Statement by IDS Borjomi Georgia
In Borjomi a strike of a part of employees of the IDS Borjomi Georgia bottling plants is held, organized by the Trade Unions Association. Despite the fact that the time of the strike was announced at 10:00 am on May 18, the first shift did not report for work today at 08:00 am, which is an attempt of deliberate sabotage organized by trade unions and aimed at discrediting the company, the industry leader. The striking employees are demanding a 50% wage increase.
We are very sorry about this situation and we would like to note that IDS Borjomi Georgia, as a responsible employer, strictly adheres to its social obligations. The remuneration of our employees today is 30-40% higher than the overall average on the labor market. In addition, there are programs of bonuses, cash allowances, financing of education of employees’ children, health insurance, meals, etc. It is important to note that despite the economic crisis and the decline in company revenues due to the pandemic, we have kept every employee with 100% of their salary, and furthermore, it was during the pandemic, when the official inflation rate in 2020 was 6.5%, that we provided a 10% increase in payroll in April 2020, which was reflected in the remuneration of every employee. We created the safest possible environment for employees in the company and never stopped the production process for a minute.
Even now, for the second time in the pandemic, the company is ready to provide pay increases for positions based on the principle of fair distribution, which, unfortunately, turned out to be unacceptable for the striking employees.
It should be noted that by this time Borjomi bottling plants No. 1 and No. 2 continue operation with minor delays.
We, as a responsible company, are ready to conduct constructive dialogue with our employees only in legal context, which we have tried to do several times recently. In connection with the above, we once again call on the striking employees to show more responsibility and hope that through negotiations we will find the best solution for everyone.
