The employees of the Akhtala Mining and Processing Plant in Lori region have been on strike for a week, demanding higher wages. The employees have vowed to continue protesting until their demands are met.
The management of Akhtala Mountain-Enrich Combinat CJSC, operating the mine, reportedly rejected the workers’ demands, prompting a strike of around 50–60 workers, out of the total of roughly 500 employed by the company.
The miners told CivilNet on the condition of anonymity that they had communicated their requests on 10 January, giving management a deadline of 15 January. When their demands were denied — with management saying they lacked the ability to meet them, claiming the plant had been operating at a loss for ten years, the miners launched the strike.
The management’s reasoning for rejecting the workers’ demands has raised questions among the miners.
‘If it’s unprofitable, any normal person understands that the business should be closed, not run at a loss for ten years’, a miner told CivilNet.
Separately, another striker rejected the premise of the management’s arguments, asserting that ‘the price of the copper concentrate we deliver was $6,700 in 2019 and is now $12,700 — it has doubled, but nothing has changed for us’.
The strikers also said that they perform additional work without extra pay.
Aside from refusing to meet the demands, the mining company sent notices warning the strikers that they will be dismissed if they continue to be absent without justification.
Moreover, amid the ongoing strike, the mining company posted a job vacancy announcement on Facebook on Tuesday, which said the company was seeking ‘drillers to work in an underground mine’, and that the company is offering ‘stable employment [and a] competitive salary’.
On Wednesday, following the media coverage of the strikes, Lori Province Governor Aren Mkrtchyan and Alaverdi Mayor Davit Ghumashyan met with management of the mining company to discuss the demands of the strikers, RFE/RL reported.
Negotiations on Wednesday between the miners and their management appeared to be fruitless.
According to RFE/RL, the mining company told the strikers that they currently lack the capacity to raise salaries, but they also promised to hire new employees, removing extra responsibilities from drillers.
‘If employees in other mines in Armenia earn ֏500,000–600,000 ($1,300– $1,600) for doing the same work, salaries at the Akhtala mine do not exceed ֏400,000 ($1,000)’, Sasun Vardumyan, a former long-time head of the plant’s trade union, told RFE/RL.
The strikers said on Wednesday they would not return to work if their demands remain unmet, reiterating their earlier statements.
While the strikers’ main demand appears to be higher wages, they are also calling for improved safety standards in the mine, Oleg Dulgaryan, president of the Alaverdi-based NGO Centre for Community Mobilisation and Support, said in a Facebook post.
‘These people risk their health and lives every day, and their demands must be heard’, Dulgaryan wrote.
