Health of Protesting Chiatura Miners Worsens Amid Hunger Strike
Several protesting miners in the industrial town of Chiatura face deteriorating health amid an ongoing hunger strike, as locals call for the release of four fellow workers who were detained in April on charges of group violence.
The hunger strike entered its 22nd day on July 10, involving eight miners, three of whom have sewn their mouths shut. One of the three, Mirza Loladze, had to be hospitalized on July 4 amid deteriorating health. Others continue to reject hospital treatment. Among the hunger striking workers is Merab Saralidze, one of the four detainees currently in pre-trial custody.
“[Saralidze] is on hunger strike in prison and his condition is very serious,” Jana Gogatishvili, Saralidze’s wife, wrote on Facebook on July 8. “What’s so unfair about what they’re asking? Aren’t we humans, too?” Gogatishvili noted. “They work in the harshest conditions, often at the cost of their lives.”
The protest comes as part of a broader labor crisis, which began after Georgian Manganese, the country’s industrial giant in charge of production, halted production in November. The discontent peaked in March when the mining wasn’t renewed and the company decided to shut down underground mining, and further escalated in April with the arrests and controversial reorganization process that part of the workforce boycotted as unlawful and risky.
With continuous protests now in their fifth month, miners have repeatedly appealed to the Georgian Dream government to get involved.
“Our protest is not a destruction – this is a struggle for existence, a struggle for dignity,” the miners wrote in the July 5 open letter directed at GD Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze. “If in this struggle a person is ready to put their lives at risk for a friend, nobody can affirm that such persons are called ‘radicals,” the letter read, in an apparent reference to the ruling party’s practices of dismissing their critics as radicals.
Part of the miners are demanding to be paid compensation from March on, when production was not renewed despite an initial promise. Protesting miners say that those whose compensation is pending include both those who agreed to sign the reorganization notice and those who have boycotted the process.
Some of those who agreed to the reorganization were able to return to work as production gradually resumed. However, protesters say working conditions remain poor, sharing a video that shows their meager daily meal with just buckwheat, fish, and bread.
Chiatura’s Longtime Woes
Chiatura, where manganese has been mined for more than a century, has found itself in an existential crisis marked by environmental damage, “social catastrophe”, and repeated strikes of workers demanding improved labor conditions. Over 3,000 workers are known to be working in mines, a key source of income in a small town in the Imereti region.
The latest crisis began in November, days after the disputed 2024 parliamentary elections, when Georgian Manganese announced it was suspending production, citing losses but also impediments created by the picketing of the mines. The company promised to renew the production in March and pledged to keep workers on 60% of their pay until then. The promise, however, was not kept, triggering protests as workers also reported not being paid the promised compensation. In response, the company announced that it would shut down underground mining altogether, citing it was “unprofitable.” This put a large segment of the town’s population at risk of losing their livelihood.
The situation took a worse turn when, also late in April, four of the actively protesting workers – Giorgi Neparidze, Merab Saralidze, Tengiz Gvelesiani, and Archil Chumburidze – were arrested on allegations of physically assaulting Tengiz Koberidze, director of the Shukruti mine. The four remain in pretrial custody, facing charges of organizing and participating in group violence, carrying a punishment of four to nine years in prison.
Around the same time, Mikhail Sotsky, a Russian citizen previously involved in managing the Tkibuli coal mines, took over management in April, pledging to gradually resume production under the promise of a “reorganization” and revised salary system. Some workers rejected the proposal, calling it risky and lacking any guarantees on job security or labor conditions.
On May 19, the company announced that those who declined the proposal would be considered laid off, though it pledged to provide compensation (which, protesting miners say, they are yet to be paid.)
Also Read:
- 18/03/2025 – Chiatura Miners Protest Industry Shutdown, Demand Nationalization
- 13/09/2024 – Manganese Mining: Shukruti Locals’ Protests Fall on Deaf Ears