Employees of Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum Combine demand increase in  salaries and announce non- term strike

ArmInfo.The second day the strike of employees of Zangezur copper-molybdenum combine continues, which demand increase of salaries.

According to the employees of the industrial giant, their monthly  salary for hard labor does not exceed 150,000 drams (about $ 300),  while the company's management salaries reach 9 million drams (about  $ 20,000). Employees emphasize that the situation worsened after the  change of management of the plant (previously the Zangezur  copper-molybdenum combine was run by Maxim Hakobyan). "The new  management has inflated the director's office, increased the already  high salaries of the top management, leaving unchanged the salaries  of ordinary employees, and some even cutting them," said one of the  employees of ZMMC.

Employees of the plant are not going to stop the protest until this  issue finds its solution. Currently, the director of the plant, Mher  Poloskov, is in Kajaran, who stresses that the demands of the  employees are fair, but decisions can only be taken after the  meeting. In a conversation with the correspondent of ArmInfo,  Poloskov, in particular, stressed that during the day, most likely,  certain decisions will be made to dampen the situation in Qajaran.  "Nothing more I cannot say, because a meeting should be held,"  Poloskov said.

It is noteworthy that the employees of the combine expressed their  dissatisfaction not only with the management of ZMMK, but also with  the head of the regional administration Vahe Hakobyan, who, to their  knowledge, until recently kept the region in an atmosphere of fear,  and people could not express their opinion on any issues of concern  to them . They demand the resignation of the "governor-tyrant", the  entire board of directors of ZMMK - Mher Poloskov, Zaruhi Tonapetyan,  Narek Ambaryan, who were appointed after 2014, when the management of  the plant was entrusted to the same Vahe Hakobyan. "Their activities  should be investigated, they must answer before the law," one of the  protesters said.

ArmInfo correspondent did not manage to get a comment from the  governor Vahe Hakobyan on the current situation, since his phones  have been disconnected for the second day already. Employees of the  plant say that Hakobyan did not appear in the region after the  well-known events in the republic.

To note, the day before the journalist of the regional portal  syuniacyerkir.am, Arus Papian, was beaten up, which actively covered  the protest actions of ZMMK employees. According to her, she was  beaten by security officers Zaruhi Tonapetyan.

To note, Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum Combine JSC operates the Kajaran  deposit, which is the richest in terms of copper content in the CIS.  ZMMK was privatized on December 14, 2004 for $ 132 million. 60% of  the company's shares went to the ownership of the German company  Cronimet Mining, the remaining 15% to the Yerevan plant of Pure Iron,  12.5% to Armenian Molybdenum Prodaction (AMP) 12.5% to the Armenian  OOO "Zangezur Mining". According to Cronimet Holding, whose  headquarters is in the German city of Karlsruhe, over the past few  years, the total investment in Zangezur Copper and Molybdenum Combine  has amounted to more than $ 500 million. Cronimet Maining also owns  51% of the shares in the metallurgical plant of OJSC Clean Iron "and  51% stake in the factory" ELBAT ".