Eight fired as the Zangezur mine strike marks one week

On Friday, the Zangezur Copper and Molybdenum Combine (ZCMC) fired eight of its striking employees, urging the rest to return to work. As the strike entered its seventh day, two meetings between the management and the strikers failed to result in an agreement. The mine’s management also claimed it has already suffered material damages because of the work stoppage.

On Friday, the Zangezur mine also released the names of those who were fired, adding that ‘their statements are of a private nature’.

In the same statement, the management urged the rest of the strikers to resume their work, noting that ‘your guarantee of maintaining your job at ZCMC depends on your immediate resumption of work’.

After a week of striking, the management told the media on Friday that ‘The company suffered a loss of about ֏400 million ($1 million) per day, and the state suffered a loss of more than ֏100 million ($252,000) per day in taxes alone’.

Protesters say mediator is needed

On Thursday, the Armenian government broke their silence, with Economy Minister Gevorg Papoyan dismissing that the government has a responsibility to resolve the issue, even though it owns 21.8% of the shares of the mine.

Instead, Papoyan suggested that the issue was ‘within the domain’ of the mine’s trade union,  management, and employees.

Previously, the company and its trade union have claimed the strike was held ‘in violation of the labour legislation’ and that the strikers’ demands were ‘unrealistic’.

The employees of Armenia’s largest taxpayer strike

The Armenian government owns 21.8% of the company’s shares.

OC MediaArshaluys Barseghyan

Papoyan expressed their concern over the halt of the production of ‘Armenia's industry’ noting that it would ‘obviously affect economic indicators and tax collection’.

As the Armenian government was reluctant to take action, the strikers voiced that the ‘crisis is getting worse’ and ‘a deadlock has been created’.

‘In this case, it is probably the right time for a mediator to emerge. We do not know who it will be, but, logically, there should be a representative body, since the entire toolkit has been exhausted’, said Vahe Mkhitaryan, one of the strikers, in a comment to the Hetq media outlet.

Mkhitaryan also noted that they see the solution in ‘a compromise option’ and expressed their readiness ‘for serious compromises, and the number one guarantee should be that the strikers will not be punished’.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is currently on a trip to the US, but another striker, Shavarsh Margaryan, told RFE/RL that they expected him upon his return to get acquainted ‘what a big problem it is, how many people are suffering from all this, so that he finally pays attention to this problem’.

Alleged pressure from both sides

On Thursday, the striking employees of the Zangezur Mine told RFE/RL that they had received threats from the company’s ‘middle ranks’, including of violence and termination.

Before the firing, several employees received notices for disciplinary violations, with the mine’s spokesperson telling Hetq that it was for their ‘unjustified absence’ from work, and the participants had been asked to submit an explanatory note within three days.

The strikers said that the disciplinary notices were a guise to create a pretence for their eventual dismissal.

The mine filed three criminal reports claiming that it was unable to restart production ‘due to threats of retaliation, physical interference, and restrictions on movement’ by about 70 people.

They said that this group of people were not ‘considered employees of the company, and are not even from the Kajaran or Kapan communities’. The mine is located in Kajaran, while Kapan is a nearby city.

The statement also noted that on Thursday, a working meeting was held between the General Director and the heads of all production units and departments of the company.

The statement also said during the meeting, the company ‘undertook to establish a special committee after the restoration of production, which will discuss the existing problems with each production unit’, including developing the program of salary changes.

Also on Thursday, the representatives of the Human Rights Defender Anahit Manasyan met with the mine’s employees.

A mine employee told Factor that they had verbally promised to fulfil their demands, but that did not satisfy them.

‘Now we need them to make a statement and say that they will do all that so that we can go back to normal work. We are the first to suffer from this because we will not receive money for these days we did not work’, a striker said.

The sentiment was reiterated during a march on Friday with the slogan, ‘We demand a written guarantee’.

According to the same person, during the meeting, the upper management  also tried to intimidate their subordinates in middle management.

‘They said, go and work as you want, that is intimidating, again, but our leaders said that they are on our side’, the strike participant added.

Striking employees at Armenia’s Zangezur mine meet with management and fail to reach agreement

The Zangezur mine, the largest taxpayer of Armenia, has not been operated since last Friday.

OC MediaArshaluys Barseghyan