In mid-July, hundreds of workers at Evolution Gaming in Tbilisi, Georgia walked off their jobs. Evolution, a Swedish-owned company, had refused to negotiate with the workers over their wages and working conditions. Since then, the workers, who are overwhelming young people, have won the sympathy and support of large numbers of Georgians with their high-profile action.
They are being supported locally by LABOR, a union affiliated to the Georgian Trade Union Confederation, and globally by UNI Global Union. They’ve won the support of UNI affililates in Sweden, who are appalled by the fact that a Swedish company which is compelled to behave according to certain norms at home can be such a poor employer abroad.
And Evolution is really not a great place to work. Not only are the workers paid significantly less than the average — and far below what workers in real-world casinos earn — but the conditions inside their workplace are shocking. They describe a workplace that is literally toxic — workers often fall ill in a filthy, poorly-ventilated environment, infested with vermin.
As the strike dragged on, workers became increasingly frustrated with the refusal of management to negotiate. Several went on hunger strike, one of whom was taken away by ambulance after 28 days without solid food.
But the spririt among the strikers, who I met earlier this month in Tbilisi, remains determined. In addition to being defiant and outspoken, they are also young people — brand new to the labour movement — and that shows in how they are waging their struggle.
The evening I was invited to participate in a strike event in front of the company, the first thing I noticed was a row of young men dressed in black, many wearing balaclavas, trying their best to look tough. These were the hired security guards who locked arms in front of the Evolution building — ostensibly to prevent violent strikers from breaking through.
A Swedish journalist told me that when he attempted to photograph the guards, they seized his phone and forcibly deleted the photos.
The young workers on strike were anything but menacing. One of them stood at a table combining a range of beverages — none of them alcoholic — to make mocktails for everyone. Several local rock bands came to perform and the head of the Musicians Union acted as the master of ceremonies.
One of the speakers was a former Member of Parliament from the ruling Georgian Dream party who had been responsible for drafting the country’s new labour code, which was far friendlier to workers and unions than the existing laws. He has since broken with that increasingly authoritarian ruling party and joined the opposition, where is likely to return to Parliament in the elections on 26 October.
Tbilisi has lovely weather this time of year, but it begins to grow cold. The tents set up by the strikers will not suffice and the union is trying to raise money to rent a camper van they can use in the winter to keep their 24/7 presence in front of Evolution’s building. They need funds for many other things and they need to know that they are not alone, that people across Georgia and around the world stand in solidarity with them. That’s why they launched an online campaign on LabourStart ten days into the strike and are urging people to sign up to show their support.
Just a couple of years ago the union now working the strikers helped workers at Georgia’s Borjomi mineral water company, who were facing mass dismissals and low pay. The strike also included a LabourStart online campaign — and in that case the workers won.
The Evolution strike is probably of even greater importance, as the workforce is so young, so new to the labour movement, in a country where unions have faced many challenges in the years since independence from the Soviet Union. A victory at Evolution could result in a wave of organising campaigns in a country where the vast majority of workers know very little about unions — and in some cases, remembering the Soviet experience, having negative attitudes towards them.
That’s why this strike matters and our support for the strikers is so important.
Show your solidarity here: https://bit.ly/evolution-strike
This column appears in the current issue of Solidarity.