Tbilisi Metro Resumes Service
Tbilisi metro employees have agreed to return to work after a three-day strike, which created serious problems throughout the capital.
On June 6, the workers had another meeting with Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze and an agreement was reached that the salaries of the workers will increase from 2019.
The employees demanded a 45% increase in their salaries yet, later they agreed to resume work if an agreement was made that their salaries would definitely be increased from January 2019.
On May 21, Tbilisi City Court made a decision which stated that metro workers could go on strike only during out-of-office hours.
The union of metro workers ‘Unity 2013’ claimed the decision of the court was the equivalent of a restriction of their right to express protest, as the strike itself means workers refusing to perform their duties as a form of protest.
It was the third time Tbilisi City Court ruled against the metro workers, highlighting that a strike during working hours would paralyze traffic in the capital. Indeed, although the buses were announced as free of charge to ride on from June 3, the move did little to alleviate congestion and overcrowding as city-dwellers waited at bus-stops during rush hour to squeeze on already-full buses to get to and from work. Tbilisi Metro serves around 400,000 people every day.
Opposition United National Movement (UNM) member, Zaal Udumashvili, says the budget of the capital saw around a 600,000 GEL loss in the days of the metro strike.
By Thea Morrison
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