In late November 1998, protests over unpaid wages and pensions escalated in Kutaisi. On November 26, classes in several schools were suspended as teachers left their classrooms and gathered outside the mayor’s office. They demanded payment of salaries for September, October, and November, issuing an ultimatum to authorities: “either the money, or hunger strikes and children without education,” reported Kviris Palitra. The strike committee even prepared a list of ten teachers ready to launch a hunger strike if demands were ignored. An appeal was addressed to the president, the parliamentary speaker, the governor of Imereti, and the mayor of Kutaisi, declaring the strike indefinite until salaries were paid.

By December 10, the movement expanded when librarians and bibliographers joined in—22 libraries across Kutaisi ceased operations. As newspaper 7 Dge wrote, “No one is planning social explosions or revolutions, but today’s social demands will become political tomorrow. The government itself is cultivating the ground for this.” The article continued, noting that while officials enjoyed “luxury villas, three-layer security, and expensive cars,” ordinary citizens faced “months of unpaid salaries, darkness, hunger, and wounded dignity.” Protesters warned that if today they were demanding only a subsistence minimum, tomorrow they could be in the streets calling for the government’s resignation.

Librarians also demanded urgent repairs to library buildings, where leaking roofs threatened historic collections. Among the endangered materials were rare 18th–19th century Georgian newspapers and journals preserved only in Kutaisi’s libraries.

By December 28, strike signs still hung on library doors. On the same day, refugees and pensioners blocked Rustaveli Street, demanding four months of unpaid pensions and two months of social benefits. The Social Welfare Department told 7 Dge that pension distribution for September had begun but would not be completed before the New Year. The June–July arrears, partly promised in-kind as flour, also remained unsettled.

This wave of strikes revealed the severe social crisis in Kutaisi: unpaid wages, collapsing cultural institutions, and angry citizens who warned of shifting from survival demands to political ones.