6 on hunger strike at Batumi Port protest organisational restructure

Six people have gone on a hunger strike in Georgia’s western seaside town of Batumi opposing a reorganisation of employee structure at Batumi Port.

Two of them have been taken to hospital due to health-related issues today.

A delegation from Astana, Kazakhstan has arrived in Batumi to settle the recent confrontation between the local port administration and the workers demanding the resignation of Director General Daniar Mukhamed Rakhim.

Accusing the port administration of trying to conduct a "secret organisation” of the existing employee structure, dozens of workers began a hunger strike at Batumi Port on April 1.

Batumi Port has been managed by the Batumi Oil Terminal owned by the KazTransOil, which is the daughter company of the national Kazakh KazMunaiGas company since 2008. 

In a special statement concerning the case, Rakhim said the port administration has ceased all attempts to reorganise the employee structure.

Encouraging the protesters to stop the strike, the head of the government of Adjara Zurab Pataradze said he has received firm confirmation from Kazakhstan that no one will be dismissed from their jobs.

Pataradze said the local government is interested in both protecting the rights of the workers and the investor as the port has not been properly functioning these days due to the strike.