Evolution has threatened Georgian employees with layoffs as strike action continues to take place at its live casino studio based in Tbilisi.
At the beginning of July, Georgian media outlets revealed that “at least 5,000” Evolution employees were preparing to strike in Tbilisi from 12 July, naming “unsafe and unsanitary workplace conditions, harassment by managers and meagre pay” as reasons for the strike action.
While Evolution maintained that the strike action wouldn’t impact its operations, and predicted much fewer than 5,000 strikers, 1 August saw the trade union – Evo-Union – block entrances to the live casino studio, preventing non-strikers from performing their duties.
As a result of the increased strike action, Evolution stated via Facebook that it will be “forced to make operational adjustments” if the situation remains unchanged, suggesting that it could turn to “larger-scale layoffs,” reducing its presence in Georgia.
The igaming supplier described the ongoing situation as “highly regrettable” due to having spent six years investing in its Georgian operations and the many working employees that will be impacted by the company’s decisions.
Amidst a number of live streams depicting the strikes, as well as confrontations with working Evolution staff, Evo-Union also took to Facebook yesterday to allege that “disinformation” had been spread by the company.
The post referred to statements from Evolution claiming that the supplier had offered employees a 30-50% pay increase to settle the strike action, declaring that “the information provided is not true and serves to contradict employees”.
Mautskebeli, the Georgian news source that initially broke the strike news in July, reported yesterday (6 August) that around 2,000 workers did not show up to work as a sign of solidarity following Evolution’s announcement.
One striker speaking to the news outlet stated: “Evolution speaks to us only with intimidation and finger-waving posts. Neither the director nor anyone is above the law. It is unthinkable for a company with a net profit of €80m to leave the country and leave a profitable market at this level. It is absurd, lies and intimidation again.”
Strike action continued to take place throughout last night, with Evo-Union documenting the latest sit-downs and blockades through live streams on its Facebook page.