diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 667405ab75..022aba1921 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ test:mysql:
   script:
   - pip install -r requirements/testing.txt
   - pip install -q mysql-python
+  - docker run -it --link mysql:mysql --rm mysql sh -c 'exec mysql -h"$MYSQL_PORT_3306_TCP_ADDR" -P"$MYSQL_PORT_3306_TCP_PORT" -uroot -p"$MYSQL_ENV_MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD" -e "ALTER DATABASE $MYSQL_DATABASE CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci;"'
   - coverage run manage.py test $MAYAN_TEST_APPS --settings=mayan.settings.testing.gitlab-ci.db_mysql --nomigrations
   - bash <(curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/codecov/codecov-bash/master/codecov) -t $CODECOV_TOKEN
   tags: