30 Silknet employees fired after going on strike, complaining of work conditions

Georgian telecommunication provider Silknet fired 30 employees several days ago, after they went on strike complaining of bad working conditions and demanding a 30 per cent increase in their salaries, reports publica.ge.

Agenda.ge, 25 Sep 2020 - 18:50, Tbilisi,Georgia

Georgian telecommunication provider Silknet fired 30 employees several days ago, after they went on strike complaining about working conditions and demanding 30 per cent increase in salaries, reports publica.ge.

The dismissed employees of the company told publica.ge that working conditions had worsened in the company since Silknet purchased four different products – Geocell, Global TV, Silksat and Martv (cable and satellite company). They said that expansion of the company has resulted in an increase in customers and loaded, stressful working conditions.

The mentioned reasons made the employees of Silknet ask for a salary raise and went on strike.  

One of the fired employees of the company, Vaso Tediashvili, told publica.ge that he and other employees sent a letter to the management team of Silknet asking for a 30 per cent salary rise and improvement of working conditions. In the same letter they warned the company that if their requirements were not met, they would stop working at 5 p.m. on September 14 and start a strike.

“After receiving the letter, several individuals from the management team called us and said, either you agree to the existing working conditions, or you can leave the job. There is no alternative way”, said Tediashvili.

Mziko Sadzaglishvili, another fired employee of the company, told publica,ge that some of the employees had to remain in the office during the coronavirus pandemic, where they could not observe distancing measures and two or three of them had to sit at one table. Sometimes they even didn’t have disinfectant sprays for hands.

The dismissed employees say that sometimes they had to work even on weekends, though they never received overtime pay.

Silknet confirmed to publica.ge that 30 employees were fired for their missed hours. 

On September 23 the professional union Solidarity Network reported that ‘the union expresses its solidarity with the employees of Silknet and a lawyer of the union, Davit Omsarashvili has already launched a study of the issue.