The decision was announced on Monday night after fresh talks held by their representatives with top executives of the Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum Combine (ZCMC). The ZCMC said the following morning that it will need some time to restart production operations at its mines and ore-processing facilities in the southeastern town of Kajaran.
Its chief executive, Roman Khudoliy, promised on Sunday that the wages of ZCMC personnel will be raised by an average of 20 percent over the next few months. He said the company will also hire a new health insurance firm to improve its workers’ access to medical care and install new air ventilation systems to protect them against toxic emissions.
“We reaffirm the unconditional observance and fulfillment of the decisions and made by the Company in recent days,” Khudoliy said in a statement released on Tuesday afternoon.
The ZCMC management does not seemed to have made further concessions to the striking workers during the talks mediated by Armen Khachatrian, a senior Armenian lawmaker representing the ruling Civil Contract party. It did not pledge to reinstate eight organizers of the 11-day strike fired late last week. One of them, Vahe Mkhitarian, said that he and his comrades may challenge their dismissal in court.
The several hundred of some 4,600 people working at the ZCMC demanded a 50 percent surge in their wages when they began the strike on January 31. Khachatrian confirmed that they settled for a more modest pay rise which he said will primarily benefit the lowest-paying jobs.
“So they [the management] will strive to narrow the huge gap between wages,” Khachatrian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
The lawmaker also said that he mediated the talks in his personal capacity and did not represent the Armenian government. Despite holding an almost 22 percent stake in the mining giant, the government has avoided any direct intervention in the strike.
Khudoliy alleged on Sunday that the walkout was organized by “some forces” keen to seize control of the company controlled by Russian billionaire Roman Trotsenko. He did not name them.