Protests against Evolution, a company that develops online games, have reached their peak in Europe. A strike by thousands of its employees in Tbilisi has been going on for more than a month. They are protesting over wages, harassment allegations and unsafe working conditions. It started in July, but intensified in August.
According to Giorgi Diasamidze, head of the LABOR workers’ union, the company threatened that the strike would force it to withdraw completely. And in doing so, Diasamidze claimed that employees of a private security company that has a contract with Evolution beat strikers who tried to block the entrance to the office building.
The guards were in civilian clothes and beat not only men, but also women, they did not care about gender. Photos and videos provided by witnesses show obvious bruises and scars from the guards’ aggressive behavior towards the employees, as well as a guard roughly dragging a man off a bench.
Several employees have gone on hunger strike against the backdrop of the situation. One of them has already spent 29 days without food and was taken to the hospital with exhaustion. However, the strikers are not going to give up.
Evolution spokesman Carl Linton issued a statement on behalf of the company, saying that it is committed to resolving the dispute within the framework of local law. The spokesperson also said that they respect the employees’ right to strike. However, he also noted that blocking the entrances for those employees who are working is an illegal action and against Georgia law. According to Linton, the firing of employees in Georgia is not the result of a legal strike, but the result of illegal actions.
That said, there is insider information that Evolution is negotiating with the Nevada Gaming Control Board to get a license to operate in Las Vegas, the most valuable gaming market in the United States. Another insider reports that the company plans to focus on the Indian market with more flexible licensing terms. The company is expected to partner with betting companies and top-rated online casinos on cricketbettingapps.com.in, which is the most searched site in India. What vector Evolution management will choose remains unclear, so the situation will become clear only with the passage of time.
Interestingly, the company’s employees are on strike not only in Georgia – strikes are also going on in Sweden, but so far they have caused a reaction only at the local level. However, there is a chance that the American office will also pay attention to the situation. The fact is that the local Nevada Culinary Workers Union and the bartenders union, which together represent about 60,000 casino workers in Las Vegas and Reno, have supported the strikers. They called on the Nevada Gaming Commission to reject Evolution’s bid if the rights of the employees who were forced to go on strike were not respected.