19 December, 2011
A member of ICEM-affiliated Metallurgical, Mining and Chemical Workers’ Union of Georgia who received serious burns but escaped death in a 27 August 2010 coal mine explosion died inside that same mine in late November due to a shaft cave-in.
Sergi Ashotia, 50, was working inside the Tkibuli-Mindeli Coal Mine of Geo-Coal, owned by the Georgian Industrial Group, when he was buried on 24 November by rock and wooden support pilings. A similar shaft collapse at the accident-prone mine in western Imereti region occurred on 6 November, killing two miners – 49-year-old Bondo Mikheilidze and 61-year-old Tamaz Gioradze.
Ashotia was one six miners severely burned in the August 2010 methane gas explosion that killed four miners. The ICEM then charged Geo-Coal, also called Saknakhshiri, with failure to install modern ventilation and detection equipment.
Safety issues were a main reason behind a strike by the mine’s 200 workers last February. After a January 2011 mine explosion killed one worker, management sacked two low level managers and police in the city of Tkibuli arrested them for safety negligence. Miners then engaged in an open-ended strike on 2 February in support of them and in protest to the company’s safety inadequacies.
Kutasi Meeting, October 2011: Mineworkers' Union Leaders Present
That strike ended when the company agreed to a labour contract empowering the Metallurgical, Mining, and Chemical Workers’ Union to assist with safety improvements. The mine then experienced another fatality on 9 September 2011.
As for November’s fatalities, the union is involved in the investigation, but Metallurgical, Mining and Chemical Union President Tamazi Dolaberidze said many of the facts are being distorted by people who were present during the cave-ins. He said the managing director is also disturbed by this.
The result has been reinforcement of the terms ending the strike, with a joint labour-management safety committee established for better process control of safety and labour protection systems. Dolaberidzi said he is confident this will positively impact preventative measures.
Geo-Coal, or Saknakhshiri, has granted each of the miners’ families with the equivalent if US$7,000 and paid for all funeral expenses. The company also took out an insurance policy last February that went into force on 1 November. The policy insures Geo-Coal for up to five fatal accidents per year, and it gave the families of the three miners who perished last month each with US$25,000.
The union also assisted families of dead miners with stipends.