Negotiations over the increase of salaries have started between the Georgian Railway Workers New Trade Union and the Georgian Railways, – Vitali Giorgadze, chairman of the Georgian Railway Workers New Trade Union, said at a news conference today.

According to him, they leave the decision of the strike in force, though at this stage they do not name a specific date and are moving to the format of negotiations.

“The employees of the Georgian Railway, whose salaries are less than GEL 1000, demand 50 percent increase in their salaries. At the initial stage, the Railway refused to negotiate and we, Georgian Railway Workers New Trade Union, had to take a radical measure – going on a strike.

We would like to give a positive assessment to the yesterday’s decision of the Georgian Railways, expressing readiness to start negotiations with us.

The board of our organization held a meeting on this issue today and the board has decided that the Georgian Railway Workers New Trade Union will not announce a specific strike date at this stage, in order to avoid excessive stress and ultimatums during the negotiations.

We hope that if the Georgian Railway Administration will hold the talks reasonably, we will avoid a strike. I would like to emphasize once again that the strike is an extreme way for people to defend their rights,” Vitali Giorgadze said.