Striking employees of Borjomi mineral water company to keep jobs after agreement with management

Hundreds of striking workers of IDS Borjomi, the largest producer of mineral water in Georgia, will continue their work at the factories of the company after reaching an agreement with the management on Tuesday, the Georgian Labour Ministry has announced.

Mediated by the Ministry and the Government Administration, the agreement was signed by the parties in central Georgia’s resort town of Borjomi, where the popular mineral water bottled by the company originates.

It also follows comments by Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, who earlier this month announced the Government had become a co-owner of the company and pledged the rights of “each employee” would be protected.

The group of workers went on strike in May and demanded “immediate reinstatement” of previously “illegally dismissed” employees of the company, issuance of their salaries, return to previous labour conditions and lifelong contracts for every employee. 

Following the newly announced agreement, the Ministry noted the production would resume “full operation in the near future”, with the development coming after the company had to suspend work of both of its plants due to effects of the Ukraine war and sanctions imposed on Russia.

IDS Borjomi is partly owned by Alfa Group, one of the largest privately-owned financial investment conglomerates in Russia which became subject of international sanctions after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February.

Following the suspension of its production, the company proposed to transfer a part of its shares to the Georgian Government for free on May 19.