Newspaper “Resonance” published an article on political persecution of public workers, focusing on dismissal of public school teachers for their political affiliation. According to ESFTUG president, no teachers have addressed the trade union with the issue of unfair dismissal due to their political opinions; however US Embassy provided the union with the list of teachers who were said to have been dismissed for political reasons.
In most cases, outdated labour agreements were used as justification for dismissal. However, it appears that all of the dismissed teachers or their family members were somehow connected to political opposition party.
Ia Bjlava, who taught at public school #9 claims that she has never talked about politics at school, but she links her dismissal to her husband’s activism in a coalition “Georgian Dream”.
Lia Gabinashvili, a teacher at public school #117, outlines that she used to refuse to attend events organized by United National Movement and publicly expressed her political views.