Union Organizing Workshops in Georgia

More than 40 members of the Georgian local unions at the Mining and Processing Plant of Georgian Manganese (Chiatura), RMG Gold and RMG Copper (Kazreti), Azot (Rustavi), Saknakhshiri (Tkibuli), MINA (Ksani), Zestafoni Ferroalloy Plant, and Rustavi Steel (Rustavi) participated in the workshops, as well as the representatives of the regional and central offices of the TUMMCIWG. Eduard Vokhmin, trade union trainer, facilitated the workshops. 

The workshops participants modeled various situations and discussed the steps that the activists have to take in order to involve certain target groups into real actions.  

During the workshops three groups of workers were identified: vigorous opponents against doing something; amebic, but supporting the strikers, if the majority of workers participate in the strike; and indifferent. Different approaches to the latter two groups were determined to involve them into the joint struggle for workers' rights, improvement of working conditions, and to help them take responsibility for their own future in order to influence important issues and to change the situation for better.  

The workshops participants realized how important it is to gain workers' confidence and to find the most important and critical issues currently affecting the workers, to find real irritants with which the workers cannot put up and which should become the basis for their requirements and unite the workers as a result. 

Vadim Borisov, regional representative of IndustriALL Global Union in Moscow, told the participants about the history of trade union movement and IndustriALL, as well as about its main activities, including protection of union rights, solidarity actions, union organizing, signing of GFAs, creation of union networks in TNCs, and fighting against precarious work.

Tamaz Dolaberidze, the chairman of the TUMMCIWG, thanked IndustriALL and its Norwegian affiliate Industri Energi and said that well trained activists are a force of modern trade unions: 

The union reforms that have begun in Georgia in 2005-2006 will bring results. Thanks to these reforms a lot of new union members and activists appeared. We have an ambitious goal to train 80 organizers as part of this 2-year project, which sounds like a lot for such a small country like Georgia, but I am confident that it will bring a good result. 

The importance of team struggle and union organizing was mentioned several times during both workshops. The participants emphasized the significance of trade union training and the possibility to gain new knowledge, share experience and look at the situation from a different perspective. The workshops participants are looking forward to continuing more advanced union training.

The workshops in Kobuleti were one of the steps in the two-year organizing project in Georgia, considered by IndustriALL Global Union as a priority country for the union organizing efforts, as some positive amendments were made to the Georgian labor law in 2013 providing the trade unions with new opportunities.

The first workshop on union organizing was held on 11-13 January 2014 in Bakuriani, Georgia as part of the project. Pavle Tsutskiridze, a participant of that workshop and a local union member on Georgian Manganese (Chiatura), also attended the workshop in Kobuleti and spoke about his union work and achievements after the first workshop in Bakuriani:

"The situation at our enterprise is very difficult. There are two more trade unions besides our union; one of them is a yellow union. For me it is not a union, but a charity organization, as it provides financial aid to particular persons, but does not conduct any activity the union supposed to. It is difficult to gain the members of this union over, because our trade union provides intangible assistance - instead of money we provide the employees with education, protect their labor rights and establish safe working conditions. 

I have worked at the enterprise since March 2010. Initially I was a member of the yellow trade union, but on 1 January 2014 I joined the TUMMCIWG and started active union work. I changed the union because money does not mean everything. I earn money doing my job. Struggle against injustice is more important than money. When looking at the work we do, many workers realize what trade unions are and how much power they have. 

Every person is unique, and it is necessary to work separately with every worker, find an individual approach, talk about worker's principles, and open his eyes at the situation.  When people see that their rights are being protected, they start trusting me and the union. All good that happens now, happens thanks to the union. For the union members the education is the most important thing at the moment, and they don't want to think only about money and look at yellow unions. Knowledge that we get at such workshops are very effective. What was told to one of us is being passed to all.

17 workers from our enterprise participated in the workshop in Bakuriani back in January, three of them became activists. On 1 January 2014 there were 175 members of our local union. By the end of June, half a year later, there are already 350 of us".