Metro train drivers union: majority of Tbilisi Metro employees have tested positive for COVID-19

The union of the Tbilisi Metro train drivers says the majority of drivers and other employees of the company have tested positive for COVID-19.

The union, Ertoba 2013, places full responsibility for the existing situation on the company’s management team and the director, as they did not take preventive safety measures against the virus on time.

Not only Tbilisi Metro employees, but also their family members are infected with the virus because the managing team did not let the newly infected individuals go into self-isolation and did not try to identify their contacts”, says Ertoba 2013.

In September, when the virus began to spread, the union members offered the Tbilisi Metro managing team to switch to a summer schedule, which meant opening metro stations at 7:00 a.m. and closing at 9:00 p.m.

Following the schedule, train drivers would be distributed so that the risk of virus transmission would be minimised. Certain number of drivers would work for 10 days, while the others would work for the next 10 days. However, the suggestion was denied by the management team”, reads the official statement of Ertoba 2013.

Ertoba 2013 calls on the company director and the management team to shut down Tbilisi Metro for several days or take safety measures in order to reduce Covid-19 transmission.

Zaza Barbakadze, the head of the union told to Palitranews that neither disinfection is being carried out in the train drivers' cabins, nor  contacts of newly infected employees are identified. Several drivers have to enter in the same cabin per day, which is the reason of the rapid transmission.

Lela Seturidze, the Head of Marketing and PR Department of Tbilisi Transport Company told IPN later today that Tbilisi Metro will operate at full capacity as it has 250 train drivers and,  as of now , only 20 of them have been tested positive for COVID-19.