President of Educators and Scientists Free Trade Union of Georgia - Maia Kobakhidze - issued a statement for organization members:
"President of Educators and Scientists Free Trade Union of Georgia To Executive Board Members and Congress Delegates.
I would like to comment on the Sixth Extraordinary Congress of ESFTUG that took place on 30 October, 2010 and the consecutive events. As you already know, a group of regional leaders under the leadership of Eka Cherkezishvili, left the Congress and thus did not participate in voting. They deprived delegates from their right of freedom of expression granted by Article 19 of the Constitution of Georgia, and violated interests of ESFTUG by their destructive actions and by misleading the delegates.
Their claims on inability of a teacher to run the teachers’ union are groundless and represent an attempt to disgrace teaching profession. As a result, I conclude that their unlawful actions had been previously planned and aimed at bringing disorder to the Congress. Otherwise they could merely abstain from voting in favor of my candidature. Besides, I confirm that I was elected by majority of the delegates. Legitimacy of the Congress was also confirmed by the representatives of international organizations, more specifically, EI General Secretary Consultant - Gaston De La Haye, representative of EU Delegation to Georgia - Oliver Reisner, AFT International Department Head - David Dorn, Programs Director of US Solidarity Center in Georgia - Robert Fielding, and a Director of Friedrich Ebert Foundation Delegation to Georgia - Ia Tikanadze.
I would like to inform you that on 19 November, 2015, an illegitimate "executive board" meeting was held, and "Board decisions" were made that violated ESFTUG Constitution. Specifically, according to article 2(4) of ESFTUG Executive Board Regulations, "Information on convening an Executive Board Meeting shall be disseminated to members in written form (or in other form of communication), at least 10 days before the meeting". However, we were not informed in any way about holding the abovementioned board meeting.
In addition, it is unknown for us if there was a quorum determined by article 6.6 of ESFTUG Constitution, and article 1(3) of Executive Board Regulations. We have more evidences to prove that Executive board #43 held on 19 November, 2010 was illegitimate and infringed the requirements of ESFTUG Constitution and Executive Board Regulations. Specifically:
Election of an Acting President is out of scope of Executive Board's competence. Acting president is appointed by the president and based on article 7(8) of ESFTUG Constitution, he/she performs all functions of an actual president in case of president's absence (business visit, vacation, sick leave or in case of any otherplausible excuses).
When the abovementioned cases are not present and organization has a legitimate president, election of an acting president is a violation of law and contradicts ESFTUG Constitution requirements.
Also, it should be noted that "Extraordinary Executive Board Meeting #43" arranged an Extraordinary Congress, while according to article 5(2) of ESFTUG Constitution, an extraordinary congress can be arranges only by a president, executive board or 1/3 of union members. The same article (5.3) states that, date, venue and agenda of the Congress is prepared by a president's order, by his/her own initiative, based on a formal request of 1/3 of executive board or ESFTUG members, which means that extraordinary congress cannot be planned without getting acceptance from a president.
We would also like to notify you that legal acts shall not be regarded as ESFTUG Executive Board resolutions and thus shall not have any legal outcome as they were unlawfully issued and only represent resolutions of certain members of the board.
You would agree that the abovementioned attempts serve sole purpose: weaken and destroy the organization of 105 years. However, negotiations with the Ministry of Education and Science have started and collective agreements with schools have been signed. Finally, in these hard times, I kindly ask you not to hinder organization's development by your unintentional actions".