Vahe Mkhitarian, one of the representatives of the workers who met with senior executives of the Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum Combine (ZCMC), said the talks were “quite constructive” despite the lack of a concrete result.
“Neither the employer nor the striking workers changed their positions,” Mkhitarian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “Nevertheless, I consider the tendency very positive.”
“The strike is continuing. I can’t tell anything about the next meeting,” he said, adding that he and his comrades will now try to generate “stronger public pressure” on the company located in the southeastern town of Kajaran.
Several hundred of the ZCMC’s 4,600 employees began the strike on Friday to demand a 50 percent increase in their wages and better working conditions. Mkhitarian indicated that they would settle for a less drastic but still “dignified” pay rise. In his words, the company management did not offer any concessions for its part, insisting on a more modest offer made by it before the strike.
The management denounced the strike as illegal at the weekend, threatening its participants with “legal proceedings.” It argued that ZCMC workers already earn significantly more than the national average wage of 291,000 drams ($730) per month.
The ZCMC has long been Armenia’s number one corporate taxpayer. Its spokesman, Ara Margarian, warned earlier on Tuesday that the continuing stoppage is not only translating into financial losses but could also have “environmental consequences.”
Meanwhile, the Armenian government, which holds an almost 22 percent stake in the ZCMC, remained silent about the strike.
“I cannot present the government’s official view,” said Narek Babayan, a member of the company board representing the government.
The rest of the mining giant is owned by entities linked to Russian billionaire Roman Trotsenko.