Employees of IDS Borjomi International have been on strike since this morning, demanding the administration end blackmail, pressure and dismissal of some staff, a return to their old jobs with the old terms and conditions, and a 25% wage increase.
According to the Trade Union, all employees from both plants joined the strike.
IDS Borjomi International operates mineral water bottling plants in Georgia, Ukraine, and Russia.
"From 6:00 am, a full-scale strike has been carried out in the first and also in the second factory of Borjomi. Both factories are halted as employees are on strike. Our demands are the immediate reinstatement of 50 illegally dismissed people, the return of old contracts and a 25% increase in salaries, as well as the dismissal of individuals suspected of coercion, pressure and blackmail. About 400 people are on strike. Both factories are halted,” said Giorgi Diasamidze, chairman of the Georgian Agrarian, Trade and Industry Trade Union.
Earlier, IDS Borjomi has published a statement stating that the owner of the company is ready to transfer part of the shares to the Georgian government free of charge. According to the statement, this step will make it possible to resume the production process and launch the plant, which has been suspended for several weeks. The reason was the sanctioning of the company's shareholder Mikhail Friedman, due to which the accounts of Borjomi were frozen.
On April 30, the Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili said that the population would hear "good news" about Borjomi in the near future.
The main shareholder of IDS Borjomi International is the Russian "Alfa Group" (Alfa Finance), founded by the sanctioned Russian billionaire Mikhail Friedman. Alfa has owned a controlling stake in Borjomi since 2013, when a Russian holding bought a 60% stake from Badri Patarkatsishvili's family for USD 460 million.
Currently, IDS Borjomi International has a 60% stake in Alpha Group; The Patarkatsishvili family owns a 40% share. IDS Borjomi International is owned directly by the Cyprus-registered company Rissa Investments Limited (whose shareholders are Alpha Group and the Patarakatsishvili family).
IDS Borjomi International's assets include companies producing mineral and fresh water not only in Georgia, but also in other countries. The company owns water bottling plants in the Ukrainian cities of Mirgorod and Morshin, which bottle mineral water Morshinsk. The company also owns one of Russia's leading freshwater brands, Sviatoi Istochnik (Святой источник).
"IDS Borjomi Georgia" publishes information about its income publicly. According to a document submitted to Reportal, the company had a revenue of USD 119.7 million in 2020 and a loss of USD 64.3 million. In 2019, the company generated USD 140.17 million, while its net profit was USD 17.3 million.
Its 2020 Revenue By Countries Is Distributed As Follows:
● Russian Federation - USD 41.9 million;
● Ukraine - USD 18 million;
● Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania - USD 14.3 million;
● Kazakhstan – USD 13 million;
● Georgia - USD 11 million;
● Belarus - USD 6.4 million;
● Uzbekistan - USD 2.2 million;
● Azerbaijan - USD 1.3 million;
● Other countries - USD 11.2 million.
