The “Fact” daily writes:
The production process of the Zangezur Copper and Molybdenum Combine, the largest enterprise of strategic importance for Armenia and the largest taxpayer, was actually disrupted for about ten days, as several dozen people not only did not show up for work, but also tried to hinder the desire and right of the rest to get to work.
Yesterday, Roman Khudoly, General Director of “ZPMK” CJSC, gave an extensive interview, emphasizing in particular that the fact that the reason for any pressure on the combine is the great importance of the combine itself is understandable to everyone. “It is quite understandable that various forces want to use the situation for their own interests, to have control over the combine,” says Khudoly.
Speaking about the demands, the General Director notes that the suspension of production occurred after a group demanded an ultimatum to increase wages. “The plant has the highest salary, and not only in Armenia. According to the data of an international company conducting research on the salary system for us, we have the highest average salary, not only in Armenia, but also in the CIS countries.
I’m not even talking about social benefits, everyone knows, and it’s an unequivocal truth, that there are no such benefits in any other enterprise. During these three years, after 2021, we have restored the “stazhirovka”, the 13th salary.
We have increased the annual bonus coefficient, which has never exceeded 1, by 50 percent, that is, we have brought the bonus coefficient to a record figure, bringing it up to 1.4-1.5, and you all know that,” says Khudoli and adds that the people who are the authors of these illegal actions and the main instigators, in his opinion, do not represent the collective, do not represent the point of view of the collective, are not legitimate.
“We understand why these illegal actions began, it is very simple... The first is the interest in the plant, and the second is that the people who planned these actions are misleading and using the plant’s staff to achieve their personal goals,” the General Director of ZCMK notes. He also said that everything that the plant’s management promised is being fulfilled. “I absolutely guarantee that, first of all, the salary equalization system that we promised will give results in the coming months, and it will be further refined.
This will lead to an average increase in salaries of about 20 percent. Are we ready to continue to review the salary system in the future and further improve and revise it? Definitely. Secondly, many questions were raised about medical insurance. We held a competition last year, and a company won, with which we had many problems, because it is unable to fulfill the requirements set before it.
We see the reaction resulting from this, and we definitely guarantee that a new tender will be announced in the near future, the condition of which will not be cheapness, but the guarantee that our requirements in terms of providing medical services will be met without objection. I guarantee that. Moreover, we are thinking about creating our own insurance service within the plant.
The next question concerns working conditions. We realize that there is a lot to be done and we have already conducted a technical audit in this direction. We will present the changes to be made separately for each production unit. We understand very well what needs to be done, how and in what terms.
We have been dealing with this issue from the very beginning. These issues are solvable and are being resolved, was there a need to stop the plant under that pretext? In my opinion, no. But some forces have obviously decided to use these issues to organize a strike, presenting that a strike is the only right step in this situation." What solutions does the director see?
"Option one: we go to work, correct the situation, each of us acts within the framework of our responsibilities, the plant resumes production and delivery of products and concentrates, and it will be possible to make payments, including wages, in full and on time. Option two: if the workers consider it possible to stop, to continue not to work, that option is also possible.
In that case, the plant will continue to operate in a strict economy mode, limiting and postponing all payments in accordance with the procedure established by law. Everyone will suffer from this. I have dismissed 8 people who actively participated in organizing the strike.
And I believe that it is through these people that the collective was used by third forces. No one else will be dismissed. So, calmly report to work. But I know that some forces, including people who do not even work at the plant, and even some people who do not even live in Kajaran or Kapan, are here now and are participating in these illegal actions.
Moreover, there are many cases when they simply threaten our employees so that they do not come to work under any circumstances. I call, of course, to go to work, I guarantee on behalf of myself and the plant management that we will ensure the safety of every person who comes to work.
In the event of each incident, we will definitely contact the relevant authorities, this already means crossing all red lines when they start threatening people. It will not remain unanswered. We will create an anonymous platform so that everyone can speak out about any situation, and in the event of each case we will contact law enforcement agencies.
Nothing will threaten the safety of our employees, nothing like that will happen, you can be sure,” concludes Khudoli. By the way, in addition, we should note that these days the Azerbaijani propaganda machine against the Zangezur copper-molybdenum plant has become more active. Is it a coincidence? Hardly.
