Speech of Georgian Trade Union Confederation's president
Budapest, September 1-3 2008

 Irakli Petriashvili
President, Georgian Trade Union Confederation

I am very grateful for having the opportunity to bring you up to date on the current  situation in Georgia. I would also like to extend my gratitude to all those trade unions, which have personally contacted me and sent us letters of support. This list is rather long and I shall not take your time mentioning all of them, but I would like to meet them and thank them personally today after the formal meeting. Last but not least I would like to express my gratitude to the leadership of the ITUC and ETUC for all they have done.
In order to have a complete understanding of the situation in Georgia we must know the roots of the conflict, beginning with the events of 1990s. This will take time and although I do not want to abuse the time limits, many colleagues, who telephoned,   had asked to know the details. Therefore, I will present these events in chronological order.
I want you to know that the invaders do not want to have a strong foot only in Georgia and if the international community does not stop their expansion in time, I think  other countries will face such problems, too. It is worth noting that the Kremlin has been pursuing a clear policy for the last 19 years. There is no doubt that other countries might be victimized by the same scenario as it  needs more brains and ability for creative imagination to draw up other scenario which the bosses of the Kremlin evidently lack.. They act according to a well known Russian saying “Сила есть, ума не надо” (When one has force, there is no need for brains). In order to punish a nation for its aspirations to freedom and independence, they committed a massacre in the centre of Tbilisi on 9th of April in 1989. Notwithstanding, Georgia declared independence and took the Western route of development in order to return to that European way of life from which it had been diverted after the Soviet invasion of Georgia in 1921.
Since the 1990’s Russia began to detonate these mines with a delayed fuse, which it had set up in Georgia during the Soviet times. These “mines” were the Abkhazian and South Ossetian autonomous provinces of Georgia. Kremlin also tried to stire up friction between the Georgian community and Azeri and  Armenian populations, which live in Georgia. But we are proud to say that here they failed, and we are sure that they will never succeed because we are a multiethnic country and diversity is our strength, not our weakness. Georgia belongs to all those ethnic groups, which live in it. In spite of the Kremlin’s best attempts to show that if we dare to avoid its influence, it will foment unrest in these autonomous provinces and foster their demand for independence, thus hoping for the disintegration of Georgia. The avoidance of the influence for those with poor mentality in the Kremlin meant European integration and  Northern Atlantic Alliance membership. Thus the conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia had been inspired where we were fought by the Russian regular troops along with the paramilitary gangs of Cossacks, Chechens etc.
But there were several serious obstacles in the way of their attempts to encourage the disintegration of Georgia. They were Georgians, Ukrainians, Estonians, Greeks and other ethnic groups, living in the territories of these autonomous provinces. These people would never agree with the disintegration of Georgia.  In the 1990’s some 450,000 people lived in Abkhazia, among whom were 320,000 Georgians, 65,000 Abkhazians and other various ethnic groups. After the conflict, provoked by Kremlin, these people were expelled from Abkhazia. After this ethnic cleansing something called a referendum was held there and the autonomous province declared its independence. The international community did not pay due attantion to this event. This made Russian political leadership more insolent and its action became more cynical. The Kremlin set up a border between the conflicting parties and disguised its bloody hands with the cloaks of peacekeepers. In reality, the Kremlin was permanently supporting separatists who were trying to interfere in the country’s striving towards democracy and independence. Of course, these obstacles also interfered in the daily lives of the working men and women of Georgia. There is no need to explain what kind of peacekeepers the Russian troops were. The Russian authorities have shown themselves and showed to the whole world the Kremlin’s real face, which we have been protesting against for many years. This has been proved by the recent events, and the climax is the recognition of the independence of these two provinces.
The Kremlin could not do in South Ossetia what it had done in Abkhazia. It could not expel Georgians from South Ossetia in the 1990’s. At that time of a total population of 160,000 people living in South Ossetia, 120,000 of them were Georgians; 36,000 of them were Ossetians; and another 4,000 were of different ethnic backgrounds. Therefore, the Russian political leadership carried out the same scenario in South Ossetia, except they did it in the 21st Century. 120,000 Georgians due to Nazi techniques have become refugees in their own homeland. Those who had survived bombardment and murder were told by the separatist militia and the Russian soldiers that they had mistakenly been born and lived in another, “independent state”. I am sure all of you will recognize the wording and techniques used by the Nazis. We believed that these kinds of things would never take place in 21st century, but we were wrong. 
Dear Colleagues, you are aware, how difficult it has been for the Georgian Trade Union Confederation to revive a devastated, almost ruined organization; to set up and strengthen motivation for the membership of the almost non-existing trade unions; to make the social problems a priority while because of the political tension they had been almost ignored. Thanks to the support of our colleagues from international organizations we have trained our staff, organized lots of protest actions and launched numerous court cases against the government and employers. In this way we have been trying to shatter the neo liberal ideology of our government and make it more oriented towards social justice. Now all these things run the  risk of being postponed for a long time, because not only social partners, but even the Georgian Trade unions have no time to deal with them at the moment. With 120,000 of our citizens now suddenly made  refugees, with our members killed and others expelled from their own houses, houses which later had been leveled to the ground to deprive these people from the minimal hope of returning to them, it is impossible to speak about raising pensions or salaries, about making just laws, about social justice and dialogue. Just like in Europe in 1939-1945, these issues ceased to be the burning issues  in Georgia today.
However, the GTUC board has decided that despite these problems mentioned above we will carry on the trade union work, while we conduct humanitarian assistance activities and will continue with all those projects,, which are underway in cooperation with the ITUC, PERC, ILO and other partner organizations.
Now I will cite some statistics of the numbers of our trade unions members we know who have been displaced, killed or wounded during the aggression by Russian troops:
Trade Union of Teachers – 8 000 IDPs;
Trade Union of Medical Workers – 500 IDPS, 7 dead, 25 wounded;
Trade Union of Agricultural Workers – 120 IDPs, 2 dead, 50 wounded;
Trade Union of Dockworkers – 10 dead, 5 wounded;
Trade Union of Public Servants – 734 IDPs; 14 dead
Trade Union of Art Workers – 307 IDPs; 5 dead
Trade Union of Railway Workers – 18 IDPs, 2 dead, 7 wounded;
Trade Union of Energy Workers – 315 IDPs; 25 wounded
Trade Union of Gas and Oil Workers – 107 IDPs, 3dead, 5 wounded;
Trade Union of Telecommunication Workers – 75  IDPs, 3 wounded;
Tskhinvali regional council of trade unions – 1987 IDPs, 7 dead, 75 wounded, trade union office completely burned.
Abkhazian regional councile of trade unions – 120 IDPs

We have no statistics from the Trade Union of Civilian Workers of the Georgian Armed Forces, which after three years in court just 2 months ago won its case against the government, after the government had illegally abolished its union, and with our assistance has begun to rebuild. It succeeded in recruiting new members, many of whom have died in the defense of our independence.
According to independent experts the recent wave of refugees will significantly worsen Georgia’s social and economic situation. They estimate that the unemployment level will increase by 3-4% and that the majority of the refugees will get involved in the informal economy, while many others will join those who have already illegally immigrated to the West.
The GTUC had been planning to set up regional offices in Gori this September and in Poti by this November and had been working with our partners on that. We even had bought some office and computer equipment for the future regional offices in Gori and were preparing to do the same for the Poti project. But now the city of Gori is in ruins and our leaders have lost their homes. Many of our members are still afraid to return to Gori, as people feel unsafe due to the lack of a Russian military pullout. The Russian troops have only pulled back, remaining some 7-8 kilometers from Gori. Poti still remains occupied, while Russian troops have set up several checkpoints within the city and prevent people and workers from moving freely and safely. 
In spite of  huge difficulties we are not afraid to work hard and with your help we shall continue to reconstruct and strengthen our democracy. In spite of the Kremlin’s assaults, we shall not veer from our main path and we won’t retreat from our positions. We are loyal to our constitution and remain within the vanguard of the democratic reforms in the country.
We are sure that unlike 1921, when Soviet Russia conquered Georgia and other countries, unlike the 1990’s when the World kept silent, while the Kremlin actually attacked my homeland, unlike the time one-and-a-half years ago when the Russian authorities expelled thousands of Georgians from Russia, who had been living there llegally, when Russian policemen detained school students having Georgian surnames and bring them to the police departments in order to arrest their parents who would come to pick up their children, and than deport them to Georgia - the civilized world will not keep silent and will raise its voice against the Kremlin. 
It is pretty visible that we are faced by 21st century fascism. Even all of  European and the entire world community are endangered. Who knows where we would be now, if the Nazis had had nuclear weapons and modern military technology? Therefore the tools and leverage should be set up immediately to deter the threat.
Dear colleagues, please address your governments, NGOs, whole civil societies to defend Georgia and thus defend their own countries and citizens. Often we are advised to engage in a dialogue. It is as impossible and useless to have talks with the fascists in the Kremlin, as it is to do so with terrorists. This is the case in which dialogue encourages the sense of impunity and insolence, as the Kremlin considers it a sign of weakness. The time has come to put pressure, pressure and even more on the Kremlin! It is high time to stop  viewing Russia as a milk cow, which provides  oil, gas and other types of fuel, as these become the main reason for ignoring the numerous negative aspects of the Kremlin’s policy. Let’s not forget that such milk is becoming very dangerous for our common future.
In spite of the fact that Georgian Trade Unions are in very difficult circumstances, as our members do need vital assistance, the international trade union community must try its best to support the three national trade union centers of our brothers and sisters in Russia. They need encouragement. I have said many times that the Soviet trade unions bore just the name of “trade union” without the real understanding of what it genuinely meant, because there was no freedom of speech or choice in elections in the Soviet Union. Today our Russian brothers are in the same predicament. I can imagine what the Kremlin is able to do against its own citizens. Therefore, they need assistance in order not to extinguish the flame  of democracy in Russia.
Georgia has become that very litmus-paper, which has revealed the designs of the Kremlin. Therefore to defend Georgia and Georgian workers means to defend other countries as well. Take our word, please, that this threat is imminent towards them, too, until this insolence and impunity is stopped.