Giorgi Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi. Exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza
There were more cars than people in the strike at a Tbilisi train depot with the strange name "Africa". It was the same at all the hubs of Georgia's railway network from Gardabani to Samtredia and Batumi. The cars were silent and their huge number indicated the seriousness of the problem. Railway employees, however, do not want to be silent and loudly express their outrage. "A year ago we were on strike and we were promised an increase in salary, but we were lied to," a railroad employee Gotcha Abramishvili told "Vestnik Kavkaza." According to him, instead of a pay rise, the management of Georgian Railways proposes "to develop a grid of wages." Gotcha and many of his friends suggest that the salary increase will affect only the inner circle and not regular employees."
The salary of an ordinary employee of the railway company is approximately $200 a month. This is a very small salary even according to Georgian standards. "The leadership make a few thousand a month," one of the leaders of the Trade Union of Railway Workers, Kahaber Kakhadze, angrily told me. That is why the union immediately supported the strike initiative as a "civilized way to put pressure on the government" and solve the problem.
Depot workers and engine drivers received this opportunity only when the new authorities came to power. During Saakashvili's term there were no significant strikes. There were no railway strikes at all, because their leaders would be immediately arrested and charged with sabotage under the Criminal Code. This article still exists, but there are different authorities in the country and they do not want to have a "Singapore in the Caucasus", nor do they want to resort to such brutal methods to make the country attractive to investors.
However, the railway is not just about business, but also about the implementation of international commitments on the transit of goods. Ever since the days of president Eduard Shevardnadze, Georgia has considered the ensuring of the smooth operation of the transit corridor between the East and the West as its main international function. The railway was given and is being given a major role in the project.
One of the major projects that will allow the country (which has recently become an EU associate member) to become connected to the European railway network is the new line connecting Baku, Tbilisi, Kars and Istanbul. On the eve of the strike, Georgian Railways reported that the first test train on the Georgian part of the line connecting Marabda with Kartsakhi will be launched by the end of the year and that construction works are almost finished. This information is noteworthy for the reason that the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railroad is not supervised by Georgian Railways. It has a different legal status and different owners, since it was built with funds provided by Azerbaijan in the form of a long-term loan. However, railway workers and employees of other infrastructure facilities are the same. They might join new strikes, which are inevitable: even though the railway authorities have managed to suspend the current strike with the help of the "main trade unions" which acted as mediators, judging by the statements made by the management of the Georgian railway the company is not thinking of significantly increasing salaries, introducing a bonus system or overtime pay. At the same time, railway workers who have already trodden the path of "civilized pressure on employers" are unlikely to forego new strikes which would feature higher demands.
