Georgian Manganese says company “ready” to hand over Chiatura mine management to workers on strike
Georgian Manganese on Thursday said it was “ready” to hand over the management of mines to miners who have been on strike for more than two weeks, following unsuccessful negotiations on pay rise. Photo: GM
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Georgian Manganese, a major producer and exporter of ferroalloys and manganese ore in the country, on Thursday said it was “ready” to hand over the management of mines to miners who have been on strike for more than two weeks, following unsuccessful negotiations on pay rise.
The company said it would accept the demand for seeing the mines operated under worker management in the case of the latter “assuming the responsibility” and if “full consensus” was reached on the request.
The statement came after more than 3,000 miners went on strike demanding increase in wages, improvements in safety conditions, better insurance and nutrition, 12-hour shifts, vacations, technology upgrades and curbing of pollution caused by the extraction in the western mining city.
In individual efforts, at least 10 miners went on hunger strike, with two of them sewing their mouths and eyes shut in protest, over the past several days, following unsuccessful negotiations with the company.
Some of the miners continued their protests in front of the Parliament building in the capital city of Tbilisi, with four currently on hunger strike.
The company had only offered a five percent pay rise “in the initial stage” to the striking workers, in contrast to their demands for a 40 percent raise of their salaries.
The miners had said the current salaries made them “unable to feed families and meet [loan] obligations”, while also highlighting safety conditions they have called inadequate, and polluted environment in the city, and called the company’s offer “insulting”.
Georgian Manganese has had a licence for mining in Chiatura and the Sachkhere region on a plot of 16,430 hectares since 2007, with the deal set for a period of 40 years.
Along with the ore mines, Georgian Manganese also operates the Zestaponi Ferroalloys Plant, Vartsikhe 2005 Hydro Power Plant, and Feromedi Clinic, all in the country’s west.