida-based Georgian American Alloys, which is owned by Ukrainian tycoon Ihor Kolomoyskyi. 

The Ministry of Environment Protection and Natural Resources of Georgia in 2017 requested the appointment of the state’s special representative in Georgian Manganese on the pretext of avoiding an ecological disaster in Chiatura. The court accepted the motion. Before special representatives were appointed, there were three such intermediary companies, with the number being increased to more than 20 since 2017, domestic environmental NGOs said. 

Workers claim the companies “had done nothing” but receiving money over the past several years.