Georgia: about 100 autobahn builders go on strike

Employees of the “Sinohydro” Company, engaged in building one of the sections of the high-speed transit highway "East-West" in Georgia, announced a strike with a demand to raise wages and improve working conditions. The company lawyer has promised that all the strikers’ demands, except for salary increase, will be satisfied.

On August 9, about 100 workers, who are building a 12-kilometer stretch of the Samtredia-Grigoleti highway, gathered at the “Sinohydro” office in Lanchkhuti and demanded to increase their wages and also expressed their dissatisfaction with the working conditions. Their salary, as they assert, makes about 14-19 laris (6-8 US dollars) per day.

The “Sinohydro” finds the demand to raise wages unattainable, said Badri Kakaishvili, the company lawyer.

"They demanded to improve their food and complained that they were not given their uniform in time... All their demands, which are realistic, will be fulfilled, except for salary increase," said Kakaishvili.

The East-West Expressway (European transit route E-60) is the second largest European transit corridor, which starts in France and ends in Kyrgyzstan.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.