Evolution Gaming workers’ bravery wins UNI’s Freedom from Fear Award

Georgian trade union LABOR has won UNI Global Union’s Freedom from Fear Award, recognizing workers’ bravery and determination in the face of violence, intimidation and intransigence from Swedish-owned online casino giant Evolution.

The LABOR members have been on strike at the company’s Georgian operation since July this year in protest of unsafe and unsanitary working conditions, poverty pay and harassment from management, among several other serious issues.

Workers have continued their picket despite masked thugs acting as security at Evolution threaten – even beat – workers.

Giorgi Diasamidze, Chairman of UNI affiliate LABOR in Georgia, who accepted the award online, alongside striking Evolution workers, said:

“Thank you to UNI Global Union and our fellow unions around the world. On behalf of all the workers involved in this struggle, we are deeply grateful.  

“Despite Evolution’s power and influence in our country, we stand united in fighting against injustice at the company. We’re here to say clearly: we’re not stopping until we win.  

 “They’ve tried to intimidate us through violence and harassment. They’ve tried to silence us with lawsuits. They’ve tried to threaten us with demands for our arrest.   

” But these tactics only make us stronger. We are not afraid, and we are not backing down.”

The company was recently fined after managers were found guilty of sharing security camera footage of female workers getting undressed in changing rooms. The company has also been reprimanded for screenshots of private messages between managers advocating physical violence against subordinates. These messages included racist, sexist, humiliating, insulting, and mocking remarks about employees’ physical appearance.

Evolution’s profits have surged since establishing in Georgia in 2018. The company, whose multitude of big name clients include BetFair, Paddy Power, Caesars and Grosvenor Casinos,  have increased 12 fold in the past five years, reaching profits of 1.07 billion euros in 2023. However, workers are paid as little as 1 to 3 euros an hour.

The company, which employs around 8,000 workers in Georgia, refuses to negotiate with the union and has rebuffed offers from UNI’s Swedish affiliates Unionen and Engineers of Sweden to assist in negotiations.

Christy Hoffman, General Secretary of UNI Global Union, said:

“These workers, mostly young and all courageous, are the embodiment of Freedom from Fear. Their determination shows that this struggle is about more than a few more euros an hour. It is about dignity and it is about justice. It is about the fundamental values of our movement and we will be with them, in solidarity, until they win.”