President Saakashvili May 26, 2012, formally opened the new Georgian parliament in Kutaisi. Three people have died in connection with the construction process, and now the workers at the almost completed complex are on strike. (Photo: Rusiko Machaidze.)

TBILISI, DFWatch – Construction workers rallied in Kutaisi today at the site of the new parliament building they have been employed with constructing, demanding to get paid.

The workers refuse to work until they get their salaries, which they claim they haven’t been paid since May, according to a local correspondent for Pirveli.

Representatives from the Ministry for Infrastructure and Regional Development today arrived at the site of the rally, promising the workers that they will get their salaries by tomorrow at noon.

“Head of constructions also promised us that we would be given salaries in 2-3 hours. We hear such promises every day. We have bank loans and we need salaries to cover them,” one of the workers says.

The rally is now finished. The workers say that when journalists arrived, the police left the area.

President Mikheil Saakashvili decided to move parliament to Kutaisi and on May 26, 2012, the building hosted a first symbolic session of parliament and a military parade marking Georgia’s Independence Day.

The speedy construction process has been marred by accidents. A mother and child were killed in 2009 when a World War 2 memorial was blown up to make room for the new parliament. This year, a worker died as a result of a collapse of one of the wings of the new building.